Mar 15

DAY #13
START LOCATION: Carter Gap Shelter
FINISH LOCATION: Rock Gap Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 12.1
TRIP MILEAGE: 103.9
MILES TO GO: 2,075.2

The snow and sleet stopped by about 5AM this morning. I was out of
Carter Gap at 9AM and just flew up the ice encrusted trail. Caught a
great vista early and took it in with Hopi, a thruer from LA i'd met
the day before. There was a solid climb early up Albert Mountain, but
it was not as strenuous as I'd expected. The final push to the summit,
about a half mile, was near vertical and very technical. Hopi and I
climbed to the top of the summit's USFS Fire tower and there were some
amazing 360 views. Snow and ice coated all the trees in the nearby
mountains. It was a pretty amazing sight and got a lot of pics.

The afternoon was a dream... Slow, rolling, gradual snow-free
downhills and nice hardpacked trail. Breezed into Rock Gap 3:30...
Take away my 40 minute lunch at Big Spring, and I nailed 2 mph pace
today... And I felt fantastic.

Like we judge the president's first hundred days, I'll judge my first
hundred miles... I'm really holding up well so far... I've established
a solid routine when making and breaking camp. I'm starting to sleep
pretty well at nights and my body is adapting to the physical strain
as well as I could have hoped. Knock on wood.

All I have to do now is repeat 20 more times. Bring it.

-n8dog

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