Day 13: March 14

Hiked 12.5 miles today from Muskrat Creek Shelter to Carter Gap shelter. We camped with 2 hikers at Muskrat Creek shelter that we like very much: Steady Steps & Razor. Steady Steps is hiking 1/3 of the trail each year for the next 3 years in honor of his daughter who passed away from cancer 4 years ago. It is touching that he finds encouragement from hiking with my dad & me as a father/daughter hiking team. His older daughter is inventing a "hiker cookie" and is baking a batch and sending them to the next town and wants feedback from other hikers so we are happy to be able to help out with her research project :>
"Razor" is a NY Fire Dept. Battalion Chief taking a sabbatical for a few months and hiking the trail. He has shared a few heart-wrenching 9/11 stories with us...
My dad and him have many fire stories to share and I enjoy hearing all of them.