Day 3

Rained hard last night but the tent kept me dry and cozy.  There is something soothing about the sound of rain as long as you are warm and sheltered.  Still raining lightly in the morning so tent was packed wet.  Everything else dry or a little damp.  Fortunately the rain stopped by eleven.  We ended up doing 10 miles today because we wanted to get to Lance Creek as this is the last campsite that doesn’t require a hard bear canister until you get over Blood Mountain.  After that it is only 8 miles until we get to our next stop at Neels Gap. That will be the shortest hike so far but it includes the highest mountain so the degree of difficulty is more.  I plan on staying at Blood Mountain Cabins to shower, sleep in a bed and get laundry done tomorrow.

The mountains are rustic but as I mentioned earlier the foliage is not out yet on the mountains. There haven’t been many scenic views yet either. We are  up and down mountains all day and our pace has been a little faster than I anticipated. I plan on shortening the hikes for a bit so I don’t wear myself out.  Gary is leaving the trail soon and I think Sandy is meeting family when we get to Neels Gap so it means our little group may be breaking up.

Temperature was up near 60 again today so I’m hiking in a T-shirt as hiking keeps you pretty warm.  Been in my tent every night to sleep by 8pm (hiker midnight) usually pretty tired from the days adventure.  Sleep comes easily.

It is drying up a little and we are hoping for a dry day tomorrow.