It’s crowded here tonight! We’re here with Numbskull, Pilot, Vapor Trail, Little Engine, Cumberland Joe, Jake, Rob, Robin, Roman, Noodles, and Liz.

We’re staying in tents near the crowded shelter @ 4200 feet on Tray Mountain. It was a day of 1,000 feet drops and gains but D & I are feeling strong. A storm blew through this afternoon, forcing us to climb Tray Mountain and set up tents in rain and wind, but then disappeared and let us see a red ball of fire sinking into the mountains behind the privy. That sounded relatively poetic until the privy part, eh?

The thru-hikers with us tonight are a great, mixed crowd. Numbskull’s been around the world and is traveling heavy but living on a shoestring. Pilot & Vapor Trail are a young married couple, fun to hang out with and have been hiking with Jake, Cumberland Joe (from Rhode Island) and Little Engine, a novice backpacker. Liz (a Red Sox fan from Cambridge!) Rob & Robin and the Roman Noodles have a lot more backpacking experience and are great company.

It’s 40 degrees and dropping now. It’s going to be a cold one and we’re planning on 10+ miles tomorrow to get to Hiawassee for a little time in town! I heard an American Woodcock calling at sunset and both saw and heard Canadian warblers in the rhododendron thickets today. I’m hoping the barred owls will continue to serenade us tonight as they have most nights through the trip.

My diet is still increasing and I’m now up to about 3,000 calories today. Dinner was mashed potatoes & bacon, Tang, 1 & ½ candy bars and a number of handfuls of D’s crazy trail mix. This one has spicy Mexican & Chinese snacks, rice-covered peanuts, Chinese fish sauce-flavored peanuts, M&Ms and jellybeans! Liz and I decided that you should eat spicy stuff first, then chocolate, then jellybean, but Little Engine downed a handful and exclaimed, “ This tastes like BILE!” Ahhhh, endless variety!