deep gap shelter

after being dropped off by dwayne this morning, the hike began with a steep ascent of 1300 feet over 1.5 miles. nice way to start off the day after a great night's rest. most of the day the terrain was rocky and it switched regularly between snow covered, frozen, and muddy. there weren't many other difficult stretches until the end of the day with a 1000 foot ascent in less than a mile followed by a 1000 foot descent in about .75 mile. the shelter was in a valley and it faced east. the 5 of us who spent the previous night together all arrived at the shelter over the span of an hour or two around 4 pm - after a 12.75 mile day. nice. I saw many fresh bear tracks in the mud during a 1 mile stretch along a ridge with beautiful views of the mountains, but no actual bear sightings. I ate lunch at the top of tray mtn. with wonderful views all around. I'll try to insert a pic below. tonight we made a campfire and stayed up until after 9 pm!! that's hiker midnight. the sky was clear, the stars were everywhere and the moon was our night light. lovely evening. we met another thru tonight, zach. we probably won't see him again because he's already blazing 20+ days. ouch. I'll stick with 10 - 15 days for now. tomorrow we all split up, maybe for good. jonathan and nick go back to school and downhill and starbucks are laying over for a couple days in the next town (4 miles ahead) so I'll be on my own again to meet new ppl in the coming days. I'm going to hit franklin, nc in about 4-5 days and might stay an extra day, depending on how I feel.
that's all for now.
L



-- Post the trail