Got up around 7:00, but didn’t hurry, because the lodge doesn’t open until 8:00, and everything was already packed up. The owner of Goose Creek was cleaning out his Jeep to give us a ride back to the trail right at 8:00. He also found some strapping tape for our package to mail back home. We had to ride up in shifts, because his Jeep was only a 2-seater, so even with Brandon in the back, we wouldn’t all fit with the packs. Even with two trips, we were still on the trail before 9:00. The skies looked like they would open up any minute, but it never rained all day. Once again, the cool fog and wind kept the hiking pleasant. What a blessing, because the trail today was boringly nondescript. No real mountains and no views. Just a lot of little ups and downs, rocks and roots.

About the most excitement all day was when we thought we lost Brandon on top of Wildcat Mt. We had crossed Cowrock Mt. and Tesnatee Gap by noon, but there wasn’t anywhere to stop for lunch. We decided to go one more mile up and over Wildcat Mt. to Hogpen Gap. Brandon has really been hiking well the last couple days, and seems to have his "trail legs". He’d jet ahead a ways, but so far, hadn’t gotten too far away from us. The blazes up Wildcat were few and far between, and the trail overgrown. Brandon zoomed ahead, then just disappeared. When we got to the top, I started worrying that he’d missed a blaze at a tricky turn. When we got to the junction with Whitley Gap Shelter and he wasn’t there either, I was really concerned. He usually waits at a junction. We dropped our packs and hollered, but no answer. Ronald backtracked and whistled, and I stayed there and hollered.

It turned out Brandon wasn’t lost at all. He’d just been moving fast, and had gone all the way to Hogpen Gap. He knew that’s where we were stopping for lunch, so it made sense to him to continue. It did make sense, we just weren’t expecting him to get so far ahead so fast. When we finally got back together we had a few tense moments. Ronald was upset he’d kept going beyond a junction, and Brandon was upset that we didn’t trust him to find his way on the trail. We settled on a compromise. Brandon could hike off at his own pace as long as we all agreed on a place to meet, or that he would stop and wait if there was an unexpected or unclear junction.

After the fiasco at lunch, the rest of the afternoon took us another 4.6 miles up, down, across, over and around several more little mountains. We passed over White Oak Stamp, Poor Mt, and Sheep Rock Top, before coming to the shelter at Low Gap around 3:30.

When we got to the shelter, we met a young guy named Ryan, from Indiana. He was boiling water, because his brand new Pur filter quit working. He had a huge pack, stuffed to the max, which he said weighed in at over 70 pounds! Good grief! He’s heading to Clingman’s Dome in the Smokies, and is carrying all his food for the entire trip. We asked him why he didn’t just set up mail drops, and his answer was that he didn’t have any friends who would do it for him, and he didn’t trust his mother to remember. I guess it didn’t occur to him that he could have mailed them himself before leaving home.

We swept out the shelter and set out the packs and bags. It didn’t look too bad. The shelter register was full of tales of mice, bats and bears. We’ll hang the food and hope for no bear. A camp group from Tennessee got in just before the rain started around 5:00. There were three counselors for three boys. They set up a dining fly and a tent, so only a couple of them planned to sleep in the shelter. Glad for that, because 10 in this shelter would have been more than cozy.

This evening has been very interesting -- if you’re an adolescent boy. I would have finished writing an hour ago, except for the camp kids and their incessant barrage of silly camp guessing games. The kind that go on and on and on, until everyone guesses the trick. I can’t even count how many times "My Aunt Emma died last night" before they all guessed. Brandon joined in eventually, so he had a fun evening.

Just heard someone yelling from a campsite up the hill, so it sounds like the bear is in the area. Hope he doesn’t pay us a visit in the night. If so, there should be enough people to scare him off. Hope for an early morning tomorrow. Have our first 15-mile day ahead of us.

I didn't sleep any better in the bed last night than I have in my sleeping bag lately. I don't think I've gotten used being away from home yet. It will be nice to get a full nights sleep sometime soon.

Last night Beth "Dream Chaser" Baily unexpectedly showed up at Goose Creek. It was after 8:30 and well after dark. After passing her on the approach trial, frankly we had not expected to see her again. Despite being out of shape and a way too heavy pack, she pulled a fourteen-mile day yesterday. In order to lighten her load, she left the bulk of her tent at the shelter on Springer. Taking only the poles and fly with her. She also discarded the fuel bottle to her stove, reasoning that if she doesn't cook at home, why cook on the trail. I have to give her credit. As inexperienced and unprepared as she is, she's giving it one hell of a try. In her shoes, I'd have probably given up. She rode up to Neel's Gap with us this morning. I think she's going to reevaluate her gear and send some home and some ahead. I may be wrong, but I doubt we'll see her again.

When we left this morning, the weather channel was promising scattered storms for the rest of the day. Much to our relief, the storms were scattered around us and left us to hike relatively dry. They did keep the temperatures down and clouds hung close to the tops of the mountains. All of our potential views were nil, fortunately there weren't many. At least we had excellent weather for hiking.

In general, our hike today was somewhat uneventful. That is except for a little episode just after we passed Tesnatee Gap. We'd decided to stop at Hogpen Gap for lunch but there was a mountain to cross first. The climb up the ridge was rough so Linda and I were taking it slowly. On the other hand Brandon was feeling good, so he went ahead. Generally he'll stop after a ways until we catch up but today he just kept walking. When we got to the start of the hike down to the gap, he was nowhere to be found and didn't answer our calls. Since the trail wasn't well marked on the climb up to ridge, I dropped my pack and hiked all the way back to the other end of the ridge. I was afraid he's taken a wrong turn on the assent. When I heard a faint call from Linda I turned back. He'd hiked all the way to the gap where we'd planned lunch. When we met up, we came to an understanding that in the future, he would inform us before taking off on his own. I'm not sure I could take too many events like that one.

Tonight we're staying in a shelter for the first time on the trip. When we arrived around 3:00, only one other hiker was here. He's section hiker is on his way to the Smokies. His pack is 75 pounds with twenty days of food. We asked him if he's heard of mail drops. He replied that he couldn't trust his mother to send them. Being somewhat out of shape and caring a heavy pack he's only doing about five miles a day. I suggested that he mail some of his food ahead when he gets to the next road.

Shortly before the rain hit a group of six boys from a camp arrived. For the rest of the evening we've been entertained with numerous camp jokes. Brandon's having a great time interacting with kids his own age.

Today we woke up in beds inside our cabin and packed our packs. We walked down to the main lodge and there we got a ride to Neel's Gap where we started hiking. We had heard that there were scattered showers, but it was not raining. So we hiked on and got to Tesnatee Gap around 12:00, but decided to go on to Hogpen Gap. I was hiking really fast and I got ahead of mom and dad. I didn’t stop at a trail junction and got way ahead. My parents got worried and were yelling for me. I was way ahead and didn't hear. So, later when they got down they were upset with me for going so far ahead. The rest of the day fine and we got into camp around 3:30. Some kids came in after us. There was already a college kid in there. So we just made room. The kids played some games like "my aunt Edna", two sticks cross or uncross, and bang bang your dead.