April 14

Our first day began at 2:30am. We finished packing everything and loaded up the van for the six hour drive to the trailhead. Huge thank you to Rae and Dave, Ostin's parents, for hosting us for a week and making the drive.

After pictures and goodbyes we set off around 11:00. We ran into quite a few other hikers starting out including Craftsman, a hiker I shared a shuttle with to Springer Mtn, GA at the start of my AT hike. We made steady progress with frequent water breaks and made it to Hauser Creek around 6:00pm.

We decided to press on to Lake Morena before stopping for the night. That was another four miles starting with a 1000+ ft climb. We hiked through the sunset and rolled into camp at 8:30pm, a half hour past hiker midnight.

Set up was a fast and quiet affair and we were out fast.