It was another gorgeous day to be on the trail. Last night there were so many people in the shelter that condensation was dripping from the metal roof onto everyone on the top bunk, including me. And all of our food bags were covered in frost. Once we got moving though, it warmed up quickly.
We stopped for a long second breakfast at a plane wreckage from the 70s. Apparently there are 16 wrecks throughout the park. This one hit the other side of the mountain and some pieces flew over the top so there wasn’t actually much there, a few small pieces. The ridgerunner said he caught some teenage boys trying to hike out some pieces the other day so I guess more should be there. It’s only a foot off the trail though so I’m surprised more people haven’t taken something in all that time. I did see something shiny down the hill and bushwhacked down to find more larger pieces. Pretty cool any way.
Later in the day I ran into a group of people on horses and mules who were doing trail maintenance, cutting up all the blow downs from the recent storm. I had been wondering when I’d see some horses because there are hitching posts all throughout the park. Dodging their manure the next couple of miles on the trail was not quite as fun.
We hiked 14.8 miles to Davenport Gap shelter, mostly downhill which kills my feet. We had thought of going farther to get out of the park tonight and be able to camp but the shelter was nice and not crowded for once. It does still have chain link fence over the open side, unlike all the other park shelters that have been redone. Apparently people were feeding the bears through the fence so once again, people need to be protected from themselves and all the chain link is being removed.
We had a very nice campfire and hung out late.
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