Day 54 - Spring - Tilson Gap - Knot Maul Shelter - Lik Creek - 16 miles

An early start leaving the other three hikers asleep in their tents. Two miles on the trail brings us to the site of an old shelter - only the concrete floor remains, and there are four hikers camped on this concrete slab. We meet Spoonz, Fluffy, Fluffy's boyfriend and Worn Heel for the first time. Worn Heel is a section hiker, walking for a month on the trail. He is a shoe repairer from the Mid West, and becomes a good friend over the next few weeks, as he shares his views of the world with us.

We climb steadily to Tilson's Gap, pleased at our steady pace, without the need to stop over the three mile ascent. On the descent we meet 'Lifeguard' again, this time heading south. He tells us there is a trail magic group on the highway and they will be cooking burgers for hikers until 2pm. We look at our watch and decide that we should be able to make it in time. We hike fast, and arrive with 2 minutes to spare. It is a Methodist group from Arkansas - and they cook us burgers and hot dogs. They are offering trail magic at this spot every day for a week between 10-2. There are about 8 hikers here, all stuffing themselves. They tell us that we may meet them further on the trail as they are doing breakfast everyday, at a road crossing.

We camp by the Lik River - a beautiful wild river and probably one of the best campsites we have on the trail. Sequoia, a young woman joins us to camp here.