At 6 AM we got up and packed up everything in the campsite, and started hiking at 7. We went to go fill water from Stover Creek and then continued on the Appalachian Trail. Our goal was to hike 5.3 miles to Hawk Mountain Shelter for lunch. The hike was long and tiring, like you would expect, but on the way we did see a cool place. It was called Hickory Flats. We stopped there to take a quick break. There used to be a big town there. I saw the remains of a school and a big field which used to be a cemetery.

Once we arrived at Hawk Mountain Shelter it was 10 AM, since we hadn’t eaten any breakfast, we decided to eat lunch. My dad made some Miso Ramen noodles, they were delicious, especially after the long hike. After eating we went down to the stream to wash our dishes and fill more water. After packing up we decided to walk to Justus Creek at mile marker 14, and if we had enough energy and time, we would go to Gooch Mountain Shelter. It was 11:30 AM when we left Hawk Mountain and started walking. It took a while to get to Justus, but once we got there it was only 4 PM. So we decided to hike to Gooch, and got there by 5. There we set up our tent and ate Schezwan noodles for dinner. We were very tired and our legs were hurting. Unfortunately we forgot to pack the medicine, so there was no Advil to take for the pain. We got in bed early at about 7, for we had to hike up Blood Mountain, the tallest point on the Appalachian in Georgia, the next day.

We also met someone who was hiking 22 miles a day, which was inspiring. We were only doing about 13 miles a day. Although we had the same pace as him, we weren’t hiking as long, as he was.