Date: 2022-10-05
From: Established Site Mile 411.3

To: Mountain Harbor B&B (Exit at US 19E) Mile 395.3
Miles today: 16.0

It was a cold start to the morning but the replacement 20 deg sleeping quilt worked well. I only had the sleeping clothes and the fleece on overnight. If my arm came out of the quilt it was a bit chilly but I wasn¢t cold enough to have to put the puffy on. It was being held in reserve under the quilt so at least it would have been warm to put on. I had hot chocolate to keep warm and actually heated up the oatmeal water as well instead of just cold soaking. Coach left camp and then Orchid and I left camp at 7:25 and it was still distinctly dark in places like all the Rhododendron Glens. That¢s one thing that I have really noticed as we head south. There are a lot more Rhododendron¢s and they are often very dense. PA had a bunch of dense sections but after that while we would see them they were more sparse. Here entire hillsides seem to be covered in them. Today we were noticing that the temperature often dipped as we went into a Rhododendron Glen although it was also dropping when we went into a hollow. I was in fleece and gloves for portions of the day again and spent a lit of time putting the gloves on and off or adjusting clothing. We ran into three day hikers who were intending to go southbound but accidentally ended up northbound. We would leapfrog them for much of the day.We stopped for a morning snack and to get water at the first shelter. Coach left first and saw a bear cub about a quarter mile down the trail. It took off when it saw him. Eventually we got to the Jones Falls which is a pretty tall waterfall which we had picked for a lunch spot. There was a trail up through the woods to the top and I climbed up to get the nice views from the top looking out over the valley to the mountain across the way. Noticing more fall foliage every day. I¢ve been trying to carry less water especially now that it¢s not warm out and I¢m not sweating as much. Been doing pretty good with finishing water just before the next source. Today we passed up an extremely shallow source and then the next one was sketchy so ended up getting to the hostel dry and thirsty. Mountain Harbor is a pretty nice hostel but unfortunately the food truck on premises wasn¢t serving today and the ¢best breakfast on trail¢ was also not happening either. From what we could tell the cook was having a family emergency. Update: We talked to a hiker that got the breakfast and he said it was amazing¢¦ so bummer for us.However, as the saying goes, the trail provides. There was a couple Robert and Lyndsey up from Mississippi and Alabama that are doing an overnight backpack trip tomorrow and staying in the hostel¢s tree house. Robert has done a large part of the AT while this is Lyndsey¢s and their puppies first trip. We were talking with them for a while in the afternoon. Eventually they offered us a ride to the Mexican place they were going for dinner. When they found out there were two other section hikers that also were in need they made two trips to get both groups to the restaurant. The seven of us ate dinner together swapping trail and home front stories. On the way home they swung by the grocery store so we could pickup some remaining resupply items. It¢s random interactions like these that I really enjoy, and most of the reason I didn¢t get any updates done on this town day. Steps 33500Weather Forecast: 61/43 sunny