Started the day pretty rough.  We went right into a climb, and I could not shift past second gear. I’m blaming the mashed potatoes from the night before. I switched up from ramen and won’t make that mistake again!

We were treated to another break in the woods when we crossed a small bald.

Shortly after Seeker spotted an owl on a tree branch. (Rough getting a decent shot of it. It flew to a farther branch when we got closer)

Eventually, the path led us out of the forest.

We walked out into the sun towards the top of Bald Mountain. The grassy bald and vegetation took me back to the plains of Kenya.

At the top of Bald Mountain, the views were incredible, you could see mountains any where you looked in a 360 degree radius

Later in the day, we came upon a shelter that a group of section hikers had just moved on from.  They left a bag of food, a fuel canister and a leprechaun hat!

(I think Seeker pulled off the hat better than I did)

Finding the fuel was a lucky break as we had just run out.  The cold had sapped the fuel faster than we planned for.

Just before we got to our campsite for the night, we ran into a fallen tree that lay across the path.

Up to this point, Seeker and I have walked every step of the trail and this tree was no exception.  We barreled right through it and kept going.

We got to our campsite at whistling gap, it was nice to get away from the crowds of the shelters for a day.