All in a good days walk - Part 6
The following has been transcribed directly from the journal that I kept while hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).
Saturday, April 29, 2000
6:50 am wake up. 46 degrees. I relit the fire by blowing on the hot coals that were hidden in the ashes. Cool. Light breeze up here, birds chirping. We can see the fog in the river valleys below slowly dissipating. Trying to push to Blue Mountain Shelter today-15.6 miles or so and will perch us above the awesome Unicoi Gap-1,000 feet down and 1,000 feet up! Getting an early start today. It is 8:35 am. 50 degrees. Moving out soon.
8:50 am. We climb a little hill and find a very small spring. We take pictures and pump water for everyone. Sooner we leave, the quicker we get to our goal. Will we make it today?
10:00 am. Reach top of Cowrock Mountain with an awesome view of a mountain valley. Hawks soaring around floating on the currents. Now a huge descent.
12:00 Noon. Stop for lunch after running down hills and wallowing back up the other side. Not sure where Mike went to but we haven’t seen him since Whitley Gap Shelter which would put him 2.4 miles behind us-think he would have caught us by now. Could have gotten mixed up at Hogpen Gap cause we had to cross a 2 lane highway then walk along it for a hundred yards-we took a picture then back on to walking. Haven’t seen Donny for a while now either.
Saw two big ticks while on our lunch break and now being bitten by mini horse flies.
We are all laid out, clothes hanging in the trees to dry then out, blowing in the wind, socks and boots are off also. We are all lying in the sun on a saddle between 2 hills. Below us we can see another valley with mountains running off to the northeast. It is a clear day, but hazy in the distance. Light clouds are flowing southeast and the breeze is blowing from the west against our backs.
Will have to do a tick check before walking on again.
Oh, while we were in Tesnatee Gap we all looked in car mirrors-the first time since we started. Everyone is scruffy looking.
Todd says if they do not show in 15 minutes he is going to go back and look for them.
13:55 pm. 76 degrees - Todd was leaving to go back for them just as Donny came rolling over the hill behind us. Still haven’t seen Mike-so he must be ahead somewhere.
Time to move on.
2:55 pm-Low Gap filling water. Got confirmation that Mike is ahead of us. Moving on. Made it much farther than we thought before we stopped for lunch! Ate on Sheep Rock Mountain and not Poor Mountain.
5:10 pm. Stopped and saw the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River. Small spring. Caught up with Mike about 30 minutes ago.
Continuing on to the campsite for the night. 1.3 more miles to go. Been pushing hard to catch Mike and found him sitting around all bundled up. The wind was blowing hard. We climbed an old road for 3.9 miles when we finally found Mike. Other people on the trail told us they had talked to him.
Once we reached Mike we hiked on looking for a place to sleep. It rained, misted, lightly and then cleared up. We crossed the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River, which is just a tiny spring (looks like a mud puddle)-took a picture there.
Continued on till we reached the campsite. Through Laurel thickets winding around a ridge line then up extremely rocky slopes before descending to our campsite. Got in at 5:45 pm. and set up the tent. We will have a great view of the sunset and sunrise.
Ate Mac-n-cheese and had hot cocoa. Lunch today was trisquits and salami.
Everyone is tired and not much talking tonight.
*Saw bear shit on the trail while ascending the old road. (so, to answer the age old question: Does a bear shit in the woods?! Yes it does! I have been searching all my life for the answer to that one and finally found it here-on the AT!)
**Next days plans-go to Tray Mountain Shelter to sleep tomorrow night then on to Dicks Creek Gap then up to the North Carolina border and back to Dicks Creek on Wednesday. We will see.
Miles today: 14.8 miles
Overall Total: 56.6 miles
