Brrr Brrr Brrrr Brrrr BRRRRRRRRRR! This morning was COLD! I wish I had brought my 0 degree bag. It was so cold that the water in my Platypus was frozen solid. I had to boil it and the drinking tube to thaw it out. I had brought nothing but Bite sandals to hike in, and made a pleasant discovery. It's actually warmer to hike in sandals with socks than in heavy boots when it's cold or even snowy out. My foot only has to warm up a small portion of cold material in sandals. With boots or shoes, my feet would be encased in cold leather or fabric. People looked at me funny when they saw that I was hiking in the snow in sandals, though. |
March 30th 2003 People seen: more than 30 Miles walked: 11.3 Stayed At: Stover Creek Shelter Mom and I packed up camp and had eggs and sausage for breakfast. we tooled around Amicalola park, talked to the rangers, and gawked at all of the prospective thru-hikers. There is a scale in front of the visitor center for hikers to weigh their packs on. After you weigh in, you go inside to sign a register with your name, address, and pack weight. My pack weighed 29 pounds with 3 days of food and 4 pounds (2 liters) of water. One hiker had an 82 pound pack! Poor guy... |
I finally got on the road around 10am. The trail led 1 mile up a steep hill to the top of Amicalola falls. The falls tumble hundreds of feet down the rocks back towards the visitor center. The trail continues another almost 8 miles to the top of Springer Mountain, the official southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. |
- The Start Of The Appalachian Trail - |
The climb was fairly easy and nicely graded. It was a novel experience after Florida hiking to gain more than 3 feet in elevation! I made it to the top in about 3 hours and took the obligatory sitting by the AT plaque picture. I had to put on my red rainpants because it was absolutely freezing up there! I had been snowed and iced on intermitently most of the way up. The view from the top of Springer was incredible. The huge grey clouds lifted just in time for the gorgeous view. |
The snow started to stick to the ground the last 3 miles. It snowed off and on all evening, prompting another hiker to stretch his poncho across the lean to opening to keep the snow out. It was a cold, cold night. Most of us slept fitfully, tossing and turning just to keep warm. |
March 31st People Seen: A Gazillion Miles Hiked: 13.9 Stayed At: Gooch Gap |
Brrr Brrr Brrrr Brrrr BRRRRRRRRRR! This morning was COLD! I wish I had brought my 0 degree bag. It was so cold that the water in my Platypus was frozen solid. I had to boil it and the drinking tube to thaw it out. I had brought nothing but Bite sandals to hike in, and made a pleasant discovery. It's actually warmer to hike in sandals with socks than in heavy boots when it's cold or even snowy out. My foot only has to warm up a small portion of cold material in sandals. With boots or shoes, my feet would be encased in cold leather or fabric. People looked at me funny when they saw that I was hiking in the snow in sandals, though. |
Another hiker named Pushing Up Daisies had written to me online a few times before I left. When I arrived at Gooch Mountain Shelter, hikers there told me she had JUST left and was going to camp at Gooch Gap. Woohoo! I hiked on to the gap, where I ran into my mother. She was camping at the gap that night, and had promised a ride to a bus station the next day to Pushing Up Daisies' partner, Roger Rabbit. He had torn up his knee ligaments earlier that day and wanted to go home and heal. Mom and I stayed out talking to the bunches of other hikers camped in the gap that night, but soon had to retreat to the van. The wind had been blowing fiercely all day, and it was COLD! It was warm enough in the van that I didn't lust for my 0 degree bag ... but it was still wicked cold. Quite the change from 90 degree Florida Weather! |
April 1st Miles: 0 |
Mom got up early this morning... "Nope, it's too cold. I'm going back to bed." We awoke an hour later when Roger Rabbit and Pushing Up Daisies Came over, packed and ready to go. We drove down the winding dirt forest service road and popped almost instantly into civilization. We found the Greyhound station by driving up, down and around on all of Gainsville's streets. After seeing Roger off, we tooled around Gainsville for awhile. It was to late in the day to drive all the way back to the trailhead and hike much distance, so we putzed around in town. We bought groceries, searched in vain for a Krispy Kreme store, filled up on gas, then drove to Neels Gap and the Walasi Yi. |
As we were about to leave, I asked some hikers who were hitch-hiking unsuccessfully if they would like a ride. We stuffed the four of them, their packs, plus Mom, Pushing Up Daisies, our dog Zeke and I into the van. Dropped them off at a hotel in Blairsville, and got ourselves a campsite at Vogel State Park. Mom cooked a killer meal of chinese style sausage and fried rice for supper. As we were eating, a sick looking skunk kept trying to crawl over to us. It looked really awful, and kept falling over. |
I ran to get the campground host, who called up a law enforcement officer. When he pulled into our site and saw how sick the skunk was, he drove away to get a partner and a gun. When they came back, they searched through the woods with their flashlights and tracked down the skunk. It had wandered really close to another campers' trailer. They shot it multiple times with their rifle, and bagged it up. The rest of the night was uneventful. The morning after I ran into a lady in the bathroom who wanted to know why people were shooting off guns at 9 at night. She had stayed up wondering. |
April 2nd Miles: 10.9 Stayed: Lake Winfield Scott |
Mom dropped Pushing Up Daisies and I off at Gooch Gap, and met us at Woody Gap with lunch. We planned on hiking the 14.3 miles to Neels Gap that day, so after lunch mom went to town to buy some trail goodies. Pushing Up Daisies started to get really tired and her legs started to shake. We decided to get off at Jarrard Gap, mile 8.9. The only problem mom wasn't expecting us to do that, she was waiting for us in the parking lot at Neels Gap. I managed to get ahold of a guy working at Walasi Yi, who went out to the parking lot and gave mom the message to come find us at Lake Winfield Scott .. where we'd end up after getting off at Jarrard Gap. When PUD and I got to Lake Winfield Scott, we were totally confused. Mom was nowehere to be found, and the section of the campground that we were in was still closed for the season. We wandered up and down the roads. As we were walking towards a road barricade, mom drove by. We ran screaming and waving towards her - she stopped :-) That night we stayed in the open part of the campground. Some yahoo kept driving around and setting off firecrakers It scared Zeke and Pushing Up Daisies, who stayed in the van with us. |
April 3rd Miles: 12.1 Stayed: Cowrock Mountain PUD and I slackpaked from Jarrard Gap to Neel's Gap, where we picked up our overnight gear and kept going. We spent the night at Cowrock, which has the prettiest mountain views I've seen so far. You can see both sunset and sun rises from the ridgeline. PUD and I hid a dozen candy and chocolate filled eggs along the way for other hikers to find. Mmmmm.... |
April 4th Miles: 15.3 Stayed: Unicoi State Park PUD had forgotten to bring a cup or bowl, so we had to eat breakfast in shifts. I had coconut cream oatmeal. PUD hates oatmeal, so she had hash brown fritters. We hiked seperately almost all of the day. Mom and I yacked in the parking lot at Unicoi Gap while we waited for PUD. She showed up almost two hours later with another hiker, Bluebird. Bluebird had hurt her knee and wanted to take a zero day in town. We dropped her off at the Best Westerm, and toodled around to look at the wierd Bavarian Architecture of Helen, Georgia. |
Every building in the town of Helen is built in an interesting interpretation of German style. The town used to be a run down and ragged, normal looking mining town. It went through a total makeover in the 1950's - 60's as an effort to attract tourist dollars. Boy, did it work! The town was packed with gawking people. |
On the way to the campground, we stopped to buy muscadine cider, hot boiled peanuts, and some peach cider. We passed on the pork rinds. :-) We chowed on the hot peanuts until mom made a delicious supper of corn chowder. YUM! It rained off and on all night. The weather forcast predicts a soggy day tomorrow. Ewwwww. |
March 5th Miles: 16.1 Stayed: National Forest Campground I like people - in moderation. I can love you to pieces, but that doesn't mean I want to be with you for more than a couple of days straight. Three days seems to be my limit before I go stir crazy and want a total change of faces. I had been trying to politely hint to PUD for the past couple of days that I'd like to hike on my own. It wasn't working, so I finally had a meltdown this morning and told PUD my feelings. She was very gracious about the whole thing. We dropped her off at the Best Western to hang out with Bluebird. Because it was completely pouring and yucky, they decided to take a zero day together. |
Mom and I went driving around the local countryside. Pretty soon the skies cleared and the sun came out. Because we were closer to Dick's Creek Gap than Unicoi, I decided to hike southbound for the day. Mom dropped me off at the gap a little after noon. She stayed and gave out candy to hikers while I hiked backwards. Hiking southbound is fun! I got to see everybody who was ahead of me. I left lots of candy and chocolate for everybody to find, especially at the top of a tough climb. I left a boatload at the top of Kelly Knob. You should see the profile map! It's scary. I hit Tray Mountain just in time for supper. A local Boyscout troop was feeding thru-hikers as much yummy food as the hikers could handle. I had a chicken drumstick, potato salad, a cheeseburger with everything, potato chips, a dozen sugar cookies, one peanut butter and one chocolate chip cookie, pasta salad, and a snickers. I hung around for more than an hour before realizing I was still 4 miles from the road. Oops! I bounded down the mountain and made it to the parking lot just as it got dark enough to need a flashlight. Mom and I went searching for a Forest Service campground that was supposed to be nearby. 5 miles on a pot holed, one lane, steep dirt road later, we were there. There were lots of folks camped along the side of the road. We found a site and immediately conked. |
April 6th Miles: Zero We slept in. Ahhhh... When we woke up, we cleaned the van from top to bottom. Mom made biscuits and gravy for brunch. I finally finished cleaning the windows at 1pm. We then drove around on all of the bumpy dirt backroads, taking pictures of flowers and waterfalls. |
When we reached civilization again, we did laundry and bought groceries in Helen. |
We then drove to Dick's Creek gap and slept in the trailhead parking lot. It poured all night long. Mom was able to leave the generator going and breathe oxygen all night. |
April 7th Miles: 4.3 Stayed: Plumorchard Gap Shelter When we woke up, mom realized she had left her camp chair at the Helen Laundromat. When we drove back, it was gone. We have a habit of going for scenic drives as long as we're away from the trailheads. We went for a ride to Hiawassee and stopped at a Radio Shack. I applied for and got my very first credit card. I immediately bought two GMRS radios so mom and I can talk when the cell phones won't work. |
We bought a ton more candy for hikers, and drove back to the Gap. I started hiking a little after 2pm. After I left, mom gave a hiker a ride to North Carolina. When I arrived at Plumorchard Gap shelter, PUD was there. :-) Everybody at the shelter was quiet and kind of shy. To liven things up, a thru-hiker from last year named Radar got people talking. Radar is such a cutie! Very nice guy. That night we discovered a lot of harmonica virtuosos in our midst. A couple of people played some riffs. I wish I were better at the harmonica! I'm learning... That night I slept on the mid level of the three-tiered shelter. I'm glad I did. There were a bunch of snorers on the top level. |
April 8th Miles: 12.2 Stayed: Standing Indian Shelter I started off today fully intending to do 20 miles. I made good progress, and hit the North Carolina-Georgia border around 10am. The ATC really knocks themselves out with the signage around here. Isn't the sign marking your entrance into your second state impressive? :-) Radar took my picture for posterity. |
I ran into Radar again at Muskrat Creek Shelter, where we both had lunch. Reading the shelter logs is a hoot! Kodiak and Sassy had left a particuarly funny entry. It was a cartoon of two stick figures next to a range of ever lengthening mountains. Kodiak is petitioning for a name change, and labled the cartoon peaks Warmup Mountain, Darn Mountain, and the huuuuuuuge pointy cartoon peak, Mount Bitch. The rest of the day was pleasant walking. Albert mountain wasn't as horrid as I had been expecting. The trail crews have been very active in the area and installed a series of nice log steps. It rained off and on all day. It started to come down in torrents after noon. Just as I was getting close to Standing Indian Shelter, a huge BOOM! and flash of lightning streaked through the air. I ran to the shelter :-) |
There were a couple of nice guys, Jersey and Footslogger, already there. They had stopped for lunch and never left. I decided that was a heck of a good idea too. Heck with doing 20! The shelter ahead of me was probably packed to the gills, and I didn't feel like hammocking out. I unstuffed my sleeping bag and crawled in. When Radar arrived, he took one look at me snuggled into my bag and laughed. Piffle! I didn't see him walking any further, either. |
The shelter started to fill up fast. Radar had his sleeping bag spread out, but went to put up his tent as more hikers rolled in. Bluebird didn't feel like setting up her hammock in the blowing rain, so she set it up inside the shelter. It was fun to watch :-) That night I had stew, and baked some brownies. It was the first time I had baked in my titanium cookset, and it was a disaster! The brownies came out less then perfect on account of the pan being a smaller size than I normally use. As a consequence, I had to eat the evidence. |
Total Miles in Georgia: 75.4 Hiking Days: 8 Zero Days: 2 Highest Milage: 16.1 Lowest Milage: 4.3 Starting Pack Weight: 28 pounds, including 3 days of food and 4 pounds of water |
