Sassafrass to Plum Orchard

I woke up to this beautiful sunrise right outside of my tent. I was camped right next to a steep drop off. I could see the bright orange glow of the sun coming up through my tent door. None of the pictures I took with my phone could do it justice. It was a really cold night with lots of wind. I left the toggles open on my tent to see if it would help with condensation and there was none! I had trouble sleeping and kept waking up from the cold though.

The day didn't have anything too particularly rough in it. I was coming up on Dicks Creek Gap which has a road through it.  I was hoping to find some trail magic and I did! A group of 3 college students out of their car! The one girl was doing this as part of her final for her Appalachian Trail Studies Course as part of her outdoor leadership major I believe. That would be such an interesting class to take and I'm surprised that there is such a class. They were wonderful and gave me ice for my toes as well as a bunch of food! Then I continued on my way.

I ended up going a solid 11.3 miles to Plum Orchard Shelter. It took a lot longer than expected to get there but I made it right around sunset. The shelter was a ways off the trail but there was a small group camped near the trail saying all the tent sites at the shelter were taken so I ended up finding this prefect tent site on the other side of the trail.

Tonight I'm camped at Plumorchard Gap Shelter which is mile 73.8 with 2116 left to go.