John Mark and I left on Thursday afternoon to pick up Rusty and Matt. We all stopped in Raleigh to eat dinner at Wild Wings before we made our trip to Bowlens Creek Trailhead. We arrived to the area around 11pm and met up with my father-n-law (Pops) and Jared. We had a difficult time finding the entrance and found ourselves driving through private property nearing midnight. After searching near every hairpin turn, we decided to park on the roadside for the night and look for the trailhead in the morning. JM and I slept in our XC-70 Vovlo, Jared and Pops in the Suburban and Matt and Rusty set up their tent, sketchy I know!
We found the entrance and parked in the morning to set off for our first 8 mile hike. It doesn't seem like that far for a day's work, but it is intense when elevation starts just under 3,000ft and steadily increases to 6,327ft in the first 3.5 miles. The trail was full of switchbacks but at one point I think we climbed straight up for almost a mile. About 4 miles in we had a thick cloud cover, heavy wind and steady mist, but the temperature manageable. Our campsite was at 5,600ft in Deep Gap. The further we hiked, the windier it became. 
The moss was so moist, thick and green and with heavy midst all around, it felt like we were in Washington. After missing our campsite and hiking another 1.5 miles off track, we arrived at Deep Gap with enough daylight. But, the wind got progressively worse and the temperature was quickly dropping! We set up camp and Jared, Matt and I stayed at the campsite while the others hiked down to a water source to refill our camelbacks. There was enough time to warm up our MRE's for dinner and get shelter. As soon as we got in our tents (around 830pm) it rained and stormed non-stop until 9 in the morning. A few times, I thought we were going to blow away in our tents!!!
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