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Mile Marker: 42.6 | The day started with a cabin goodbye and ended with four peaks, a headlamp night hike, and me leaving Dragon a trail note taped with… a bandaid. Homesick, exhausted, and ravenous, I found myself slurping the best ramen of my life in a crowded, noisy shelter.
Today was a ROUGH day. We didn't leave until 12:30pm after checking out of the cabins and saying some goodbyes. Michelin had to go home today because of a very swollen knee. It was really sad and we plan to call him every single day until he gets better and can come back to the trail. Kenji (E-Dog) went home with a nice trail angel today as well to rest his paws.
We hiked a lot! 4 peaks in 11.1 miles!
It stayed sunny for most of the day while we hiked! For the first time since day 1! The last peak we hiked felt like it would never end. It had 3 false peaks and we were exhausted. The sun started going down on the other side and we had to pull out our headlamps.
We made it to camp at 7pm. Whisperer and I got the last two spots in the shelter while Ohm and 'Racha set up their tents. We quickly gathered water, made dinner and set up our beds as quietly as possible.
Dragon had wanted us to aim for Whitley Gap campsites and we set out to do so. She left before me with Whisperer but I quickly caught up to her. She said she was in pain and just going to take it slow. Cell service was not super good. I caught up to Whisperer and not long after 'Racha and Ohm caught us, too. We hiked together for a while. Whisperer, 'Racha, and Ohm decided they were going to push to Low Gap Shelter instead of Whitley Gap. It seemed logical to me: Whitley Gap Shelter was 1.5 miles off trail and Low Gap was only 4 total miles further.... I wanted to stay dry and knew that it would rain during the night so I wanted to get to a shelter to make it easy on myself.
After trying to contact Dragon with no response I kept walking. When we got to Whitley Gap Shelter's Blue Blaze trail, I wrote Dragon a note and stuck it to the sign with a bandaid (I ran out of tape...). The four of us moved on.
I walked a ways away from the shelter and called my mom. I was really homesick. Possibly from exhaustion, possibly from being out of my comfort zone, or maybe just missing my parents. The cell service was crappy but I, thankfully, got through. At the beginning, my support system has been so important.
I was so hungry that I swear that was the best ramen I have ever had... The shelter was rowdy with some young high school students staying there. They were up talking loudly until at least 9pm (hiker midnight).
The girls in the shelter got up around 5am. Very loudly, with white headlamp lights on (it is courteous to use red headlamp lights at camp so that you don't disturb other hikers), they accidentally spilled water on my down sleeping bag, and when they finally left they left behind all of their trash for the mice.
The experience was frustrating to say the least. I understand that they were young and that they weren't thru-hikers. But, y'all, if you're staying in a shelter pleaseeeee try to be courteous to other hikers!