We woke up warm and cozy in our hotel room while it was snowing outside. We got everything packed up and checked out. Back into the cold we went! We had to walk down to Walgreens for some foot care items and on the way, a sweet woman called out to us from a Burger King parking lot and asked if we needed a ride. We said, actually, yes we do!

She explained that her trail name was Stargazer, but her real name was Susan and her friend behind the wheel was Brenda. Susan told us all about her experiences with the AT and the John Muir Trail out west. They were so kind and took us all the way back to Neel's Gap for free. After the shuttle driver way over charged us the day before with his tiny Ford ranger we barely fit into, it was a welcome surprise. We got pictures with the lovely ladies before hitting the trail again.

I had bought some zero drop shoes the day before at the outfitter, since I've realized my shoes are too small and that's the reason I keep getting such bad blisters. However, wearing them one night around the town was already causing problems for my shins and Achilles, so I returned them right away. I will try to get the correct size of the shoes I have once I come upon another town or I'll have them shipped there. Switching back to my normal shoes made the pain go away after hiking another mile or so. It was very cold, windy, and snowy for a lot of the day.

We made it about 6 miles up the trail and took the extra mile detour down the side of the mountain to the Whitley Gap shelter that had more wind protection and bear hang cables. It is never fun to go that far off trail because it adds more miles, but it was worth it this time. With the extra warm gear I got at Neel's Gap, I was able to stay warm at night even when it got down to about 27°. We had to sleep with our water filters in our sleeping bags so that they wouldn't freeze. Somebody made a fire at dinner time so it was nice to sit and eat around that before crawling into bed. Two of the campers had dogs, a husky and a black German shepherd just like my Sander boy back home. It was fun playing fetch with him and watching the two of them play.

Allowed ourselves to sleep in today until it warmed up some. Took awhile to tend to our foot wounds and observe the cutest little shelter mouse we called Whiskers; so we didn't start hiking today until about 1 pm. We took our time and came across some trail magic at hogpen gap around 3 pm.

We ate salad and fruit there and I had a sprite to drink. It was nice getting some fresh food and some candy to take with us. The gentleman there said that he had cancer and had a revelational moment nearby and felt it was his mission to help the hikers that passed through. He said a blessing over the group of hikers that had gathered before we took off for the next few miles to the shelter we're staying nearby tonight.

When we got to the shelter, we had some dinner and chatted with the other hikers. Buttercup, who I met back at Gooch Shelter on the rainy day, knows a lot about reflexology. He was asking if anyone had any blisters they could use help with and so he helped rub my pinky toe out with some essential oils he brought. He had a book that talked about reflexology and I looked at some of the diagrams. It's very interesting and I was very grateful.

It was a much sunnier day today and we enjoyed the warmth and the easier elevation. Fingers crossed it will be a much more comfortable night!