We woke up at 7:30 AM, packed all our stuff and started our hike down Pond Mountain at 8. We had a 2.8 mile down to Boots Off Hostel, where we wanted to stay the night before, but we didn’t make it. The hike down was fairly easy and gradual so we arrived at 9:30. Our plan was to do it fast so we could leave soon and hike for less time in the rain. At Boots Off we went to the camp store and bought some ramen, Snickers bars, and Cheetos bags. We threw our trash and refilled water. After that we ate cereal for breakfast, and I had a donut as well. Then we emptied our stomachs out, and left on our hike. While we were still near the hostel, we called Mountain Harbor, and asked to reschedule our pickup from Thursday to Wednesday, since we were planning on finishing by Tuesday evening. We hiked along Watauga Lake for a while and then started back on the mountains at mile 432.9. Then we had a 4.8 mile up to the shelter, but about 1.5 miles was flat. The hike up wasn’t bad and we saw some other hikers who were trying to make it to the hostel before the rain. Before it started raining badly, we decided to eat some ramen and cheetos for a quick small lunch. By 2:30 it started to rain and we got very wet. The rain wasn’t horrible though, and it let up after a bit. We got to the shelter by 5 PM, but the next shelter and camping spots were pretty far away, so we decided to sleep here. For dinner we had Pad Thai with chicken, and at 7:30 we went to bed. At around 9 PM, it was very windy and all of a sudden a bug gust of wind sprayed mud and water into our tent and everything got soaked, our sleeping bags, shoes, clothes, and bags. This was the worst thing that could happen but we just had to deal with it, so we went to bed