Hot Springs - Stealth Campsie
Today was our biggest day yet! We slept in a bit this morning since we were in the cottage, but I still was on trail by 8:30am. I started the day alone and the climb up Lover’s Leap was tough! I’d done it before as a day hike but doing it with a pack was hard. It didn’t help that my stomach hurt from the tacos the previous night and I had to dig a cathole halfway up the mountain.
Tin Man and Ranger caught up to me around lunch and we ate together near Rich Mountain fire tower. I ran into Bug Bite and she and I hiked together the rest of the day. Lots of ups and downs today, but the hardest part was definitely in the morning. Bug Bite and I decided to pass the 11 miles shelter and keep pushing until we found a good stealth spot. We just kept going and going until we were eventually only like 3 miles from the shelter 20 miles from Hot Springs and decided to push the big miles.
We got about a mile away and ran into Wilson setting up a stealth site just off the trail and there was plenty of room to join him, plus he said there were like 5 people ahead of us going to the already full shelter so we decided to call it a day. Wilson is great company and we’ve had a lovely evening. Excited for my new sleeping pad!
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