Day 115
Shaker campsite
We woke up to hot coffee at Button’s and Bearwalker’s house this morning. They were also going to give us a ride back up to the trail as well! I had a box with a new shirt waiting for me at the East Mountain Retreat Center so Nokey and I made the 1-mile round trip to get it since no cars are allowed up the hill. From here, we had to walk up to the trail about 1 mile away as well. After getting back on the trail, we immediately began a climb up to yet another formation called The Ledges. From here, we went up a steeper hill to the South Mount Wilcox Shelter for lunch. We sat there for nearly an hour before deciding to head on to the North Mount Wilcox Shelter to see if there was water. Manboy volunteered to go check an see since it was 0.3 miles away. Turns out there was none to be had, so we continued onward in search. We found a stream still running about a mile north, so we all stopped and filled up there before making the final 3 miles to our camp for the night. The next three miles weren’t as hard as the map lead us to believe. We had a beautiful descent down a fern-covered and well-groomed hill before coming to the Shaker Campsite, which was actually the site of a former Shaker community. There wasn’t any water here (so we thought) so we were happy to have packed so much here. A section hiker, Sunshine, checked her map and it indicated there was supposed to be a spring. We checked around and found a side trail straight to the source! It was so cold and pure, so we were happy to have clean water finally! We ended up having to get into the tent early because the mosquitos here we’re relentless! Manboy was ‘cowboy camping’ so I felt pretty bad for him. Tomorrow we hope to get in some big miles, but might not due to a storm coming. No photos today due to my phone shorting out. I can’t get my phone to shut off and it is killing my battery.