Got up to clouds and light rain. Thankfully the sky cleared as we cooked and ate oatmeal for breakfast.

I sent Gig, Tinkerbell, and Off to filter water for the day, but they came back and told me that our only water filter was broken. A broken water filter is a sure way to get sent home…

I took the filter cartridge out of the pump and tried to figure out how to fix it. I had left the instructions for the contraption at home so I would not have to carry the extra weight. But I found that the filter pump was a solid unit and only had wear and tear that I could and did repair. However, I also found that the filter cartridge was hopelessly clogged. The pump is useless without a good cartridge.

After two hours of working on the cartridge I became frustrated and decided to take a walk to cool down and make plans to get back home. We cannot stay out there without clean water and the filter was sent to us by a friend of mine as a gift because they are so expensive. While I was walking and praying Tipawa decided to try and fix the filter cartridge.

She squeezed it, forced air into it, suctioned air through it, and finally, slammed it repeatedly against a stump… The bashing seemed to dislodge brown and grey sediment that had over time built up in the cartridge’s grooves.

By this time I had returned from my walk and taking the cartridge from her put the pump and the filter back together. We filled a pot full of water and began pumping water out of it. The filter worked perfectly! She had cleared the cartridge and I had repaired the pump assembly. God had answered our prayers and again we could continue trusting in Him to provide for us on our journey.

So, we filtered our water for the day and got ready to hit the trail again. It was much later than we when we usually start, but we were all happy that we could continue.

View of Tray Mountain

We started the long hike up Tray Mountain. It was rough, but not as bad as the Approach Trail, Springer Mt., Preaching Rock, or Blood Mt. We hiked up and up, and finally got to the summit. The summit was a small section of boulders to sit on and rest, but the views were Awesome.

When we got there we were overcome with the smell of food cooking. There was a man sitting on the summit cooking his lunch. The smell was overwhelming. I looked around and realized that while he was cooking he was also drying his underwear out on the rocks in the sun… I can’t describe how trail life changes your perspective. That is just the way things are on the trail. None of us were offended or even gave it a second thought. I just remember thinking, “Good idea, kill two birds with one stone.”

We complimented the man on his great smelling food and he told us his trail-name was Gourmet. This didn’t surprise us either, he had all kinds of extra spices for his meals.

We took out our break snacks, took some pictures, and just enjoyed the Mountain experience.

Tray Mt Right

Tray Mt Left

We said goodbye to Gourmet, left Tray Mountain Summit, and headed down the trail. We stopped at the Tray Mountain Shelter and set up camp for the night. It was a Very cold and windy night. We found out the next day that the temperature had dropped into the low forties and the wind was gusting between 40 and 50 miles per hour. Not a night we will soon forget!