GSMNP (Sunday)

After a restful nights sleep, we packed up camp, ate breakfast (Cliff bar) , said goodbye to the other two campers, and were on the trail by 8:15am. We still had plenty of water from the night before, so we bypassed the stream and began the 1 mile climb up the mountain. We had 2 miles left on Meigs Mountain trail and that first mile really got our heart rates going. I was dripping with sweat in 20 minutes and it was only 68 degrees out! The trail leveled out for the last mile until we hopped onto Cucumber Gap trail, where we had another 1 mile climb followed rolling terrain for the next 1.4 miles. When we reached Little River Trail at 11am we decided to take a nice long lunch break. I was so stoked that we had already hiked 4.5 miles and it was not even noon yet! For lunch I ate the last of my beef jerky, baby babel cheese and shredded tortilla. After lunch, we had only a .5 mile walk to hop on Huskey Gap Trail, so we took it easy and decided to fill up with water after crossing a bridge. At the Huskey Gap trail, I knew we had only 4.1 miles left to go, but that the next 2 miles were all up hill. We start climbing up and I decide to try something that I read Mudd Butt does on her up hill climbs. I started to singing (in my head cause I didn't want SHOE to think I was crazy, and also cause I could barely talk let alone sing on an up hill climb) the "100 bottle of beers on the wall" song. I can't ever remember actually singing that song in it's entirety. But let me tell you, I sang it TWICE! Once singing it with "beer" and the second time replacing it with "icey diet cokes" (my biggest craving on a hot climb up a mountain.) And you know what? it actually worked! It took my mind off the climb, off my labored breathing, and off my screaming achey feet! hahaha!

After about a 1/2 mile up, the trail leveled out for a bit and SHOE, who had been wanting to see some wild flowers this entire trip, was rewarded big time. We entered a small gap, that we dubbed FLOWER GAP, because of all the different flowers we found concentrated in this one little area. I mean we saw purple, red, orange, blue, and white flowers sprinkled every where. It was close to the #21 campsite. I wish I had paid more attention in the botany section of biology class in college so could identify at least one of them. Who am I kidding, biology was boring as hell. Anyways, I know one of them looked like an upside down lily. After the FLOWER GAP, the trail went up again. According to the profile of the mountain in SHOE's book, the trail was supposed to level out soon, then climb one last time. Well if it did level out, I missed it, and I am not counting that 5 foot section that dipped down for a second. It was a rough climb up and seemed to last forever. Fatigued and sweatin' bullets, we took a break right there in the middle of the trail. Just plopped our packs down, had a snack, some water, and had a nice long talk about organic foods, Jillian Michaels, and the "Oprah Pose" for taking pictures. At 1:30pm, we decide to get our butts up and finish the last 1 mile climb up. We finally get to the top of the mountain and read the trail juction sign that informs us we only have 2 more miles of our 9 mile day left. YAY!! and it's all down hill! WHOO HOO!!!

With renewed energy (and with the end in sight) we coast down the trail. SHOE tells me to watch out for some larger boulders on the trail, b/c that is our 1/2 way point. OK, so I'm walking down, keeping an eye on the trail to make sure I don't trip on any roots or rocks, when I round a bend in the trail and come within 25 feet of..... not just one, but three BEARS!!!! A mama, and two cubs! My initial reaction is to turn and run! but my body is frozen. The mama bear stands her ground and stares at me and I watch the two cubs scramble up a tree. (In retrospect, those cubs flew up that tree!) Thank goodness I read an entire article on what to do when confronted by a bear. I stayed calm, but I turned my back on it and walked back up the trail a bit, instead of just backing away slowly. I remember yelling for SHOE, like twice before she finally answers. In the mean time the mama bear gallops closer to her cubs. SHOE answers and all I say is "BEAR." She comes racing around the bend, pulling out her camera at the same time. She asks if I had taken any pictures, I tell her no. With an excited look on her face she tries to move closer to the bear. (all I'm thinking is she's gonna be bear bait if I let her get to close.) I grab her arm and tell her not to get too close, but she's already snapping away and on the move. I yell, "Go away Bear!" and the mama bear slowly starts climbing up the mountain, the cubs are scrambling to catch up with her. She stops and stares at us and I yell again, "Go away Bear!" When she is far enough away, we continue down the trail and SHOE goes, "that was my first bear!" I say "Me TOO!", then she goes, "I don't mean to sound mean, but.... you said "go away bear" too nice. I laugh, cause I was probably to scared to realize I wasn't aggressive enough. (*note to self, next time you encounter a bear, don't be so nice.) hahaha! :) We finally get to the road at 3pm and warn another hiker about the bears we just saw. 10 minutes later we are relaxing our legs in SHOE's car and headed to Sugarland Visitors center for a pit stop and an icey diet coke! After the visitors center we are off to pick up my car. We decide to take a quick break and soak our feet in the cold river that winds along the road. As we're soaking our feet we enjoy watching tubers float/struggle by. The water level is so low that some of the tubers get stuck and have to either drag themselves or get up and walk over to a deeper section of the river. We finally make it to my car, we change clothes, and decide to grab dinner before driving back home. As we're coasting up the mountain, we get stuck in traffic b/c it seems like bear has come out of the woods in search of something to eat and everyone with a camera stops to take it's picture. I'll admit, I stopped to get a picture too. In another part of the park, there's another traffic jam, this time it's due to an ELK. More pictures snapped and we are off once again. My gas light comes on and I know we are still 30 miles away from any gas station AND we are still riding UP a mountain. But not to worry, I get to the top of Newfound Gap safely, and coast down for 20 miles without hitting the gas pedal til I find a gas station. We come to the 441 and 19 highway road junction and decide to eat at Prime Steak buffet b/c we have to travel in opposite directions on 19. After dinner we say good byes and at 7pm and start our drives home.

I had a wonderful weekend in the woods of the Smoky Mountains. I stayed at my first AT shelter(with rats), backpacked 9 miles each day, had a great hiking companion, and got to see my first bear(s). All in all it was a great weekend. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!

GSMNP (Saturday)

After securing back country permits at the Sugarland Visitors Center, we leave SHOE's car in a small parking lot at the end of our section hike. We jump into my car, and drive over to the GSMNP Institute at Tremont where our adventure begins. I park the car, we lace up our boots, throw on our packs, and head up the trail. At 9:30am we started our loooong 2.4 mile climb UP Lumber ridge Trail. We stop to catch our breath a few times, then make it to the top for a quick lunch break. (Man, the first day of a trip is always the hardest for me. My trail legs haven't kicked in yet and my lungs haven't expanded yet. hahaha! ) After my lunch of beef jerky, some babybel cheese and a tortilla, we start the 1.7 mile rolling hill portion of the trail til we have to hop on Meig's Mountain Trail where we had another 1 mile climb up and then rolling up and down terrain for another 3 miles. In the rolling section, off a side trail, SHOE had read about a small cemetary that we decided to stop and check out. It was pretty well kept, as far as the grass being cut. The headstones were humbling smoothed out rocks with dates dating back to 1887. Most of the stones had the name Huskey on them. I can just imagine what a hard life the Huskey family had deep in the Smoky Mountains. We hop back on the trail and have to rock hop over some nice sized streams that look so inviting for a foot soak, but we tredge on knowing our campsite will have a stream next to it. Including the .7 miles we did this morning leaving Mt. Collins shelter, we hiked a respectable 9 miles before pulling into camp at 4:15pm.

We arrive at campsite #20 and I am happy to see what a perfect site it is. It's got plenty of flat areas for ground dwellers like SHOE and some nice trees for me to hang :) There is also a nice steady stream about 25 feet away and easy bear cables to store our foods. (YAY for not having to throw a bear bag rope.). After having the entire trail to ourselves all day long, we find two gentlemen already at the campsite. We say hello and SHOE finds out they had hiked in 2 miles. One of them had a cooler of beer (which we eyed enviously) and a chair to sit on (which we eyed enviously). The other was pretty quiet and gave SHOE the vibe of not wanting to be disturbed, so we politely said hello and then left them alone. As soon as we put our packs down, SHOE puts up her tent, and I string up my hammock and tarp. We change out of our hiking boots and slide into our camp shoes (SHOE in her Rainbow Bright socks and purple Crocs and me in my red Croc wanna be's) and walk over to the stream to filter water and soak our tired dogs. The cold mountain water felt soooooo good on our feet. I chug the first liter of water that I filtered, that's how thirsty I was. After filtering 7 liters of water between us, we head back to cook some dinner. For this trip we decided instead of hauling two sets of filters and stoves, I would bring my water filter and SHOE would bring her alcohol stove. I was a bit hesitant to use the alcohol stove b/c I was worried it would take forever to heat up water. Well, her anti-gravity stove totally impressed me. It was small, light, let out a huge flame, and had the water boiling in no time. For dinner I had a Mountain House spaghetti and meat sauce freeze dried meal that actually pretty good. After dinner, SHOE decided to "try" and make chocolate pudding. In theory it should of worked, but in reality it was more like chocolate soup! hahaha! She had instant chocolate pudding and powdered milk in a zip lock bag. All she had to do was add water and let it chill a bit in the stream. Well, she added the water and she let it chill in the stream for a few minutes. It just never congealed enough, but that didn't stop her from trying it. We both laughed as she tried to slurped up the chocolate soup. Afterwards, we went to organize our campsites a bit and I made the big mistake of getting into my hammock. Ooohhh..... did that hammock feel soooooooo good. It was only 7pm and I didn't want to pass out so I got out before the hammock fully sucked me in. We went and sat by fire ring, sipped on our water, and talked for an hour. By then I could barely keep my eyes opened. We decided to call it a night and went off to our little homes in the woods. I snuggled down into my hammock, breathed in the scent of the campfire that the other two campers had going, and fell into a deep, relaxing sleep. I think I woke up once, just to put on my sleeping bag, and then not again til 7am the next morning.

GSMNP (Friday)

I zipped up to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Friday night to meet up with SHOE for our 18 mile weekend backpack trip. I found her patiently waiting at Newfound Gap overlook around 9pm. After hugs and hellos and a quick bathroom break, we hopped back in our cars headed out to our "accommodation". We opted to spend the night in an AT shelter instead of shelling out $$$ for hotel room. (We're savvy like that.) SHOE had made the reservation for the shelter and had also planned the entire trip, so much thanks to her for all the logistical planning. (THANKS SHOE!!!) We drove down Clingmans Dome Drive, parked our cars, and hiked in .7 miles to Mt. Collins Shelter. (In the GSMNP, you have to camp in designated campsites and while on the AT in the GSMNP you have to sleep in shelters.) So with my headlamp on, and SHOE with her flashlight, we fumbled down the spooky dark trail and find the Shelter. (I can now officially say I've night hiked haha!.) The only wild life we caught a glimpse of was a small salamander who tried to play dead. SHOE snapped his picture and I scared it away. We got to the shelter and startled 4 young guys that were already there. I think they thought we were a bear. haha! Anyways, after unlatching the gate we tumble in, and say hello. They're southbound hiking from Mt. Collins down to Fontana Dam (37.5 miles) then on to Wesser(another 32.5 miles). I wished them luck on their hike and jokingly asked if there were any rats in the shelter. One of them laughed and said not rats, just little field mice. Great. My first night, ever, in an AT shelter and I got to fight off mice. hahaha! I guess that just a part of "life on the AT." We started to unpack our sleeping bags and sleep pads as the boys start to pass out and fall asleep. We whispered about the next days logistics, checked out the maps, and then around 10:30pm we shut off our headlamps and attempted to sleep on the hard shelter floor. The second the lights went out, I heard it. Scurries across the shelter platform, squeaky eeky rat noises, little rat teeth chattering. I tried to ignore it and just tell myself it's part of the trail life, they wouldn't dare come near me. Well, not more then 5 minutes later, I'm half dosing off when I felt a rat (at least I hope it was a rat) run across my back. EWWWWW!!!!!! I stifled a scream and tried to act like a tough backpacker. I flipped onto my back and swore to catch that little effer if he tried it again. But I think the funniest part of the night was listening to SHOE fight off the mice. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. It would get really quiet when all of the sudden, she would pop up violently, turn on her flash light, and pan the shelter looking for the rat that raced across her back. hhahaa! She did this like 3 times! Oh man, hahha!... shelters suck! I think I got like 2 hours of sleep the entire night. The next morning my back hurt so bad, boy did I miss my hammock. SHOE didn't fare well either. Besides rat fighting all night, she had to contend with my snoring.... oops.... Needless to say, it was an early morning for us. We were the first to wake up(6:30-7ish) and bail out of the shelter. After the .7 mile hike back to our cars we decided to have breakfast at Newfound Gap overlook, then head to the trail head. On a side note, they had a privy at this shelter. Complete with a cut out crescent moon on the door. I wish I had taken a picture of it. Anyways, stay tuned for Saturday's adventure!

See Spot Hike

I'm going on this backpack weekend trip this weekend without Boo or the dogs :( It's in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where they don't allow dogs :( and Boo can't get away this weekend :( So, I made plans with another hiker (a trail dame named SHOE) and she planned an 18 mile section for us to hike. YAY! :)

I get home after work today, explode all my gear out on the living room floor, and am in the process of stuffing my backpack when Boo walks in with something behind his back. He says he has a birthday present for me. (ummm, my birthday isn't til October. I wonder what this boy is up to.) I play along and jump up all excited like a little kid and start guessing. "is it a new cell phone!!!, he laughs and says no, then pulls a box out from behind his back. It's a SPOT!!! According to the website, it's "a hand held satellite communication device that uses the GPS satellite system to determine my location and a commercial satellite network to transmit my status." It will basically lets me track my progress, alert 911 of my exact location if anything should happen to me, and most importantly, allow me to check in with my loved ones by sending them a quick email letting them know I'm OK. All with the touch of a button. Pretty cool. Can't wait to test out my new gadget! Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!!

Disc Golf Sunday

Today Boo and I went to another local disc golf course in our town and played 18 holes in 2 hours. We played this the Kilbourne course before, but years ago and I was amazed to see how it had changed, for the better. The course was flat, but had a few challenging baskets. I'd rate it a medium in difficulty. Lots of par 4's for some crazy distance practice. Over all I shot, on average, over by only 1 or 2. Boo did pretty well, he even got a birdie on a par 3. I finally used my driver disc for what it was intended to do and actually threw a lot further, (which is what the the driver disc IS meant to do.) I realized that I do need to brush up on my putting, but over all I had an OK game, and some beautiful weather. After we finished up, guess what we went in search for. Yep, you guessed it, but this time Boo got the cheeseburger, I was feeling the chicken fingers. Anyways, til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!!

The Ying and Yang of it all.

Today was a day full of ups and downs, kind of like my favorite hiking trails. I'm calling this, the "ying and yang" blog entry. It all started on Friday. I had a killer hike planned in the mountains this weekend, but Boo found out last minute that he had a project's deadline moved up, so he needed to work this entire weekend to make it. As soon as he told me, for a second I sulked and stuck out my bottom lip, but then I decided to take this opportunity to test out my legs on a local mountain (that was my first Ying/Yang). So on Sunday, I woke up bright and early, debated on whether or not to take the dogs, and decided that since it was supposed to be hot out I would leave then home. I was guilt ridden for most of the day for leaving them, but knew it was for the best. I packed up my camel day pack, threw on my hiking boots, and jumped in the car. I was determined to get to the trail head by opening gate time (8am). 45 minutes later, I pulled into the Linwood trail head on the backside of Crowders Mountain and noted the time, 8:06am. I had decided to loop a few trails together to get in a good 6mile hike, but if I felt like it, I could add another 3 mile loop. I started the 1 mile ascent up the mountain, hopped on to the 2.5 mile rolling hills section and was done within an hour. WHOO HOO! Great time! I celebrated too early/b/c then came the straight up a rocky trail with no switchbacks (Ying/Yang #2). I stopped several times going up this bad boy and it took me an entire hour to do 1.5 miles. Made me realize I need to work on my cardio alot harder. I've almost reached the top, when I see this tall redheaded dude that I saw earlier coming the opposite way while I was on the rolling section. Now let me preface by saying that I've been known to chat-up, say hello, or acknowledge a fellow hiker/backpacker on the trail. It's just good trail etiquette and I'm just friendly like that. So when I saw him earlier, I smiled, said hello, waved, and continued on my way. Well this time around he goes, " I was wondering if I would see that cute girl again." Without missing a beat, and probably because I'm clueless when it comes to flirting, I said, "She decided to take the harder way up." and laughed. (And truthfully, I DID take the harder way.) He smiles and says after this he's going to do a different loop for more miles and invites me to join him. I'm still stunned that he called me cute and it's been a while since I've noticed anyone checking me out. After all, I am married, and I've no need to look, flirt with anyone, and rarely notice it. So feeling embarrassed/shy I simply say "nice", flash him a smile, tell him have a great hike, and continue on my way. After a minute, I start feeling good and subconsciously high five myself for almost getting picked up. I'm still feeling prideful as I finish the last of the climb, when all of the sudden, WHACK, FLING, "Oh shiiiit!" (The 3rd ying/yang.) I suppose it's what I get for feeling conceded for a few minutes. I ran into a low hanging branch that grabbed hold of my hoop earring and flung it god knows where. Oh, and it's not just any old hoop earring, it's a nice gold hoop that my mom gave me. One of the few "real" pieces of jewelry that I own. I have a set of silver small hoops that I wear outdoors, only b/c when I'm wearing a hat, I feel like my ears look naked, (this is part of my princess mentality) so I need some sort of earring. Well this morning I couldn't find them so I stuck the nice gold hoops in. Well, I went to having my head in the clouds, to feeling like I got punched in the gut. I know it could be replaced, but it had sentimental value that was priceless. I spent 20 minutes looking for that earring and NADA. Bummed out, I finished the climb, tried to enjoy the view, then hiked back down the last two miles and decided to call it a day. I called Boo and told him about the lost earring. He tells me that we could just go to our jewelers and ask them to replace it/make another one and I feel a bit better. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!!

3-Par Disc Golf

On Sunday we decided to hit up a local 3 par Frisbee disc golf course. It's short, sweet, and fun. We were done in about an hour and 1/2. Boo thinks we could of done it in a hour,I agree. What was cool about the course, was that I was able to make 3 par on every hole. I wished I could of birdied at least one of the 18 holes, hhhmmmm.... maybe next time. :) While there, we learned of a new way to play the game called "Speed Round". Running through the course instead of just walking. So as soon as everyone throws the first disc, you run and now it's a race to see who can get it into the basket first. Silly, I know, but a new way to spice up the game. I think we'll try at least once :) Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!

Kayak Congaree Park

Today we drove down to the Congaree National Park to Kayak. We have hiked it before, but always kept it in the back of our mind to come back and kayak. So glad we did. This enchanting forest was even better from the water. The weather was actually nice for a humid July morning in South Carolina.

We drove out to the Cedar Creek canoe access just in time to catch a group of boy scouts canoeing out to their campsite. They were so entertaining to watch. There were only two scout leaders, about 25 years old, one with some cool looking dreadlocks and about 8 scouts. There were four canoes, loaded up with sleeping bags, tents, and gear and two people paddling in each boat. The entertaining part came when we watched them launch out. Seems as if the young scouts didn't have that much canoe experience and some of the boys were crashing into each others boats, into trees, and into the bank, but the seemed to be having a good time, laughing and goofing around. We watch them zigzag down the river and then decided to put in.

The banks were so soggy that there was no getting around the mud. I about lost my right shoe, twice. You could hear that suction cup pop sound as I pulled up my foot from the sinking mud pit called the river bank. I finally get into the kayak and Boo pushes me out. He then loads up and is pushed out by another kayaker waiting to put in.

The river is like a black inkwell. Just the darkest, eeriest water you've ever seen. It was kind of mysterious and haunting at the same time and made me wonder what's really lurking beneath me. (Clips of "River Monsters" from that Outdoor Network flashed through my mind for a second. ) We start our 3 hour float along the river and I am already amazed at the scenery. If you have never been to this park, it is workth a visit just to see these huge trees towering up to 160 feet (that's 16 stories high!!!) and dripping with spanish moss. We also saw lots of wild life. I saw a ton of dragon flies. They were buzzing around us the entire time. I saw several huge spiders, I mean HUGE, as big as a man's spread out hand. They were perched up along the side of the trees, frozen, keeping an eye on us like the river's watch keeper. I saw turtles breaking the surface to see us glide by and then duck back down and swim away. Boo even saw a snake as thick as his wrist, sunning it's self on a low hanging branch. Another kayaker told us he saw a wild turkey. But we never did see the wild boars that supposedly roam freely in the park.

It was a serene trip down the the Congaree and I was glad we kayaked that morning, because that hot and humid July weather started to show itself by the end of our trip. Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!

July 4th on the A.T.

We decided that we wanted to see fireworks from the trail this year, so we packed up our backpacks and drove up to Roan TN. Where we hiked from Carvers Gap to 19E. I had called the Mountain Harbour B&B and set up a 10am shuttle. They also kept an eye on our car for the night. We reach a foggy trail head around 10:45am. and the first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was a the chilly wind, slapping my face and arms. I had checked the weather before I left and was expecting an 80 degree day and 60 degree night. So when I saw that the temperature on my little thermometer was hovering around 60 degrees I was a bit worried. I had on short sleeves, but thank goodness I had on long pants. Boo and I pulled on our rain jackets for added warmth and started the climb from Carvers Gap (5,512).

I love how we enter the Spruce forest at the beginning of the trail. The huge trees remind me of some magical, Christmas tree scented, fairyland and the trail is so soft from all the pine needles on the ground. We make it through the enchanting forest and over Round Bald (5,826). We then descend a bit down to Engine Gap and climb up Jane's bald (5,807), only to go down again and up to Grassy Bald (6,050). All within 2 miles, leaving my hiking legs loose and warmed up. Boo and I decide to have lunch at Grassy bald. It's still pretty foggy and chilly, but we bust out the tortillas, spread cream cheese on them, and layer on the Canadian bacon. Since we didn't bring much water (because the AT companion guide says lots of springs along the trail) we sip on our water and make it a point to refill at the first spring.

After lunch, we strap on the packs and start our descent down to Stan Murray Shelter (5,050) and hopefully a blue blaze that will take us to some water. We see a bunch of ATC volunteers re-routing the once straight and steep trail, into switchbacks. Boo and I take the time out to thank each volunteer, cause this is some hard work! We know from experience. The trail is sooooo much better with the switchbacks, it makes a nice gradual descent. We get to a full Stan Murray Shelter and it looks like another group of hikers had the same idea, to stop, take a load off, and chill for a while. We say our hello's and keep going down the blue blaze trail in search of some water. The water situation was pathetic. Just a trickle into what looked like a puddle. It was bad. I still tried to filter some water, but ended up filtering up mud. We decided to just keep going to the campsite and hopefully pass some water along the way. After a few more miles we pass the turn off for Overmountain shelter (4,682). We've stayed at the "red barn" before, so we have no interest in taking a 1/3 mile detour to see it. But if you've never seen it, it is definitely worth a peek. Set in a hidden little gap with an amazing view. We continue and start ascending up Yellow Mountain. Towards the middle of the ascent I turn around and check out the view. I can see the balds we hiked over earlier that morning, the gap we descended down, and the Barn (Overmountain) shelter tucked into the valley below. What a feeling of accomplishment, just to see how far we've come already. Not to mention the views!

We continue climbing up and over Yellow mountain and descend down it's back side into a forest. After emerging from the forest we have one last mountain to climb before we reach our campsite. Little Hump is a bald, grassy mountain with views all around. By now we are all exhausted, and that 60 degree temperature, well it decided to start dropping on us. Personally, I would rather have a climb first in the morning, then have a climb the last part of the day, but hey, we made it this far, and it's just one last climb. We get to the top of Little Hump (5,459) and are greeted with 35-40 mph winds just whipping thru us. We both drop our packs and lay down next to the dogs to rest for a minute. I would of stayed down longer, but the wind is making the already low temperature really chilly. I start pulling out the thermarest sleep pad to blow up and Boo starts to assemble the tent. It's obvious that he needs me to help him, because the tent and rain fly are wildly flapping all over the place, so I throw my pack on top of the thermarests and help. We stake the tent down, clip in the rain fly, throw the pads, pillows, and sleeping bags in the tent, and climb in. I was so cold that my teeth started chattering, so I drape in my down bag around me to warm up. Boo changes into warmer dryer clothes and ventures back out to secures our packs and hiking poles. I start arranging the inside of the tent and start pulling out the food bags. Boo then starts to boil the water for our freeze dried Lasagna, which was yummy goooood. (Probably b/c it was so cold outside the hot food just tasted that much better. )We decide to call it an early night, (not even 8:30pm yet). We zip up the vestibule of the tent and let Thing 1 sleep there, and little Thing 2 is pushed into the back of our two man tent. It's a tight fit, but at least we are all going to sleep warm tonight! Around 10pm, we heard loud popping sounds, so we peeked out of the tent and catch a bit of the fireworks show from all the surrounding small towns below. It was pretty neat. We couldn't bear the cold any longer, so we jumped back into the tent and had a fitful night of sleep on the ground. (I missed my hammock!)

The next morning we were up early enough to catch the sunrise, see the fog float in between the valleys, and catch a glimpse of the mountain we would climb. Hump Mountain. Wow, how intimidating did that thing look. It was HUGE! We admired the views from our campsite one last time then took down our tent, fed the dogs, packed our pack up, and ate some Kashi bars for breakfast before descending down into a forest. After a mile or so we emerged from the forest and on the the base of Hump Mountain. We crossed the grassy bald at Bradley gap (4,960)and started our ascent up Hump Mountain (5,587). About half way up there was a nice set of rock outcroppings where we decided to enjoy a PB&J snack and admire the views. I checked thermometer and it read 43 degrees. Nice brisk morning for an uphill hike in July! Seriously, 43 degrees in July. Anyways, we got back on the trail and rounded the top of Hump Mountain. The 360 views were impressive, but I still thought the views climbing up it were better. This place is known to have long horn steer roaming around, but we didn't see any this early in the morning. We started our descent and decided to take a water break on a small rock cropping. As we were sitting there, the same group we ran into at the Stan Murray shelter came along, two couples and two dogs. We exchanged hello's, they continued on while we continued lounging on our rock watching them disappear over the ridge. We finally got up after 30 mins. and continued descending. All of the sudden Boo goes, do you smell that. I look down and see 3 or 4 dried up cow patties and before I can answer, Boo goes, "uuummmm the strawberries smell so good." Then the sweet scent of wild strawberries hits me. Yum :) I bet they taste just as sweet and juicy too. Funny how the smallest things can make such a big impact on you when your hiking. I think I thought about those berries the rest of the way down the mountain.

We finally make it thru the fence gate and say good bye to the bald hiking. For the next 5 miles, it's all downhill forest hiking. Might sound easy, but most if it is steep, downhill, on rocks hiking. You have to slow down to place your foot just right, otherwise you could slip, twist your ankle, fall, or all three. Not good. So it was slow going and did I mention we still haven't found water yet? All of us were getting pretty dehydrated, especially Boo. He tends to slow down, get a bit disoriented, and grouchy. So I knew we needed water ASAP. With around 3 miles to go we ran into an elderly couple, decked out in ATC gear, out for a day hike at the Doll Flats (4,560). I say elderly because they had to of been in their late 70's. Which I think is awesome by the way. I hope to be hiking well into my 70's too! . The first thing I asked them was if there was any water in the spring that was suppose to be there. The wife was so helpful and told me that yes, there was a spring, but they did not actually use it. I asked her if there was a stream, that I had remembered reading in the companion book, within a mile from here. She said yes, she remembers passing a stream. The husband gets all grandpa on us and scolds us by saying that HE makes it a point to never day hike with out adequate water. I smile and politely thank them for the info. He must think we're total rookies out here. I guess I could of told him that we are backpacking and have water but are conserving b/c our companion book is outdated and has been entirely wrong on all the water sources. But I don't. I just grin and mind my elders. I'm just happy there's a stream in our near future! We agree that we can make it one more mile for the stream, if we stop to rest and grab a snack. So in the middle of the steep, rocky trail, we stop and eat some beef jerky and sip on our remaining water. We load back up and hike down the rocky, sketchy trail and then we hear it. The dogs hear it too. The Stream! I have to hold the dogs back while Boo climbs down, off the trail, with our filter to check it out. He clears us and I just drop the leashes, the dogs tumble down into the stream and lap up the water. I go and get Boo's bladder and nalgene out of his pack to fill up. As soon as he has one nalgene full of cold, refreshing, filtered water he hands it to me to drink. I down the liter in under a minute and hand it back to him to refill. He refills and downs a liter himself. By the way, the dogs are still lapping up water. We finally get cameled up and hop back on the trail. For the next two miles, Boo blazes down the trail like he is on fire, we make it to the Apple Mountain Shelter in less then an hour and decide to take a break cause our feet were hurting a bit. From the shelter it's only a mile and 1/3 to our car, so we take our time relaxing. I given the dogs their peanut butter dog biscuit snack and some more water. After about 30 minutes the promise of a cheeseburger and a HUGE icy cold diet coke motivate us to finish up. We walk the mile down to 19E (2,880) and then scurry across the highway for the last 1/3 mile to the Bed and Breakfast for our car. We made it! Section hike crossed off the list! I can't wait to take off my boots, slip into some flip flops, and have an icy cold diet coke! Off we go in search of a cold drink and tasty cheeseburger. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!!