Day 5

I made a lot of mistakes today. At least I’m now set for a short hike tomorrow and I plan to get off trail for a couple days to recoup. I don’t know what happened to Matt. We discussed trying to get a cabin and split the cost but I don’t know where he is now. We had decided yesterday to get up early, pack up without dealing with breakfast and just haul butt to Woods Hole Shelter. So that’s what we did. It was going to rain all day so waiting wouldn’t have helped. We got up at 6am, packed up in the rain, the top stay on my backpack snapped out. Matt took off and I thought I’d find him at Woods Hole. My goal has been to stick to 8 miles (10 max!) but I broke that rule trying to get to Woods Hole. I didn’t eat breakdfast. I forgot to put electrolytes in my water. I only took 2 breaks; one to eat a 150 calorie cookie and the other to refill my water bottles. I’m soaked. I’m tired. The climbs today from Gooch to Woods Hole were INSANE! I’m here. Since I didn’t see Matt at all on trail or here at the shelter, I went ahead with other plans and contacted a hostel. I’d love to see the sunrise from Blood Mountain but I think I’ll sleep in. I have less than 4 miles to Neels Gap. I’ll check out Mountain Crossing and contact the hostel for a pickup. I’ll spend the next 2 days drying out and plan the next section.