Plans Change. Onward!
Day 3 on the Trail: approximately 12.6 miles
Not sure if this will be a regular thing for us or not, but we woke up early again. We were on the trail hiking by 5:15 am this morning.
I actually enjoyed it. The temp was cool enough we didn't get too warm and there were no other hikers to contend with for the first 4 hours or so. Thomas and I heard there would be trail magic in the form of cookies at Woody Gap, about 5.5 miles away, so at the prospect of getting our first trail magic, and some delicious cookies, we stepped it up a little. We made good time and got to Woody Gap by 8:20 am. Bad news was there were no cookies waiting but we did run into a guy named Ron who had hike the AT in 2011. He had brought out some donuts and water so at least we got some trail magic!
The gap was windier and colder than the trail so we gobbled down our donuts and hit the trail. By about 2:00 pm we made it to Wood Hole shelter. Yeah, I know it's not where we planned to stay but plans change. That sets us up for about a 3.5 mile day for tomorrow going into Neel Gap. We are gonna call it a near zero day or "Nero" day, if you will. Warrior Hike has us set up to get a room for the night in Neel Gap and then we are back on the trail Friday.
Next week we have to maintain a 12.5 mile day to stay on pace for our first VFW meeting. My body hurts but in an awesome way. In truth, me and Thomas both have aching knees but "no pain, no Maine"!
