On our last day, we were determined to make it a better one that the day before. We were for the most part pretty successful. The climb over Austin Mountain proved to be a little longer, steeper, and a little rockier than expected. That being said, we had a plan and had talked out the problems from the day before. We kept our goals short an attainable, choosing trees and markers to hike to instead of distances. Small manageable steps.
As we came down off the mountain to gaze upon Madison Run Fire Road, I can honestly say I have never been so happy to see a gravel road as I was in this moment. It was the road where we had started. And with nearly 40 miles of hiking, 4 bear encounters, 3 midnight coyotes, 2 venomous snakes, a powerful severe thunderstorm, a day of triple digit heat index, and everything with on our backs we had made it. We made our way down the final hill and onto the Madison Run Fire Road, with a sense of accomplishment.
We completed the last day and completed the loop. Here we are on Day 1 on the left and Day 4 on the right. Didn’t realize we were wearing the same clothes we had Day 1 until I went to write this post. If you were to do a spot the difference in these two pictures, most of what had changed would be hard to describe, but I promise you, the difference in the men on these two pictures is profound.
We got back to the trailhead parking lot early and spent the time lounging and doing our hot wash. Fortunately our prior planning had worked out pretty well and despite being thoroughly exhausted, we had made it to the extraction site with very few issues. We waited for about an hour and when we saw the best view of the day: Falker arriving in the parking!
Final Breakdown Day 4:
Wildlife Encounters: 0
Expected Mileage: 7.8 Miles
Actual Mileage: 9.8 Miles
Highlight: Finishing the backpacking, seeing Falker’s Car pull into the parking lot.
Lowlight: That bittersweet feeling of knowing this adventure has ended.
UnBEARable Adventures 
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