Mon Mar 11, 2019 @ 18:56

11 March 2019 - Hiked 7.6 miles to Gooch Moutain Shelter in cold, wind-blown rain for much of the day.

This time of year, there are about ten thru-hikers per day starting from the southern ending of the AT. That we know of (there may be more) five of the approximately ten thru-hikers who started the same day as us have already quit their thru-hike attempt. Four who quit are men and one was a woman. Most who quit seemed to have never before hiked on steep mountain trails carrying a heavy backpack in inclement weather.

The views were fantastic today, despite the cold rain. Here at high elevation, we are expecting below freezing temperatures tonight. That means extra things in our sleeping bags to keep them from freezing (water purification filter, phones, and other luxuries).

With only one bar of phone service the past two nights, uploading photos has consistently timed-out/failed. Thus only text updates are happening until we next have a strong phone signal somewhere in the next few days.