muskrat creek shelter to carter gap shelter

last night was cold. the water in my bag had ice crystals all through it when i poured it into my pot to make oatmeal for breakfast. i had to employ all methods of keeping warm, from peeing immediately instead of holding it, to piling clothes on top of me. (putting them on actually insulates you less than creating an air cavity above you in your sleeping bag).

i got up right around the time i heard the first bird chirping, but the cold hadn’t broken yet, and in fact wouldn’t all day. it was a cold day of hiking, but a beautiful one none the less.

nico and i chatted and hiked the whole day. we passed standing indian shelter, the last shelter i stayed in in 2020. i didn’t stop to take the blue blaze to go see it, but we did stop at standing indian mountain, which the trail skirts below the summit. it doesn’t look like it has a view, but if you head up a small footpath, you’re rewarded for your efforts.

from there it was a long steady descent to a nice lunch spot in a gap. after lunch, i hiked with my puffy on for a bit. in the sun with no wind it was quite pleasant, but the second the sun was hidden by a cloud or you were on the windward side of a ridge it was biting.

on our way into the shelter we passed a sign that indicated that we were on the border of a bear sanctuary!

minutes later as we entered the tent pads around the shelter we were greeted with warning signs about bears getting into hanging food. you would think there would be a bear box or bear cable here, but you would be wrong. in fact, since we entered north carolina, not one shelter has had either. sadly, the result of short sightedness like this is that bears will be more likely to become problem bears, and will end up having to be shot.

nico and i set up our tents, and then i checked the weather and discovered that some pretty strong winds were forecasted for tonight. we ended up moving our tents down the ridge a bit to a more sheltered position.

the site again filled up with tons and tons of hikers. i tried to get a photo of it all, but it was impossible. i walked around and counted tents at one point, and got to 36, but folks were still coming. again i estimate there were something like 50 for the night.