Sunday, June 12th

Mountain Harbour B&B (395.3 mi) to Moreland Gap Shelter (413.7 mi)

Hiking Miles: 18.4

Total Ascent: 4,233.9 ft

Total Descent: 3,256.2 ft

Total Grade: 407.1 ft/mi

Steps: 49,993

I got up early this morning and sat with Oda Mae on the couch while waiting for breakfast to start. I also seized the opportunity to catch up on my journaling.

WHAT A BREAKFAST! It certainly lived up to its hype!

Creamy Lemon Strudel, eggs Souffle, meat filled potatoes, fluffy cheesy hash browns (that I thought was rice at first), crispy and yet soft circular French toast with a caramel syrup mixed with pecans, fluffy biscuits with creamy gravy, assorted fruits, a jar of granola, omelets with tomato & various spices, a soft tortilla filled with egg and various meats/veggies, chocolate chip cookies and muffins, hard boiled eggs, ham, sausage links, etc.  In-freakin’-credible!

And oh yes – COFFEE, orange juice and lemonade.

You could obviously see the pride that the ladies took in their cooking (the process all began the night before) explaining each type of food, and watching guests enjoy every bite – especially hikers with hunger, like us. It was by far the best breakfast we’ve had on trail, and perhaps off-trail.

After we were totally full, we packed up all of our stuff and hit the trail.

We had a relatively slow pace, mainly due to our bodies feeling the 34 miles we hiked the day prior. We completed 18.4 miles before stopping at the Moreland Shelter where we tented for the evening. There were three older gentlemen already there at the shelter. We had not seen any of them before, and had wondered where they showed up from – perhaps weekend hikers or just traveling south.

We cooked some dinner, then booked a cabin for the next evening at the Boots Off Hostel only 14.8 miles away because we wanted to explore options for potentially aqua blazing (riding a kayak in lieu of physically hiking) and slack packing.