A Day In The Life

Here is a recap of the last two days:

Gooch Mountain Shelter turned out to  be a horrible place to camp. The wind was ferocious all night long and we got little sleep. During the night I got up three times to fix the stakes for the tarp. One of those times the wind must have blown a stake into my hammock without my knowledge. The next time that I got up I heard a ripping sound, and discovered that the stake had ripped a hole in my hammock. I managed to sleep in it the rest of the night without further damage, but knew that it had to get repaired somehow before I used it again. There was a needle and thread in my ditty bag, and I hoped it could be fixed with what I had.

So it was a great start to Thursday morning. The wind tortured us in gusts as we tried to pack up that morning. We even walked a mile or so before eating breakfast just to get out of the wind. The rest of the day was going well and we saw many other thru-hikers on the trail. At one point there was a group of us at an overlook. I took my camera out of my pocket and fumbled it, dropping it onto rocks. The shutter button broke off, but luckily nothing else was broken. It was still a bummer. Now I have to keep track of this tiny piece of plastic to take a picture. Hopefully it can be taped on or something.

The goal of the day for most of us was to get to Lance Creek and camp there, about a nine mile day for us. The six miles before Neel's Gap requires the use of a bear cannister to camp, and so the idea was to stop just before that restricted area to get us in position to reach Neel's the next day. There were many thru's there, so we just got water and continued on down the trail. We went another mile or so and again were trying to find escape from the wind. We came to a gap were there was an obvious side trail and some flatter ground. We had been walking on the side of a mountain where it would have been difficult even for a hammock. So we decided to stop and went downhill below the trail to escape the wind and set up camp. I noticed that the side trail led to a house but didn't get too close. Our camp was on the opposite side of the gap from the house, and we were on the side of a hill. We found a little bench to cook on and a small spring was nearby just for us. I sat down and set about repairing my hammock with needle and thread. It took about twenty minutes but I was happy with the result and think that it should hold until Maine. While fixing supper our soup got knocked over off the stove, spilling half of it. So it had been kind of a messed up day all around. We were sitting in our hammocks just before dusk, enjoying our private campsite in the middle of nowhere with its own spring and views of the mountains when we heard footsteps coming to our camp. We were startled temporarily and wondered if we had done something wrong. As it turns out it was the lady that lived in the house that I had noticed. She had come down to invite us for breakfast in the morning. Our first trail magic! My day instantly got better.

Friday morning, after sleeping much better than the night before, we broke camp and headed over to the house for breakfast. We had our fill of good food and coffee, along with 12-15 other thru's that came through in stages. We thanked our host and hit the trail feeling full and good. We had Blood Mountain to climb for the day before reaching Neel's Gap. It was our biggest and longest climb so far. We took it easy and made it up and over sooner than expected. We arrived at Neel's Gap and set about getting a shower, doing laundry, and getting food. It was a great disappointment to find Neel's out of hot dogs, I had seen pictures and had been craving one for three days. Oh well. We were in and out in two hours even though there were many hikers there. Special thanks to Baltimore Jack and crew for their assistance.

Many thru's were spending the night in the hostel or nearby cabins, partly due to fear of upcoming rain. It is supposed to rain tonight and all weekend. Joy. We continued on, not in any particular hurry and enjoying the walk. We passed thru hiker "Bamboo" at Bull gap and continued on three miles past Neel's to Swain Gap. There is a nearby spring and we have an excellent camp for the night all to ourselves. It seems like we are all alone on the trail right now.

In conclusion, we are at mile 34, a nice camp where we have eaten supper and layed down at dusk. I have spent about two hours typing this on a micro keyboard, so I hope you, dear reader, can appreciate that. We are warm, clean and dry, but lay here in our hammocks anticipating the upcoming rain. Our plan is to reach Hiawasee early Tuesday morning. Stay tuned.