(Daily Mi: 19.2) Got out at a decent hour (7:30 am) and had a great hike today. Nice trail for the first part of the hike. I did the first seven miles to the next shelter (Rausch Gap) in just over two hours. Took a break at Rausch Gap to wait for Chris. Cool shelter, built into the side of the hill. Very Tolkeinesque (or so I'm told). Piped spring flowing into a tin bath right at the shelter. Chris had a good hike as well today. He crashed out on the final climb, but then so did I. It was darn steep and we had already come almost 17 miles. I had thought we might make it to the shelter (and unlimited water) another 1-2 miles on before dark, but we passed a nice spot at about 6:30 pm and -- uncertain of our exact position -- decided to pull up while we had light to pitch and cook. Toast was good and tired today. He's a pretty good long distance dog, but I did notice he has started falling asleep about ten seconds after we sit down. Also, he gets so stiff when he sleeps, it takes him a good minute to stand back up. And yet he does seem to be quite happy (dogs are goony that way)