July 11 - 12, 2014, Griffith Lake Section of LT (Mad Tom (USFS 21) to USFS 10 (Mt. Tabor)

Another long ride to the south with both cars. After dropping the truck off at USFS 21 with got to Mad Tom 9:30 on Friday. Started the hike in at 10:00 with the first peak being Styles Peak, stopped there for a short break and talked with a south bound LT thru hiker. We then headed over to Peru Peak and had lunch. We met a couple doing their third time around for day hiking the LT. They were probably a little older than we are. From Peru Peak we headed to Griffith Lake, our stop for the evening. We arrived at 2:00, meet Julie the caretaker for the area and picked out our tent site for the evening. Spend time at the lake meeting other hikers spending the night. Great group of folks. Our neighbor at the tent site was Bill, a retired Defense Department employee. We cooked our meal and got in the tent and read for about 2 hours. Up and out of the tent site by 7:15. We hit Baker Peak first and took a rest, it had a nice view to the west. We than entered the woods for a down hill hike to the road. Met an AT thru hiker coming out of Lost Pond Shelter, trail name 5 Star. She was shooting to finish her hike by the end of August. We finished the hike at 12:30. The parking lot was very busy with several AT hikers re-supplying. We were still able to do a wash down and chnage into clothes that didn't stink. Went back to get the can and had lunch at Cilantro, a road side food stand. Great food. Then the long drive home. 12.1 miles 9 hours