Day 4

Made quick time taking down camp this morning. Neither of us had much for breakfast left. I only had 7 granola bars, the butt end of a baguette, and a little pepperoni left. Ate half of that, and flew towards Blood Mountain. Which is the equivalent to one of the smaller Belknap Range Mountains. Packs were as light as could be with no food in them.

Shelter at the top

Unfortunately I'm now 0/2 for views on a blood Mountain as both times I've been up it's been incredibly foggy. By the time we made it to the bottom the sun came out and we both had no food in our package. I had one ramen and one instant potato left. 

***Resupply sponsored by Josh Howard***

Once we got to Neels Gap we immediately plugged our phones in to charge and started shopping. Food here is ridiculously expensive since there isn't anywhere else to go. $1 each for a granola bar, $5 for bacon bits. We're fueling up for 4 days of hiking and then on Sunday night we will be staying at Hostel Round the Bend. I was thinking about buying long underwear for colder nights and especially before the Smokeys but for $85 I can hold off till the next resupply. 

Spent a lot of the time at Neels with Patches and Fish, which are two guys we've spent a lot of time with on trail. They started the same day as us and we've crossed paths quite a bit. 

The unfortunate news is that one of my tent poles broke last night and Neels Gap didn't have a replacement tube to buy. I did find an employee there named Bill who went out in the back and gave me a little tube that will fix it for free. Emailed Big Agnes the tent company and are hoping they will send me another just in case. Tent still works fine, and should continue to work but definitely am looking to avoid spending $500+ on a new tent 40 miles into the trail. 

We ordered a frozen pizza and hung out for around 3 hours and watched the hikers come in. We only had 2.2 miles to our campsite, and had plenty of time to get there so we stayed to charge electronics. 

Once we got to camp, Fish, Patches, Dave, Lisa and a lady from Alaska were already there so we set up for the night and made a fire. Nick and I split a package of firestarter that way we don't continue to have issues with damp wood. 

Had a good view of the sunset and maybe the sunrise if I get up early enough. 

 7.7 miles today, our shortest day so far, but it was needed. Legs feel pretty rested. We have around 44 miles to hike before we get picked up for a night at the hostel Sunday. 

Happy Trails