8/22/03 The 2.9 miles to Cowles Cove shelter was technically challenging. We had to hike over a long slab with a steep drop on one side and complicated by piles of boulders, rocks and roots, some mud, and lots of erosion. In one spot the foot wide ledge was completely gone and we had to hop across a couple feet of missing trail without knowing if the ledge on the other side was stable. All in a day's hike. Tumble's head started to ache in the afternoon warning of a change in the weather. We met Snowman, SoBo, from Bristol and chatted with him a bit.