Got up at 06:00 or so and ate breakfast. We then got ready to go and packed everything up. We got to the trail at about 10:30.

We hiked up our first mountain of the day and took a break and ate a snack. We walked a mile and a half, up a mountain, in about an hour. Our best time So far. Everyone is getting better and better.

Hiked down into a gap and back up another mountain. Where we took another break and ate another snack… Seems to be the pattern, can’t get enough food hiking mountains…

Break on the Mountain

We hiked on. But again we we’re not prepared for mountain miles. One mile in the mountains feels like walking 5 in the city. As we Hiked the day dragged on.

Mountain and gap mountain and gap… We got to Tesnatee gap at around 18:45 and took a break trying to decide what to do. Sunset was at 20:18 and there was no campsites. The nearest shelter was 0.07 miles up Wildcat Mountain.

So, we Hiked on. Up what Tipawa called “Baby Blood”… It was tough, but again the view was amazing.

View From Wildcat Mountain

We got to the sign for the shelter, only to see that it was another 1.2 miles east. Hogpen Gap was only 0.2 miles away, but it was down the mountain and the sun had already set…

Headlamps! Go!!!

We made it down the mountain again in the dark. At Hogpen Gap there were no campsites again. But I figured that some hiker had to of set up a camp in the woods. So after an hour of searching in the dark we found one, set up, ate, and went to sleep….

The Appalachian Trail is no “footpath…”