Hawk Mountain Campsite - Gooch Mountain Shelter
Another great and beautiful day! I know that it's going to get tough, but if every day could be this good I would sail to Maine. I slept okay last night and was up by 7:30, on trail around 8:40. So far none of the uphills have been that strenuous, and we climbed the biggest mountain so far (Sassafras Mountain).
We met a handful of people along the trail, and even had our first trail magic! A former thru hiker, PTL (Praise the Lord) and his wide, Sue, cooked us hotdogs and had al kinds of snacks.
We sat and talked to them and Great Legs for a bit, then pushed on to Gooch Mountain Shelter. We were the first to set up camp at 2pm, but we had tons of time to chill and relax.
Most of the campsites got fill, and lots of people congregated at the shelter to cook. We socialized and laughed a lot, mostly at the expense of a quirky weekender trying to build a dire to boil his water. A couple of girls delivered pizza and Cokes for trail magic, and we hung out around the fire for several hours chatting. Great Legs kept trying to convince people to keep hiking to Gooch Gap, and I talked to a cool girl named Katy and a guy named Eli. I love the people so far. Tomorrow looks like rain, I'm looking forward to a bed at Neel's Gap on Thursday.