I awoke to my natural alarm clock in the woods…the sounds of birds chirping and singing. We discovered why the location we camped at was called Wind Rock. Located at the top of a rocky mountain, the fierce winds blew all night, howling as our tents swayed back and forth. We were setup behind a rock formation that created a barrier for us. I could only imagine how windy it would have been without it’s protection throughout the night.

It wasn’t too chilly for once so I was eager to get up and start hiking. I ate a quick breakfast (oatmeal), took care of some business emails, and got my stuff packed up inside my tent. I emerged to find the number of tents in our campsite had nearly doubled from the time I went to bed. I guess some hikers came in pretty late while we turned were sleeping. They must have been quiet, which is really nice, to get everything setup without waking us.

I could hear Mulligan stirring in his tent. I was ready to head out, so I told him I was doing so, and that I’d see him up the trail. There was an overcast and the wind was still blowing. So it was a little chilly. I warmed up quickly as I got moving. There wasn’t a water source at our campsite. We typically wouldn’t camp somewhere with no water source. But with my feet hurting the night before, and the view of the sun setting, we decided it was worth it. But the #1 priority this morning was, finding water…as I was completely out.

Beginning your day without water is not the best way to start. But I knew there was a water source coming up in about a mile. Despite my feet hurting pretty badly the night before, I felt pretty good this morning. One thing that was nice about camping on top of a mountain was, I got to start my day off going downhill for once. I made it to the water source, drink a few litters of water, and then refilled another liter to carry with me.

While filling up on water, Derby, who camped with us the night before, caught up with me. We chatted for a bit, and continued our conversation as we got back on the trail together. He’s a wedding DJ from Rhode Island. When I told him about my business (NicheLabs), and the services we provided (Website Design, Internet Marketing, etc.) he had quite a few questions for me… about marketing his business online.

Before we knew it, we arrived at the next shelter. It was a really nice shelter with a rushing creek nearby you could see and hear. Not only is this great for getting water, it helps relax you after a long day of hiking. It was only lunch time though. So we stopped for a bite to eat. As we continued our conversation about our businesses, Mulligan, Colonel and Rambler showed up. We all noticed Derby’s lunch was a little different than ours. We were eating Ramen Noodles, Snickers and a variety of other processed foods. Derby had a wrap with bell peppers, spinach, avocado, sausage and cheese. This was pretty healthy compared to what we were eating.

We rarely eat vegetables and fruits due to the weight of these items, and the fact that they typically spoil pretty quickly. But as we talked to Derby about this, we learned these items can stay fairly fresh in your pack for several days. Even when its hot outside. We resupply every few days anyway. So this was something that really peaked our interest– something we wanted to look into ourselves. I started out eating pretty healthy, but after losing 40 lbs. in the first 6 weeks, I shifted and started eating more, and the same garbage everyone else was eating (processed noodles, rice, meats, candy bars, etc.)

We all left the shelter at different times so essentially we split up. I stopped on top of a mountain for a quick break, as I needed phone reception, to call several prospective clients back. So here I was, on top of a mountain, sitting on a log next to a burned out campfire, swatting buzzing flies away my face, as I dialed the first number. I typically try my best to schedule business calls when I’m in a quiet place, in doors, in town, like a hotel or hostel. But these calls needed to happen sooner as opposed to later, so I made them happen.

Both prospective customers were just looking to hire us for website support services. Both calls went well. Now I just needed to get them the paperwork to sign so we could get started. This required my laptop, so I added this to my to-do list, to tackle later from my tent. Mulligan showed up as I was finishing up my 2nd call. Of course he made faces at me and tried to get me to laugh while I tried to be serious and set a good first impression with these prospects:) I finished my calls and we discussed a game plan for where we were going to stay later this evening. It was getting late in the day so we decided to make it to the next shelter and see how we felt.

I passed Kelly Knob, which had a nice view, so I stopped and snapped some photos, before continuing on up the trail. I made it to the next shelter. Mulligan, Rambler, Double Stuff, and Wild Card, were already there. It seemed like Double Stuff and Wild Card were together, together, if you know what I mean. But maybe they were just friends. If I recall, they met on the trail, early on, and had been hiking together every day since. I wanted to get more miles in, but with it being 5pm already, the shelter was nice, they had a fire going, and rain in the forecast, we decided to “hunker down” there for the evening.

Colonel showed up shortly afterwards as well. He was exhausted. I was headed to go refill my water and offered to do the same for him. He refused at first, but I was pretty persistent, so he finally took me up on my offer. With rain in the forecast, I was thinking about staying in the shelter. Packing up a wet tent, and hauling it around the next day, is never fun. But I really don’t like sleeping in shelters. So I decided to put up my tent and get situated.

We all gathered around the campfire, cooked and ate our dinners, and got to know each other a little better. Before we knew it, it was dark. So we collected our cookware and headed back to our tents to retire for the evening. I knocked out the two proposals I needed to, sent them off, and curled up in my sleeping bag, and drifted off to sleep.

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