Decided to push for a big day, hiking 26 miles from Groundhog creek shelter to Hot Springs. Got an early start, waking up before dawn, hiking the first hour in the dark. We worked our way up to Max Patch, climbing back up to 4600ft. As we got higher the wind picked up...

After our first 26 mile day we stayed in Ashville for a zero. In the morning we went to REI to replace my shoes. They were a little beat up on the outside, but the biggest issue for me was on the soles. One of them got a wrinkle on it that would not go away. Given...