Miles: 21.9 (plus .2 to shelter)
Medicine Man, Sunshine, Cadence, Kevin and I all decided to get an early start to the day. We had plenty of time to rest yesterday and we pumped ourselves up for some good hiking. I think yesterday's ickiness was partially due to the heat and humidity, but was mainly due to our expectations of easy hiking. Also, Kevin had a bad allergic reaction to something yesterday (hiking, maybe?) that disappeared overnight. Good sign.
Cadence shot off, as normal, and the rest of us hiked a good pace - for us, anyway. It rained all morning, which kept us cool and the bugs away. We were feeling great when Medicine Man jokingly commented that we should hike past the shelter we were headed to and do a 20-miler. Well, Sunshine, Kevin and I thought that was a wonderful idea - much to Medicine Man's suprise (and dismay) :) Oops... it's dangerous to joke around us.
We kept on pushing on, up Holt Ledge, grabbed some great views with lunch, up Moose Mountain and then decided we were a bit too worn down to push on for an additional 9 miles past our destination. The rain had stopped, bringing out the heat again. Poop.
We slowly made our way to our destination point, Moose Mountain Shelter. We got there around 3:30 and saw a note that Cadence left us. He had talked to a NOBO about the terrain to the next shelter - it was supposed to be easy, making for a fast hike. So, Cadence had decided to push on. When we saw that he was gone, we decided we could do it also. We had a picnic dinner in the middle of the Trail (it was 0.3 mi to the shelter - way too long to walk there and back just for a break!), then headed on.
The next 9 miles were fairly easy and contained beautiful views. We walked through 3 fields, all with dazzling wildflowers, outstanding views of the surrounding mountains and flat walking. Scenery like this will become more common, but, for now, it's still a novelty for us to be walking by farms.
The walk was easy, but the day had been long and we dragged ourselves up those last couple of hills. Medicine Man was clambering over a fallen tree when he caught his leg in the branches and fell backwards. All of us were scared to death for a second until he reassured us that he was OK - no broken bones, no twisted knee. Phew!
We finally made it into the shelter after dark to the surprise of Cadence, who had been sitting there for several hours. Even though we were dog tired, we hung out by the campfire with a good crowd of thru-hikers and a couple of generous weekenders. After a bit of box wine and marshmellows (mmm... I love Trail Magic), we hit the sacks with a thud.
- 20-miler Bobo