Miles Hiked: 9.1
Miles Left: 2032.2
Ending Location: Brown Fork Gap Shelter

Both B and I got off to a slow start this morning so by the time we were packing up our tents their covers were soaked by the melting ice that had built up the previous night. We were greeted by a beautiful view though as the clouds had pooled into the valleys like a lake. Unfortunately this turned into another example of things that don’t translate well into pictures. Vegemite put it succinctly the other day by saying pictures just didn’t capture the ruggedness of the mountains. There’s a big part if me that wishes I had brought a real camera vs using my iPhone.

Oh, on a very good note B actually got some sleep last night without his back causing him problems!

The one negative event was I did catch the college kids adding graffiti to the shelter. I said that wasn’t cool but I pretty much wimped out as I really should have given them a good tongue lashing. Oh for the record they were University of Florida students. Figures.

Hiking today was fairly uneventful. There were lots if little things, like running across a homemade cross overlooking a town, or the fact that B and I spent at least an hour trying to find a good spot for lunch, but nothing that stood out. Oh Jacob’s Ladder was a real climb at the end which removed any thoughts of us bypassing the shelter but I’m sure me talking about tough climbs is getting old by now. I guess the most extraordinary thing was how normal today felt. I guess that’s a good since we probably have a little more than five more months of this left!

One other thing before I forget. B’s new trail name is “Owl”. The story behind it is we ran across a guy named Caribou from Alaska, so B decided it was appropriate to go with Owl since he likes them so much. It’s a lot better than Red Beard or Lucky which were the two major competitors, but my vote is still for Full Roll. As for me I still haven’t settled on a trail name yet but it’ll likely be “Scramble” based on how I like the rocky climbs. I’m mostly just waiting until I get through the Smokies since I figure by then I’ll be a true through hiker.