May 2nd: Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC. to Carter Gap Shelter, NC. 12.5 miles

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The day broke slightly overcast without a breeze. A lone grouse thumped his wings looking for a mate and a young doe slowly walked past the shelter. We had a nice night of sleeping. Oatmeal for breakfast again with hot chocolate to wash it down. The terrain today was more hiker friendly than yesterday, the elevation gains were 500'-1,100' and only gradual grades not near vertical. The down hills were also foot friendly. We blazed down the trail at about 2 mph most of the day. The high point of the day was Standing Indian Mountain @ 5,480'.
We stopped at the Standing Indian Shelter for our lunch break 4.9 miles into the day. It had taken us just two hours to walk. We hung around the shelter for about 20 minutes, then back to the trail. We saw almost no one all day. There was a set of brothers that told us there were 8 other NOBOs in front of us that they had seen today. That was down from the 20 they had seen the day before. This NOBO (NOrthBOund) Pod thing doesn't allow you to really see how many people
there are out here. A bit later we met a group of six weekend hikers headed south. We have seen none of our Pod since leaving town.
We pulled into Carter Gap Shelter about 3:30PM. What a disappointment! This thing looked like the next big wind could blow it over. CC and I talked it over and decided to push on to the next shelter as it was early yet. No sooner had we hit the trail when the "New" shelter came into view, what a relief! We had walked 12.5 miles already and really were not looking forward to four more miles. That and we have been getting conflicting weather reports, most say rain
sometime this weekend. With the threat of bad weather coming in and the lack of other hikers last night, we set up the tent inside the shelter and started supper.
We had just finished up when an older couple walked in SOBO and asked if there was room for them. There was plenty of room and they started unpacking, asking about the water and other important shelter information. We talked for about 30 minutes when three guys headed north came in. CC and I decided it was time to move the tent into the woods and pray for no deluge tonight. After moving we came back in and chatted. The three were two sons and a father out for the weekend. Two hours later it was time to hit the rack. A fine day on the trail all in all.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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