Cold Start to the morning! It was about 28 at the Hostel, glad we stayed, it was supposedly in the low teens overnight on the trail.

The Hostel dropped us off back at the trail and we started our 13 mile trek to Muskrat Creek Shelter. There was a little bit of ice on the sides of trail, but it quickly warmed up to near 50.

We even found some Spaghetti Grass!

It was a beautiful day for hiking, and as we climbed higher, the views and scenery got better and better.

Eventually we crossed into North Carolina, marking the second state on our trip.

We walked through several rhododendron tunnels

And came to a couple great lookout points

We made camp at Muskrat Creek and ended up with a little hammock city

Alex found a great look out point near the camp and we all walked up and watched the sunset over the mountains. The pictures probably don’t do it justice.

We ended the night roasting summer sausage and cheese at the campfire with some other hikers.

It is getting really cold again tonight.  As of right now it is about 20 and supposed to get to near single digits.  Going to be tough to get out of the sleeping bag tomorrow morning!