Day 3 Friday
We’re up early and are on our way to the Gooch Shelter. We meet Dennis from Florida. He is in his 70s but still walks at a fast pace. He’s planning to do a “flipflop”. This is when you hike North to Harpers Ferry, fly to Maine and then walk South to Harpers Ferry. After hiking up and down a few mountains we arrive early at the shelter. The official camp sites are already filled up and we pitch on an incline (during the night we literally rolled to the side of the tent). We figure out how to hang our food bag in a bear safe way and start to chat with fellow hikers at the shelter. A smokey campfire is started. There are quite a few section hikers and some of the hikers we met at the previous shelter. Little Foot is on her second attempt after previously injuring her knee on the AT. She helps us by pointing out the next re-supply point after Neel’s Gap. There’s a guy (Mitchell) who quit his job at REI to Thru-hike the AT. He did environmental studies and this should be good for his CV. Tough job… Jurgen’s first attempt at hanging his food bag is heckled as a “bear pinãda”. At least lions have the decency to (mostly) stay out of your tent. I sleep uneasily, rolling to the side and hearing noises. Its really cold. What does a bear sound like anyway???