About the Author: Hi there! My name is Katelyn Barok, but in the hiking world people call me “Rogue.” I am born and raised in New Jersey. I am a Special Education Teacher by trade with a passion for hiking, which explains the name “teacher gone Rogue.” My current goal is to section hike the entire Appalachian Trail on extended weekends, Winter/ Spring Breaks, and my summer break! Follow my adventures in their entirety on roguehikesthetrail.com. Instagram: @katie_barok.
Click on Katie’s name above to see all of her posts!
Day 2, January 4
As I was laying down, a bright light like headlights was shining into the shelter. I reached for my phone and checked the time, which was sometime around 5AM. I sat up wondering what was going on. Alex and Ben were pulling things out of their tent and placing them in the bottom portion of the shelter. With relief realizing I wouldn’t be the only one experiencing the noises of the bear, I proceeded to ask them if they had heard what I did…

Still hanging out in my sleeping bag, the boys began to attempt to dry out their gear and made breakfast, which smelled amazing. I believe they used a Mountain House meal like a Breakfast Scrambler. They had talked about leaving camp soon after daybreak, which was around 7:45AM




-Saturday- Hike 7.6 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter
-Sunday- hike 15.4 miles to Mountain Crossings Hostel (nearly doubling the past 3 days)
-Monday- Hike 11.5 miles to Low Gap Shelter
-Tuesday- Hike 15.4 miles to Tray Mountain Shelter
-Wednesday- Hike 11.5 miles to the Top of Georiga Hostel
-Thursday- Richard picks me up at 9AM for the airport
We decided to rename Alex “Bootflap” because of what happened to his shoe and renamed Ben “Big Guy” because for the duration of knowing him he called his friend Big Guy about 50 times. When Ben said it, the “guy” of Big Guy would be more high pitched than the rest, which made it funny. Every time he said it I would mimic it. All three of us set up our bags in the loft, Richard and Jim were going to sleep down below.

