Day 3: Hogpen Gap to Unicoi Gap

We hiked hard today, about 14 miles. It was absolutely beautiful again; sunny and in the high 50s. Saw a little plane fly overhead. So weird - totally out of context. Met two more hikers. DixieGrits (older guy from Mississippi who says he wants to move to Virginia, too many rednecks and too many republicans.) "Rednecks are everywhere", said owl. "Republicans too", I said.

Eventually dixiegrits stopped to eat lunch, and we passed him for the day. We caught up to a young guy who we heard singing his heart out across the mountain. Owl gave him the trail name Pipes. We'll see if it sticks. He was worried because he had lost his hiking partner the day before. We both know how much that sucks, so were sympathetic. He said his pack weighs 50 lbs. Oofta.

My feet are still hurting. Think I have new blisters from where the old ones were taped. Ugh. I was so happy to get to our destination for the day, ahead of schedule! Slackpacking is awesome, but there is pressure to be at a specific place at a specific time. If we were tenting it, we could just stop whenever. But if we were tenting, we wouldn't have delicious Mexican food for dinner, or our lovely wives greeting us, or hot baths, or fluffy beds.