Day 3

Another day, another 6:30am rise and grind. Only had 11.5 miles to go to our campsite today with no big climbs. Headed out of camp around 8:30, after I had my breakfast ramen and granola bars.

Very foggy, wet and cold today, not much for views anywhere so I just have pictures of Nick 

Crossed our first paved road which was a funny milestone 

We ended up at our campsite at 2:00pm. Any further and you have to have a bear can to camp for the next 6 miles due to some local hiking ordinances. Bears in this area are known to knock down hanging bear bags.

After setting up tents, bear hangs, and eating lunch we decided to try and start at fire. Since everything on the ground was damp, that proved quite difficult and after an hour of trying we had to call it quits. Thankfully more people camp into camp, and Diego from Illinois had a small blowtorch, but even that proved unsuccessful against the damp Georgia wood. 

Lisa, a section hiker from North Carolina, was very sweet and gave us a firestarter, which was just what we needed. 

We kept the fire going from 5:00 to 8:00 and then called it a night. 

11.5 miles today with around 2000ft of gain. Our easiest day on trail so far. Tomorrow morning we will hit Blood Mountain. 5.4 miles, 1300ft of gain and loss, then we will be at our first resupply. Packs are very light due to the lack of food but I'm excited to have a diet coke tomorrow. 

Happy Trails 🌲