The night hike went well. We were dazzled by fields full of fireflies. Our packs were lined with Christmas lights. In the midst of the night, we reached mile marker 700.

We arrived at the shelter and collapsed toward sleep. I awoke at 5:00 a.m. Our plan was to reach the picturesque McAfee Knob early in the day. We did a pretty good job.

After the knob were many similar rock cliffs, many of which reminded me of Pictured Rocks back in Michigan. I was grateful to experience both the beauty and novelty of this section of the trail. Everyone gets a McAfee picture, and it was awesome eating lunch on the cliffs and meditating among the mountains.

I don’t plan on night hiking every night, but I ended up stopping early at a shelter to nap, with the intention of hiking a few more miles later. After napping and cooking some eggs while waiting for friends, the time somehow got to be past 5:00 already, so some more night hiking may take place. We shall see!