clayton to muskrat creek shelter

dan and nico shared a bed, toby had the other bed and i opted for my sleeping setup on the floor.

woke up pretty early and packed up. dan and i took off early to go to the rusty bike cafe for breakfast. i got a breakfast burrito i think mostly because of magz. it was awesome. i think they slapped it in a panini press or something. the tortilla was nice and crispy. hash browns and a coffee later and we were on our way.

dan and i arrived at outdoor76 pretty early and waited while loads of other hikers arrived for the shuttle. the weather was good today, so the town is emptying out.

on trail i started following dan for a few miles before taking off on my own. nico stayed pretty close behind.

the trail was dry and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. the wind was pretty cold however, so i was happy to be in the sun.

i stopped by a spring to have some lunch, nico arriving shortly thereafter. it turned into a popular spot with many hikers stopping there by the time i left.

i passed the nc/ga border sign, which in my memory had been on the left side of the trail, but it is in fact on the right. memories are so weird and not nearly as high fidelity as we tend to think.

as was the case in 2020, the climb just after the border crossing was a doozy. i was told by a hiker that the pipe on the tree at the border sign marks the top of blood mountain, our previous tallest. i climbed pretty much all afternoon from there.

i arrived at muskrat creek shelter around 15:00. some hikers were staying, and others heading off to the next one. the group had decided to stop here, and i was happy to have an afternoon catching up on writing. i even managed to take a nap.

the shelter filled up like i’ve never seen before. there had to be 50 tents when everyone was in. there were tents all along the trail on both sides, and above on the ridge. it was nuts. everyone had stayed in a town on the rainy day and then exited en masse for the dry hiking days ahead.

after dinner our crew went up to the ridge to watch the sunset. i called magz and chatted with her for a bit. it was a nice end to the day.