Date: 2017-05-15
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: Laurel Creek
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: broken clouds

Classy and I rose early, at 545 before the sunrise, and returned to our stargazing positions, armed with sleeping bags and breakfast fixings, to watch it return to the sky (or rather, watch the Earth turn under us and face the sun). First, the commercial airlines flying high above the Earth started reflecting the sun's rays as they experienced their early sunrise. Then the sun rose above the horizon, deep red, dimmed as it's light passed through the atmosphere, and mostly obscured by clouds on the horizon. We could only see strips of it through the clouds, sometimes an edge or two from which you could guess (based on the curvature) how far the sun has risen. A few minutes after the show began, it ended as the sun slipped behind another set of clouds and out of sight before it started rising AGAIN from behind the clouds. We watched it rise until it was too bright to look at, two sunrises for the price of one this morning!I hit the trail as soon as I finished packing, descending off the knob and onto a ridge. The ridge extended 10mi around the valley, but offered no clear views without trees along the way. I passed a road through a gap that we would later learn would have trail magic (beer, chips and dips) a couple hours later... I've got to stop getting up so early.After a couple more hours of hiking I arrived at a shelter, tucked into the valley between the ridge we just walked and the one we'd take this afternoon. I had elevensies with a group of hikers who had hiked past Chestnut Knob yesterday. After lunch I did a bit of stream laundry (a couple warm days of sweating will make clothes pretty ripe), hung them to dry in the sun on my bearline-turned-clothesline, and took a nap in the shade of the shelter as the lunch crew moved on. An hour later the hikers from Chestnut Knob started rolling in for lunch which I also joined them in. My clothes now dry and my siesta over, I packed up and hit the trail. Of course, not 5min into the uphill I was sweating again, but what can you do? The trail topped the ridge and joined an old forest road which was super flat and had easy footing, which made the hiking easy. About 5mi later the trail ducked down into another valley, but this time it contained our home for the night. With no shelter within easy reach we had decided to camp by Laurel Creek for the night. After Classy and Lookout arrived and we all made the decision that we were done for the day with went about setting up camp as more people rolled in.I had a terrible time hanging my bear line... I got my rope such in a vine and had to cut ~10ft of it off to recover the rest, I had the bag flip over a branch and come back at me, I got it stuck again and had to climb an adjacent tree to get it back (getting a little cut on my head in the process). Everyone has off days I suppose.Everyone at camp that night used the large creek for a quick river shower (the water is cold!). The river cascaded over a series of small rocky ledges that created a number of pools perfect for standing in as everyone washed their gear and selves.After dinner We finished the Two Towers and then chatted for a while with StinkyCheese (who seems to always carry a huge block of cheese to add to meals) before heading to bed.