Day 3 - Hawk Mountain Shelter to Gooch Gap Shelter

It was a long day, but a good day. Although when Dave woke me up at 6:50 a.m., I have to admit my first thought was, “Oh, no, we have to go hiking again.”

I collected my wet clothes for the second day in a row, managed to get dressed in the tent, and got ready to head out. It was cold at the start – definitely jacket weather. But after the first ascent, I felt like I was suffocating. It’s amazing to me how much longer miles seem out here than in the “other world.”

We did a little over eight miles today, and I could have sworn after four that we were done. It was a lot of ups and a lot of downs. But all of it was doable. Dave has been very good about keeping pace with me. We’re faster than many others in our group, but not all. Saw some nice views, some flowers starting to bloom, a salamander.

Finally made it to the shelter, only to find it was nearly full with no tent sites – shelter was on the side of the mountain. So we walked on a bit and found a great campground with a nice grassy area and two fire pits. Most of the gang ended up down here. Hung out by the fire tonight. The plan for tomorrow is 10 miles – and it’s supposed to rain again. How badly will I need that shower Monday in Neels Gap??

Izzy and Nate

Dave, Matt, and Nate

Tim, Orion, and Dave

P.S. – We had a good night at our camping area. Everyone is getting to know one another and having fun hanging out. We seem to be a group now but don’t know how long that will last – as people have different hiking paces. The group now is Gail “Chinook” from Alberta, Canada; Charlie, from Bristol, England; Dennis, from Ohio, using the Golite system; Izzy from New Hampshire; Murph, from Vermont (originally from Hingham); Matt (young guy) and Nate (older guy) “Dream Walker” from Michigan; Ryan and Chris “Orion” from Florida, two guys just out of college; and Dick from Maine, whose brother had to leave the trail today because he wasn’t feeling well. We lost Tim and Donna, who were only out for a few days, but were a big part of this group. Tim may be back to do the rest of the trail someday. I hope he keeps in touch if he does.