Date: 2014-04-26
From: Bly Gap

To: Standing Indian Mountain
Miles today: 9.2

   I slept so well thankfully. We got up around 745 but didn't get onto the trail until around 10. The first three miles were pretty tough because we had a big climb. We were happy to reach Muskrat Creek Shelter but there was a big group of boy scouts and I'm certain that was the loudest I've heard people out here. But of course, they're not thru-hikers. Two previous thru-hikers started a company for resupplying good and have dehydrated stuff to buy. They were set up in the shelter and gave us a bag of various spices which was cool. We sat down to eat Triscuits and hummus for lunch and it was probably the best thing we've had on the trail. So unbelievably good. We hung out there for an hour and a half talking to those people and each other and just relaxing. They told us about ramps that are found along the trail. They're a cross between onions and garlic. We found them and tried them (delicious, like raw garlic but not as strong) and foraged a bunch for dinner. The rest of the trail from there to get to Standing Indian Shelter in around five miles wasn't so bad. On a break right before the climb up Standing Indian Mountain, there was a Walmart bag of cold Mountain Dew. I was reluctant but had it anyway. It was gross but helpful I suppose. And I was just saying when we got to that parking lot, "Is it bad that I immediately look around and hope for trail magic?"   The climb up wasn't bad at all. I immediately noticed an owl flying and spotted him in a tree where he looked right at me! Beautiful big eyes and brown and white feathers. When I yelled to Ben to look at it, the owl flew further but he stopped by a tree to look where he somehow noticed two bees having sex! The funniest thing was the sound. It sounded like my shoes squeaking. Too amusing. We got up to the shelter for a short break and soon met Uncle Monkey. He offered me figs so I had a few of those before we headed out. We wanted to reach the summit to camp there because we didn't want to climb it in the morning and we knew there'd be a great view and sunset.    So when we finally got to the summit, we noticed a great view and two fathers with two little girls set up there. It didn't look like there was too much extra room so we settled further back down the trail. But first we walked further along the ridge following some blue blazes that led to the most unbelievable view we'd seen yet. We were in complete awe and disbelief. Mountain ranges for miles in about 180 degrees of view. We sat there for a bit and knew we wanted to come back for sunset. Since we got to camp late, around 530, we had to cook and hang our bags and quickly noticed we were running out of time for sunset! We ran up the mountain which was unfortunately further than we would've liked and caught the trail end of it from the first viewpoint by those toe families. It was still breathtaking. We got a bunch of shots and the guys were asking us questions about our journey so far and the trail. After a bit we ran down to sit at the other viewpoint since the sky was still nice. It was just great laying there. We went back to talk to the guys and one actually wrote down my trailjournals site name to follow along. I enjoyed talking to them about it all since they were so curious and interested. Once it got a little darker and some stars were coming out, one guy pulled out his phone that had a constellation app that you could point at the sky and it tells you what's there! So we saw Jupiter and Mars and a bunch of constellations. It was really cool. The little girls were busy trying to start a fire and it was cute to watch them. Definitely reminded me of myself as a kid. I'm glad their parents are getting them to hike and do outdoors things like this. I would've loved all that but I'm glad I got into it eventually. They sounded like they were having a great time being out here though.    After staying up there until 930 or so talking to them, we decided we should get back down since I hadn't journaled yet and we didn't want to get to bed too late. Now I'm going to go into Ben's tent for a little while to look at the stars since he didn't put his rain fly on and there are just so many stars out! Gotta appreciate that while I can!