Date: 2015-03-20
From: Gooch Mountian Shelter

To: Lance Creek 
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: fog

It rained all night again. I sleep fitfully but was warm all night. The rain had finally stopped but we had to start the process of packing up a wet camp. Bah such a struggle. The weather was absolutely beautiful though. The sun came out! So exciting. I am loving this hike!! I thought I would have such a hard time but I've been doing great. My body is a bit sore but nothing too bad. And I am just in love with hiki g and this experience! I can't get over it. And I can't thank all those that have given me support enough!!Will left camp first, I followed shortly after. I met up with Will at Gooch Gap. There was a road crossing and people left some jugs of water for hikers. Across the road Will said people were gicing out hot chocolate. Sure enough I hear a call "Come get some hot chocolate from some Stangers". Haha, you didn't have to tell us twice! We hustled over and experienced our first Trail Magic. The Hiker Yearbook was camped there all week giving out hot chocolate to hikers. It was awesome. Nema and Odie were the people running it. We chatted and told stories for a bit. Great people. Sunny met up with us there as well as another hiker named MCat (So named for the woman allowing him to do this hike mary catherine). We continued on. We hiked in somewhat of a group that day. We alternated between silence and chatting. I fell a bit behind. Sunny and Will were much quicker at the uphill and some downhills. I tend to take my time. At some point we were all separated but we came into Woody Gap within a few minutes from each other. We decided it was a great day for a picnic lunch on a boni fide picnic table. MCat caught up with us there and had some lunch with us. But we couldn't stay long. It got chilly went you werent moving. We pressed on and stayed in a group for the most part. We were making fantastic time. We got into Lance Creek about 2 I think. We've been coming these 7-8 miles in just a few hours...4 at the max. The tent pads were pretty full so me moved back up the trail a bit and camped to the side. It was nice to be able to dry out all our stuff. We were also able to spend time outside chatting with each other instead of huddling in our tents for warmth. A ton of people came up the trail after us. MCat and TJ ended up sharing the same space with us.Lance Creek has no privy so I got to poop in the woods today. Hahaha! Not too bad. I hung my bear bag by myself, only had to throw the rock 800 times but I got it. The first time I got it over it was a little to close to the end so when I launched my food bag up the branch came down and whacked me in the head. Haha, embarassing!! I took it down and moved it over a bit. It was a success. I also soaked my feet in the creek that night. It was freezing but it felt so nice. I came up with a blister today but I think it was the socks I was wearing. It was a different brand than all the others I have and I don't like them as much. I also put plastic bags on my feet before putting in my boots since they were wet from the day before. After hiking in them all day and having toe warmers on my boots were pretty dry by the end of the day. We went to bed fairly early. We were getting ready to hike Blood Mountian the next day. We wanted an early start to get into Neels Gap before the rest of the hiard. Apparently there was a group of people hiking with instruments. We heard some music while relaxing in our sleeping bags. They sounded pretty good! Earplugs were on duty that night...MCat snores.