Today was a tough day. There was a lot of climbing s you can see in the profile above (started at red dot and finished at orange shelter on far right). Plus, temps were getting warm and sun was beating down. The last steep part right before the shelter was a beast:..it’s called Jacob’s Ladder.

The picture above was from a memorial to a forest service worker. I really think hikers use it as a place to dump unwanted gear, i.e. the useless fork/spoon/knife Swiss army contraption. How do you use the fork and knife at the same time?

A cool section of trail…literally.

Another water bottle filling station, using a leaf scupper.

Someone was nice enough to provide a hose at this trickle.

Can anyone tell me what’s hanging from the rafters and how it’s used? …the prize is a shout out on my blog (I have like 50 followers!)

Trail Magic at Stecoah gap, plus a nice view.

My first night sleeping in a shelter. When I arrived at 6pm I was the only one, then a coupe more folks showed up. It is much warmer tonight so I wasn’t as concerned about using my tent to trap heat.