brandon gap to david logan shelter

miles: 8.0

at 05:30hr magz roused me. i think i just mumbled the word “no”. i got myself up and made coffee, while taking care of the last few house tasks. hackett arrived in the mini shortly after 06:30hr and had we were on the road 15 minutes later. we had to mask up for the drive and keep the windows down due to COVID. it was cold, and i was thankful i had on my puffy.

we arrived at brandon gap at 09:30hr, said sad no-hug goodbyes to hackett and were on our way. in case anyone wonders, she’s the best.

the day was nice and easy. the trail was as dry as i’ve seen it due to the now “moderate to severe drought” we’re having. not great for the area, but makes for some nice trail conditions. though it was cold i expected to be shedding my puffy almost immediately, but that didn’t happen. in part i think i expected to be at my normal pace generating that heat, but i never even broke a sweat.

we passed sunrise shelter after only a mile, but didn’t stop until around noon when we reached bloodroot gap where we stopped for lunch. a snowmobile trail intersected the trail and randomly there was a thermometer on a tree that read 48f. it didn’t feel that chilly, but on the other hand i was still wearing my puffy. i wouldn’t shed it until we were almost at the shelter.

we arrived at the shelter around 15:30hr, passing a dry piped water source on the way in. the next shelter was another 8 miles. thankfully another hiker was just headed out and directed us to another piped water source that was running within spitting distance of the shelter.

i showed magz how to use her new water filter and we headed back to camp to set up the tent.

tent set up, we blew up our fancy (state of the art, we decided magz step dad would say) sleeping pads and discovered that two wide sleeping pads takes up pretty much all the space in the three person tent. there is just enough room around the edges and at magz’ feet for our gear. (her pad is regular length, while mine is extra long)

we moved up to the shelter to make some tea and eat a snack. another hiker, “pants” showed up and we chatted a bit about the trail, gear, food, the usual.

we retired to our tent so i could write, and magz did a drawing. dinner at 18:00, hung the bear bag, and in bed by 19:30hr, when it was getting dark.

some additional photos from today: