We woke up early to more caterpillars everywhere.  It was challenging to pack up everything without bringing them along wrapped up in the tents.  We set off with a little reticence from Doris about the upcoming ascents.  We hiked down the mountain to the gap to get some snacks in Bland.  While getting the snacks, Mo’s friends decided to check into the bonk lounge and called their friend to pick them up.  Mo elected to hike on and we said goodbye to Liz and Dorris and set off.

The weather was nice and the hiking was fairly even with the exception of one really steep ascent.  Mo is in really great shape and she handled the ascents with relative ease– definitely stronger than when I started out.  We decided to push the miles to sixteen to be in goood position to easily hike down to the meeting point with her friends the next day.  

Right around the time we were going to hunt for water for our final three mile push, we crossed a road and came across and were invited into the best trail magic camp imaginable.  They had burgers, hotdogs, soda, resupply items, every food imaginable, AND THEY HAD BEER.  Since we only had three miles left I had four beers– I thought six might be rude.  We stayed with our young hosts for an hour before we set off to knock the last three miles out.  

We arrived at the shelter just as the rain started. Happy trails and may trail magic find its way into your lives as well.