Day 28, miles today- 17.5, total- 359.0

Last night before going to bed I went to the other bunk room to talk to Foxtrot. When I walked in Guard was there. I hadn't seen him since Hot Springs several days earlier. He said he had been sick and had to get off trail for a couple days. He said he was better now and that he had hiked that day. It was good seeing him again. This morning I started hiking at 8:30 am. Phys Ed, Sequoia, Grim and I started within a few minutes of each other. We were able to overlook Erwin for the first few miles as we worked our way up the mountain. I hiked near Phys Ed for a few miles in the morning. He slipped and fell, but was not hurt. I took his picture while he was on the ground. There was one section that I passed through where there were a lot of wintergreen plants. Many of them with berries. I ate several of them. The last 5 miles I hiked with Sequoia. We passed through a dense spruce forest as we went over the top of Unaka Mountain. We had a lot of up hill today. We're tenting at Cherry Gap Shelter. Grim went on a few more miles to stay with other hikers he knew. After we had ate, Guard hiked in. We talked to him for several minutes about him getting sick a few days ago and about life in general. There's a guy staying in the shelter named Sonny. He was a teacher in Long Island, NY. before he retired 15 years ago. His wife passed away last year so he decided taking a long walk might be good. It feels like it's going to be colder tonight than the last few nights. We're up pretty high so the wind gust are some what strong. I'm ready for a good nights sleep. It's after 8:30 pm and chilly, so I'm going to get in my sleeping bag. Good night.