Day 8 – Standing Indian Shelter to Long Branch Shelter

Began the day by trying to get my bear bag from the tree. One problem, it wouldn’t come down. The bears couldn’t get the food, but neither could I! Now, this presented a bit of a problem. I was finally able raise the bag quickly enough and shake the rope to get the bag to drop low enough to be able to whack it with a stick and retrieve the bag.

After packing my gear, the day began with a brisk walk up Indian Mountain. The weather was good, so there were nice views all day. The highlight of the day was the hike, or should I say scramble, up a rock face to Albert Mountain to the fire tower. According to Gut Hook, the app that everyone seems to use around here, the slope was 1230 ft/mile, pretty freakin steep. Although, my eyes told me that, it was less than comforting to know how steep. The total ascent was about 380 ft.

So, upward I went. More than hiking, I was grabbing every tree branch I could to pull me and my 35 pound pack upward. After 20 mins I reached the top, and what a view! This was my first fire tower on the Trail. Went up the tower itself, which gave a better view, but it was pretty windy, so I didn’t stay too long.

Hiked down to the Long Branch Shelter for the night. It is a double decker shelter and I got a place up top. A good thing there was space as there was a storm brewing. There were mice at this shelter, so there were cords to hang backpacks from. The cords also had anti-mouse devices to keep mice from climbing down the cords into backpacks.