We left Hogback Ridge Shelter around 8:00 in the morning. It was misty but not raining, the sun was supposed to come out mid morning and shine the rest of the day. We decided to head to Whistling Gap Campsite. It was about thirteen and a half miles leaving another thirteen and a half to get to Erwin Tennessee. There was supposed to be a pretty good water source at the campsite, making it an ideal spot to stop.

Dundee kinda wanted to push a little further, he wanted to get into Erwin as early as possible, he had some business back home to take care of. I was pretty firm that I wasn’t going any further than the campsite, I wasn’t rushing to get to Erwin. I told Dundee and Stubz to do what ever they wanted. Hike your own hike dude, I’ll run into you down the trail. I had no problem with hiking alone for a while, I sorta looked forward to it.

We arrived at the campsite and found it to have a goos water source and some nice flat campsites. I took off my pack and started taking off my hiking shoes so I could put on my camp shoes. Dundee was still standing there with his pack on. He said he was going a couple more miles. I said that was cool and I would probably see him in town tomorrow sometime. Dundee then looked at Stubz, who said, “hey man I think I’m just going to hang back with Juanito, it’s a good campsite and I’m ready to stop too.” Dundee sorta shrugged then headed on down the trail. It would be the first night since they started the trail that Stubz and Dundee hadn’t camped together

It seemed kinda weird that our group was breaking up, 5.0 had left the trail, Dundee just split off, we were at least a day ahead or a day behind most of the people we knew. There was a couple we knew that showed up to the campsite, Potato and Brandy. And there were a few other hikers we didn’t know that showed up later in the evening. We went to bed around nine, “hiker midnight” as it’s called on the trail. The thru hikers respect hiker midnight, no more loud talking, fires are put out, everybody pretty much goes to their tent.

Around 10:30 three other hikers we knew showed u to the campsite and shined headlights everywhere looking for flat places to pitch their tents. After about 30 minutes of commotion they settled down too and the woods were quiet again once more.