Day 4-3/14-Neels Gap to Low Gap Shelter-11.5 miles

There was a strong climb immediately out of Mountain Crossings, which gave way to a day of ups and downs that was by this point becoming familiar. I had left with about a liter and a half of water, but this being a clear day unlike the previous one I had neglected to account for the heat. I ran out of water right at a stream, but the flow was not strong enough for me to be able to refill without debris. Since I am not using a mechanical filter the debis will remain even though my chemical filtration will mean the water is clean. It is not a big deal, and it can be worked around by using a bandana to filter out the debris, but being four miles from the shelter I elected to push on.

I arrived a Low Gap Shelter fairly early, another common theme from my previous days of hiking. While I seem to have one speed that is higher than average for most of my fellow hikers, I am not yet in shape enough to put in the really long days. Hiking at 2-2.5 miles per hour allows me to cover this day's hike in 4-5 hours, for example. This is obviously a short day that could be extended easily, except for my muscles. While I have been without blisters or any other real injury, my feet and calf muscles have been letting me know all the work they have been doing. I am looking forward to the 7-8 hour days when I can cover some real ground, but I'm not there yet.

We had a good group of people at the shelter. I cooked some dinner and made some new introductions (I still did not have a trail name) and decided to sleep in my tent instead of the shelter. I could not find a campsite I was very fond of, but eventually settled on one that was less than level. I would slide around all night, but managed reasonable sleep. When I awoke for breakfast we found a mouse had chewed through Sasquatch's food bag overnight and (ironically) ate his cheese. It was designer cheese from the outfitter, which I think would have cost approximately $20 per pound if it were sold in those quantities, so the mouse at least had good taste. One of my purchases had been a food bag that is made from the same material as prison guards' vests (stabproof) so that small rodents cannot chew through it. I found my food unperturbed. I was also informed that the shelter had a pair of visitors overnight, and that several people had pictures of the bat with whom they slept. Some dried soup mixed with too little water was a very warm and tasty way to start the day, and I was off by about 9 AM.