Mile 1796 – US 19E To Mile 1817 – Hughes Gap
Today’s plan was to complete the highest peaks of the Roan Highlands in one day to avoid needing to camp up high on a very cold night. This meant a long day of hiking with many big climbs and deep snow most of the day. It turned out to be our longest day on the trail; starting before dawn and ending with about three hours of night hiking. It was an amazing day, but we were tired by the end.
View from the highlands
Snowy landscape
Rocket following the trail up a ridge
The most challenging part was the deep snow. Even though the snow fell a couple of days ago, for most of the day we were the first on the trail since then. That meant lots of postholing knee deep or worse for the adults. For Rocket it was about waist deep most of the day. Walking like that is exhausting.
Walking through deep snow
Rocket following in Torch’s footsteps as it gets dark
RocketWalk 
True mountain people! Will it ever end? What an accomplishment…..each day! Heroes
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