| 6/6/01 Day 1. Only 2.5 miles today. It was raining the whole way, but it was an easy hike. I think we are both glad to be in a shelter. We are in the Stover Creek shelter. We skipped the AT approach trail and Springer Summit. We hear it is beautiful, but we don�t want to turn back. I�m a little sad we missed it, but I am glad we are in a safe shelter. We made a new friend tonight, Joe from Michigan, and his BIG dog, Montana. Montana�s trail name is Flashlight. They�re doing a 4-day hike and will be finished by tomorrow. I have to admit that it was a little sad leaving mom and dad and I am worried about them. The road up here was pretty scary. I hope they decided to stay the night. We are going to bed now. 6/7/01 Early A.M. I�m the first one up. It is still raining. It didn�t let up all night. I don�t know if it was nerves but I really didn�t sleep most of the night. For that matter neither did Gerard. However, he has been sleeping all morning. Although I woke up in the middle of the night (one of my short sleeping spells) with a full bladder, I didn�t want to go out into the mud and rain with potential bears lurking. (I thought I heard some during the night). However, after about 3-4 hours I could no longer stand it and I braved the rain, cold, dark, and the 70 foot bears I imagined behind Stover Creek shelter. I would really like to get a move on this morning because later in the day we are going to cross a highway. I want to call home to make sure mom and dad are okay. They were so nice to drive us here and to put up with my moods, the rain, etc. etc. Joe said he heard a hurricane hit the East Coast. If that is the case, this rain may be here for a few days. Always the lucky couple, aren�t we? I really like staying in the shelter because it is very dry and pretty cozy. Hawk Mountain is the next shelter, but it is only 5.1 miles from here. The problem is that Gooch Gap shelter is the next shelter after that, and it is 14.6 miles from here. That is a long way, especially in the rain. We�ll see how far we make it. 6/7/01 5:37 PM Miles today: 5.1 miles Total: 7.6 Hawk Mountain Shelter We arrived here around 1:15 and decided that we could not go any further. The rain is still coming although more slowly now. It never let up while we were hiking. My rain poncho ripped and I got wet. 5.1 miles does not seem like a lot, but it really was, because we were so tired from lack of sleep and weighed down with water. Anyway, we were here no more than 15 minutes when John (a minister) and his friend (name has slipped my mind) showed up. John is only hiking for a couple of days and "other man" is hiking until Sunday. They have been fun to hang out with and talk to but John is already asleep - poor guy. He has never been hiking or camping and I think he is stressed. His wife is pregnant (due in October) but he can�t get a hold of her. He pulled his mobile phone out as soon as he got here. I didn�t tell him that AT etiquette is such that you should not pull out your mobile phone in front of others. I used my phone earlier, but no one was here. I really don�t care about the cell phone rule, but he might encounter others that do. We have been reading the log books that are left in the shelters. It seems that there are some agressive bears around here. We are hoping that the chilly rain will keep them away tonight. One group of people said they could hear the bear breathing outside their tent! Scary. My muscles are already getting sore. I feel so out of shape. However, there is one truly, truly, truly fantastic thing. I have never never never tasted such good food. I mean, even crackers taste like a gift from the Gods. Gerard has gotten a trail name - "Little Hair" - He thinks it is very funny and I have to agree. It all goes back to a discussion we were having about Rainbow people. Rainbow people are the people who basically live in the woods, come into towns for a while, and then have rainbow conventions. At least, this is what was explained to me. My friend Steffanie has a rainbow friend named "Little Goat" and we were talking about what our names would be if we were rainbow people - which we are not, but I�m sure it can get confusing. Anyway, Little Hair is what we came up with for Gerard and everyone likes it so far so I think it will stick. I am praying that I get some good sleep tonight. Tomorrow�s hike is supposed to be a killer. We plan on hiking 8.5 tomorrow, and then 10 the next day. We are trying to build up so that we don�t wear ourselves out. Sunday we will be passing through Neel�s Gap and we are going to try and get a cabin. That will be fabulous, because I think our lack of showers is starting to scare small animals. 6/8/01 Sunrise Everyone else is still sleeping. Right now I am watching the sky get light through the trees. All the nocturnal animals have crept back into their hiding placees and the birds are beginning to wake up. The trees that are close to me are crisp and clear but those that are farther away fade into a greenish gray mist. Thte rain stopped alst night and started again about an hour ago but only for 5 minutes. Everything is clear and fresh. I have to admit that there are already some times that are hard. For instance, night is hard. I feel depressed and a little homesick at night. I don�t know what I would do if Gerard was not here during those times. Morning, however, is inspiring. I feel refreshed, happy, and optimistic about the day in the morning. I am excited about the day�s hike even though tomorrow the 48-hour pain and stiffness will set in. I feel a little bit more adjusted even from the first night. 6/9/01 A lot changed after yesterday�s journal entry. The rain started again and we hiked for about 9 hours in it. Most of the hike was up a mountain. Just as we thought we had gotten through the worst, it started to rain very hard and we realized we still had 4.8 miles to go. My legs were shaking and I was exhausted. Gerard�s pack was killing his back and he had a persistant cramp in his side all day long. At one point I sat down and cried. Under any other circumstances I would have given up but I really didn�t have a choice. We HAD to make it to the shelter. Finally we arrived at the trail that led to Gooch Gap Shelter. Gerard said it was like a little joke at the end - The trail led straight up .2 miles. However, we were glad we made it because we met "Fluffhead" - a very nice 18-year-old who just graduated from highschool. He has hiked portions in the northern section but this was his first time hiking the AT in the South. My spirits were pretty down but he gave me some good advice and helped me to realize how important this hike is to Gerard and me. This morning we hiked 3.6 miles. We finally had a nice day and saw some beautiful views. We were close to a town so we decided to stay the night in Blairsville, GA. Another hiker named Debbie and her two sons told us to call a man named Steve who would pick us up and drive us to the town. When we called him, he picked us up and drove us to Blairsville. He showed us where the laundromat was located, the restaurants, and helped us get a hotel room. HE charged us $20 which seemed more than fair to us. Steve is a very interesting man. He is a retired commercial artist from Atlanta and he has lived in Blairsville for 15 years. He belongs to the local hiking organization and became involved with driving AT hikers around when his wife started working at the Walasi-Yi Center at Neels Gap. It has been a fabulous day. We showered because we were starting to scare ourselves and then we did out laundry. Clean clothes are amazing - the little things have become so important and thrilling. We had pizza for dinner and again, amazing. I took a nap and we have been watching t.v. All of this is very enjoyable and luxurious. Tomorrow Steve is picking us up and he is driving us to Neels Gap where we will continue the hike and have more adventures. |
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