Trail Journal Day 7 - July 10, 2014

On Thursday my camera battery died. I did manage to snag a few photos and make an accidental video.

The neighbors I referred to were the father-son duo I met the night before. They had just left to clean up after breakfast, and for some reason I felt awkward talking to myself within earshot of strangers.

The picture I was trying to take was of my camp site:

That day I hiked a short, but exhausting 8.1 miles to Tray Mountain Shelter. The day started with a short climb to the top of Blue Mountain (I was leaving Blue Mountain Shelter less than a mile from the summit) followed by a 1076' decent to Unicoi Gap, 1068' climb up Rocky Mountain (where my camera battery finally died), 904' decent to Indian Grave Gap, and finally a 1317' climb up Tray Mountain. The Tray Mountain Shelter is .5 miles from the summit.

I was the first person at the shelter that afternoon and set up my hammock about 200' from the lean-to. I was eventually joined by the father-son group I met the previous night (they slept in the shelter), followed by a missionary group of 24 men, mostly 20-somethings and a few older guys who I assumed were the group leaders. The group was planning a missionary trip backpacking across Africa, and were preparing with an overnight hike on the AT. One of the guys, Steve, previously attempted a thru-hike but dropped out in Virginia for personal reasons.

After the big group settled in two more small groups arrived: another father-son duo, and a middle-aged woman hiking with her dog.

Dinner was cooked, and eaten. A fire was made. Stories were told. Bedtime was around 7:30.


Some more pictures:

Plaque at Unicoi Gap

View on the way up Rocky Mountain

Selfie (view obviously overexposed)

View on top of Rocky Mountain

More Rocky Mountain views

Last picture on the hike =(