Total Miles: 528.0
Forcing myself to put on cold and wet clothes on a still-chilly morning may be one of the worst experiences out here. I shivered my way into them and headed out into the foggy morning. There's always something so quiet, so peaceful about hiking early before all the fog has burned off for the day. The colors are so vibrant in contrast to the gray all around. I love hiking alone when it is so quiet I can hear a leaf fall from a tree to the forest floor. The rain had stopped, but I felt like the trees were laughing at me with every gust of wind that would cause them to shake their rain-soaked leaves onto me and the trail below. I feel like fall is hot on my tail as the mornings are getting colder and the days are getting shorter. More and more leaves can be found littering the ground, and I look forward to being able to witness the leaves changing colors as the season progresses.
The start of the day soon found me in a cairn garden, surrounded by stacks of rocks that were bearing an eerie resemblance to tombstones in a fog-covered world. I took my first break at the Little Rock Pond, where I sat and watched a loon swimming around while I enjoyed a snack. There were 5 shelters today in a 10 mile stretch, and most of them were at very enjoyable locations. It became very hard for me to resist stopping at each one. I stopped for lunch at Big Branch Shelter down by the water. There were so many places to sit on the rocks and soak up the sun, so I made sure to enjoy every minute of it, drying out my socks and shoes that were still wet from last night. I had a gradual climb up to Baker Peak, where I was met with some great views. Most of the remaining hike was flat to Peru Peak Shelter and followed around Griffith Lake for a short distance. I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue on since the next shelter was 8 miles away, so I decided to stay at Peru Peak. It was a quiet location sitting right beside a stream. It reminded me of a lot of shelter locations in Maine. There are 2 other NOBOs here tonight. I'm hoping to start off early tomorrow so I can make it into town before the post office closes. It will certainly be a close call.
Cairn garden
The view from Baker Peak
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