This morning Jason and I took a group photo before striking camp. He was headed down to the visitor center to get picked up and I was headed down to Deep Creek at 2400 ft. I had to lose almost all the elevation that I gained yesterday plus climb high to Mt Collins Shelter at over 6000 ft. That isn't much compared to many mountains that I've climbed, but it is enough especially with a pack and at the end of a 17 mile day.

This is my last full day on the MST and I hiked hard. The first 7 miles into the valley passed by in just 2 hours. The hike upstream was pretty so I slowed down to enjoy that. Deep Creek had some small pools and mini-rapids. I thought about my earlier skinnydipping but this time I decided to only dunk my head. Salty water ran into my mouth.

The hike up Mount Collins progressed at 1000 ft per hour. It would have gone quicker if I knew that 2 beers and some peanut butter were waiting for me at the top. I almost passed them up. They were left as trail magic by Professor, an AT thruhiker in 2000. Thanks Prof.

From the beer cache I crossed the Clingmans Dome road and got on the Appalachian Trail. It smelled piney just like I remembered. I went a quarter mile south then turned off on another trail for the shelter. This shelter is a half mile off the AT so it doesn't see much use by thruhikers. That said, there are six long distance hikers here tonight. I shared the beer with Portland, then Tango arrived, followed by Bigfoot, and two from Alaska. No mice or bears have made an appearance as of yet. Wow it is 9:49 and I need to blow out the candle and get to sleep.