Day 9: March 9, 2009

Well, we made it to North Carolina. We have gone almost 80 miles since Springer Mountain. One state down, 13 to go! Today we hiked about 10.6 miles and landed at Muskrat Creek Shelter which is just a few miles into North Carolina. It was a bit rugged today as we had many steep uphills. The temperature was hot for the most part, but there were some clouds so provide relief in the morning and a pleasant breeze for the better part of the day. We stopped for another long lunch break about 7 miles into our day right after we crossed into N.C. There was a really cool, old, gnarled oak tree and a pretty view. After lunch, the terrain got much steeper. Tonight we are camping again with Memphis, Indiana Jones, Evergreen, and Left Toe. A few others are also camping with us including Saw Man from Rhode Island and a guy who has already thru-hiked going southbound in 2006 and is now attempting to thru-hike northbound, like us. We have decided to call ourselves (Kat- "Giggles", Adam- "Topo", me- "OutLoud", and Mosey the dog) the Mosying Mountaineers. That is how we sign all of the registers in the shelters along the way. We told some more riddles around the campfire tonight and are enjoying the cool evening. Good night.