AT Thru-Hike Day 128

Garfield Ridge Campsite (4,020 feet) mile 1,830.2 to Ethan Pond Shelter (2,831 feet) mile 1,844.8 for a 14.6 mile day.

The whites have been nothing but rocky, but, ya gotta do what ya gotta do to get to the end!

Today was crossing over four, four thousand foot peaks, but the good thing about it is that we started the day at 4,020 feet. The morning was hovering around 3500 feet and then we went back up for our first 4K peak, Galehead Mountain. Galehead held an AMC hut that we stopped in for coffee and a baked good. The huts allow thru-hikers to have any left over breakfast items, at this hut we landed some cold oatmeal and pancakes. Cold or not, we needed the calories to get through the morning until lunch time. The hut had a great view…

We left the hut and were greeted by a straight up climb out of the hut. In all honesty though, the straight up climbs are kind of nice, besides a great workout, they get you up to the peak quicker. Haha Then we come to a point where it gets a little easier

and it causes an excitement for short time, and then, more rocks and straight up for the final push to the peak of South Twin Mountain.

The golf ball from Derren Supernavage memorial service has made the journey well. Some of the lettering has rubbed off and some colors have been added, I guess from my wet and sweaty pockets. Derren was a friend of mines husband who passed away seven years ago and he had wanted to hike the trail, so, I volunteered to carry the ball and take pictures with it along the way.

Along the way we met Merchant, and what is amazing about Merchent, well, it’s not really about him but about his shoes. He bought a pair of Altra Olympus4 in Franklin, NC, which is mile 110, and was still wearing them at mile 1837! I’ll put a more detailed pic of the shoes in the gallery at the end of this post.

Then, we got to, what I like to call, superhighway trail. This section came, thankfully, toward the end of the day when we were trying to get to camp. It was a 4.5 mile section of trail that hovered around 2800 feet and then up a hundred feet or so towards the end.

At one point in here we passed an area that looks like at one time had a major rock slide and thankfully they didn’t make us bounce across the rocks but instead, it appears, they covered it with dirt to make a nice little path across.

Finishing out this 4.5 mile section we came to the Ethan Pond Campsite. Ethan pond was a beautiful little pond that awaited us for what would end up being a beautiful sunset!