Walt dropped us off at the end of the road sometime after 7pm and we headed into the woods with our packs. Not too far into the woods, we saw a various trees which had the numbers 1 through 9 spray painted on them. There were a couple of different groups of these trees. I later found out that they were probably trees which were used to test the tree measuring skills of new forest service employees. With the late start and the relatively heavy packs, I did not expect to make it up to the ridge top (to be continued...)