Date: 2016-04-09
From: Gooch Mt Shelter

To: WolfPen Shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: overcast clouds

What a night. Remind me not to have a cup of black coffee at 7pm to warm up. After our long 7.7 mile hike today I was beat by Gooch shelter. I pushed the last mile and made it to the shelter. The crew yelled storm where is trooper. (Sharon name from now on. We are storm-trooper.) I said she's struggling. They were ready to jump up and carry her up. I said I'm gonna drop my pack and head back down. I met up with her about .50 down the trail and took her pack up to Gooch. We were able to get a spot in the shelter ( thanks again). Set up made dinner and coffee. I was beat and we crashed. Then the coffee kicked in. At 12am I'm sitting looking at the stars listening to the wind. Then an owl or something similar hooted and others responded it was so cool. At 1am I was like oh come on, sleep why do you allude me. Then I crashed. The wind howled and the trees were swinging. Thank god no branches or trees came down and no one was hurt. By morning it was 34 and 40 mph winds. Gonna miss tune up as he was the man to make a fire. Every time we arrived at camp the fire was going. Hope to see him again. We packed up or tried. The word of the day was disheveled. We couldn't fit anything in our packs, or left pieces out. I was like what? it's not like we went shopping and I can't fit the new stuff in our suitcase. We kept laughing at the absurdity. We called the hiker hostel to inquire about the 5pm shuttle they said yea sure free shuttle but we are sold out booked to capacity. We were a bit down but called the wolf den country store that listed bunks for 20 bucks they said we have beds and shouldn't sold out. We were pumped. Then we were off. We met so many pups in the first mile. Lots of day hikers were out. Even though windy it was bluebird skies. So many pups were being walked. We met Emma, Toby, brownie and Sammy. Made me miss my sandy girl at home in New York. We finally met Dexter who's staying here with us at the hostel tonight. Sharon was sore after her tough hike yesterday but trooper was a trooper and kept keeping on. People are starting to call her super trooper on Facebook and emails. We summitted ramrock mountain. A day hiker gave us her two tangerines... Fresh fruit!!!!!! When we were packing up after our snack/ lunch a day hiker going southbound said there are hot dogs at woody gap! We ran, well I ran and Sharon hustled along. I got to the gap and said hello. Said thank you thank you, you all are amazing how long will you be set up. He said probably through tomorrow we are gonna camp out here. I said if I drop my pack will you watch it? They said sure and I ran back found Sharon and carried her pack again for her so she could have a break for the last .75 mile. We arrived at the gap and had hot dogs, cookies, chips, water. So Appreciated. Thanks to the three awesome guys at woody gap on Saturday April 9th. Sharon called the wolf den country store hoping they still had beds as it was supposed to be down to the 20's. They said yes we will send a shuttle. Woohoo hurray hurray. We got in and were able to do laundry, hot shower, resupply, and in the country store we got the biggest bacon, sausage pizza and split it. We are in a warm space with full tummies. Very content.! Goal tomorrow is to hike from woody gap to lance creek, acces how Sharon is feeling and probably tent there. Blood mountsin is coming and I want her to recover from the 7.7 from yesterday. We have met so many great people. The last two days we have met tuneup, little foot, timber and her dog Dexter, blondie, Dennis, Phillip and Cate. I hope Cate and the crew are ok tonight at lance creek campsite with the cold. They were pushing on from Gooch but didn't want to push Sharon that much. We will meet them again. One quick note about Cate. She is from Minnesotta and is thru hiking and is picking up trash while hiking as part of a trash pick up project. She has a grabber and ran around cleaning up each shelter location. A truly amazing girl. I hope we see her again.