View from Preaching Rock
Location: Neel Gap / Mountain Crossings (31.7 miles)

Thanks to the terrific lunch I had at Woody Gap, I reached Lance Creek early and with bountiful energy, so I decided to push on to Neel Gap. (While there are two shelters between Lance Creek and Neel Gap, the five miles before Neel Gap requires a bear canister, which I don't have, so stopping before Neel Gap was not an option.)

read more (266 words, 1 photo)


Trail Magic at Woody Gap
Location: Woody Gap (20.8 miles)

Lunch at Woody Gap courtesy of a bunch of local hikers. Hot dogs, bananas, brownies, beans, soda, and water! Thanks so much!

read more (27 words, 3 photos)


Location: Gooch Mountain Shelter (15.8 miles)

It was warmer last night, and I slept much better. Not sure how much of that was the temperature and how much was using my down coat as a pillow, but either way, I'm feeling much better now than I was last night.

read more (71 words)


The Forest
Location: Gooch Mountain Shelter (15.8 miles)

After an extremely arduous hike today, the hardest I've ever done, I made it to the Gooch Mountain shelter around 6-6:30. My dinner of Ramen and Mac & Cheese was a bit of experimentation. My cook pot is not large enough to do the entire bag of M&C all at once, and even with splitting it in half, both the ramen and M&C boiled over. But, I think I have it figured out how to do it tomorrow with less water and less mess.

read more (283 words, 3 photos)


Location: Hawk Mountain Shelter (8.1 miles)

Lunch at Hawk Mountain shelter.

read more (5 words)