(Daily Mi: 11.6) Brother and Laura took off first thing this AM for the Trail. I hovered until noon in defeated hopes that my drop box would show up at the P.O., bought what little I could at the store and got a shuttle to the Trail.

Lots of knobs and gaps today. Still less than 100% and am just not feeling the hike. Everyone I know is at least a day up on me and I grow weary of hiking towards two equally unpromising forks in the ridge line trying to guess from a distance which endless knobby profile I will end up humping across.

See no one on the Trail. It is dry but crisp. Wind howls to beat the band at the shelter. I am wearing everything I own and bundled to my chest in sleeping bag cooking my only solid trail meal over the weak flame of my alcohol stove.