Sherpa & I met G8trh8tr at Table Rock State Park at 8:30am. We left our cars there and Sherpa shuttled us over to Oconee State Park for the start of our hike. The weather started off a little chilly but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The girls (my two dogs) were excited to be back on the trail again.

We met a group (8-9 day hikers) shortly after we began our trip, and they all snapped photos of Suzi & Maggie in their backpacks. We talked to the group for a bit as they were petting the girls. We then continued on our hike and we were all anxious to get some miles under our belts. This was the busiest I've seen the trail on my handful of hikes, we passed 18-20 people in the first 5-6 miles. Most were day hikers tho there were a couple of backpackers at a large campsite near Lick Log Creek.

G8trh8tr didn't have an opportunity to break in his new trail shoes for this hike and it would turn out to be disastrous. We were only a handful of miles into the hike and he'd already developed blisters on both heels. We stopped and covered 'em in moleskin and continued on to our destination.

We arrived at Simm's Field and the first order of business was letting the girls swim in the Chattooga River. I grabbed a couple of sticks and they fetched 'em out of the river for about 20 minutes. It was then time to set up camp and collect some firewood.

There was a couple up from Atlanta camped about 30 yards from us who also had a dog with them. It was a pit-bull mix and she had a blast running around and playing with my two dogs.

G8trh8tr's feet were not looking good and we both had concerns on his ability to continue and complete the trail. I had a strict schedule for this trail, I had to be back in Atlanta by Thursday evening due to leg surgery I have scheduled on Friday morning.

We built us a nice fire and went about cooking dinner. He cooked up some hamburger helper (single serving) packets and I had turkey tortillas, bar-b-q chips and an apple turnover. We sat around the fire for a few hours telling stories and laughing our butts off. Eventually it was time to turn in and hope we could knock out some additional miles the next day.

I was happy to get some sleep on this trip. I only slept a couple of hours each night on my last trip, but enjoyed 11.5 hours of sleep the first night.

It was a bit nippy when we woke, so we quickly built a fire and made some coffee and hot apple cider. After eating breakfast, we went about the task of taping up G8trh8tr's feet. We covered the blisters in moleskin and then taped it over with duct tape. The moleskin was sliding out of place yesterday, so we decided to try anything to keep it in place.

Tho the moleskin stayed in place, it was obvious G8tr was in a lot of pain. I could tell by his gait and his pace. If we continued at this pace, I'd have no choice but to leave him in a day or two and speed hike the rest of the way to my car. I had several issues with this scenario:
(1) I wanted to relax on this trip and not speed hike and
(2) I was concerned about leaving G8tr on the trail by himself with a couple of bum feet. I give him a lot of credit for 'sucking it up' and hiking without complaint all day. We were shooting for around 15 miles and he was determined to make it to our planned campsite.

Once we passed the picnic area on SC 107 at the Sloan Bridge Access, I decided to speed hike ahead and locate a campsite for us. I was originally going to have us camp off a spur trail with some campsites below Round Mountain, but this would require us hiking down hill for 3-4/10ths of a mile and back up in the morning. I didn't think this would be good for G8tr and his feet, so I found us a nice campsite on the top of Round Mountain. The only bad part is there is no water source at this site.

Once G8tr arrived at camp, I grabbed our water bottles and headed off in search of water. Their is a small water source about a half mile from our site, so I headed there. I was not happy when I arrived and it was bone dry. I headed back to camp and we took stock of our water supply. We had roughly 70 ounces between us. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but we both needed to rehydrate, cook, and water the dogs. Luckily we were able to ration it with no issues.

It was a very pleasant evening. Temps were mild with only a slight breeze. We cooked dinner around the fire and listened to an owl hooting nearby. Eventually I decided to turn in a bit early and start reading "The Codex" by Douglas Preston. It was still mild outside and I decided to let Suzi sleep outside. She prefers sleeping outside except when it's raining. She found her a comfy spot and crashed for the night.