Day 3: Standing Indian to Tray Mtn

North Carolina-Georgia border. My first state is down.

Left Tray Mtn at 5:50 excited to start the day after a cold night. Sad to make it to Dicks Creek Gap and realize that Cloud 9 hostel no longer exists there–so many fun memories from 2008.

Met a bunch of thru-hikers at the gap, most memorably a couple with a dog named Olive.

From Blue Ridge Gap to Bly Gap, I met Buckeye (who thru-hiked in 1999!), Jabber and Mush (who I joked had done the Iditerod), and Tabitha (another girl hiking solo! Yay!).

Had to stop in at Muskrat Shelter and sign the log. Muskrat was the first shelter I stayed at during a cold night back in 2008. There was a piece of a recently crashed Cesna by the side of the shelter, and I met two guys there.

Cesna remains at Muskrat shelter

Made it to Standing Indian Shelter at 6:30 and met two guys from Bates (who knew my friend’s sister), Clay (who had new dreads–made me miss my old dreads), a girl who had made her own solar panel/phone charger, and a guy who had a friend in Franklin but a dead phone battery (and couldn’t remember his friend’s number). So many cool and funny people on the trail.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and couldn’t figure out why until I realized that I had done over 7,000 feet of elevation gain!!! That being said, the AT isn’t as gnarly for me as I had remembered. I was expecting steep up and down and up like on the Montana/Idaho border on the CDT. It’s been a surprisingly lot of contoured ridges like on the PCT. This has been *wonderful*.