Day 10

Origin: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Destination: Carter Gap Shelter
Today's miles: 12.5
Total miles: 94.9

I had my best night of sleep outside by far last night, but Magge can't say the same. Despite having a relatively big day planned today, we got a very late start. We were about to leave around 9:45am when some other hikers encouraged us to walk a short side trail. We left our packs at the shelter and walked up Raven Rock Trail, which took us past a plane wreckage (I don't know any of the details and will try to remember to do some research) to a beautiful lookout point. Eventually, when I get some pictures off the camera, I'll post the view here.

We got on the trail at 10:30am and had a gradual climb all morning up Standing Indian Mountain. At nearly 5,500 ft, it's the tallest mountain we've climbed so far by about 1,000 ft and will remain the tallest until we reach the Smokies. It was already 2:30pm by the time we reached the summit and we still had around six miles left, so we decided that I would walk ahead to make sure camp was set up before we lost sunlight. I made great time, finishing the six miles in under two hours. It's probably the best rhythm I've had since we started. Magge made great time too despite feeling worn out and sore, and we were able to eat and get all of our camp chores done with light to spare.