Date: 2007-04-04
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Blood Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

What an amazing thunderstorm last night! Vey high winds, hard driving rain, and lots of nearby lightning. Somehow I managed to stay reasonably dry in my tent and actually got some sleep. Hard to believe, with the ranger gunbattle that was going on near the shelter until after dark, then with the storm rolling in.I got out on the trail about 8.15 and headed for Woody Gap, about 5 miles away. Made it in a little under 3 hours, along with a number of others from the shelter. We all hung our tents up on the trees around the picnic tables to dry while we ate lunch. What a vagabond look we must have presented to the tourists driving by! About 12.30 we headed up Big Cedar Mt, a short but steep climb with some nice views from rock outcrops along the way. The top was quite flat and very nicely graded with a clean trail.As I was following Alpine Strider starting down the north side towards Dan Gap I suddenly rolled my right ankle outwards, for no apparent reason. I heard, or more likely felt, a loud pop and knew I'd turned it a good one. A few seconds later I realized my ankle still wasn't quite right, and then popped it back into place again with a second loud pop! Ouch! I have twisted my right ankle a lot but never popped it clean out of joint before.I quickly sat down to assess the damage and take stock of my situation. Not wanting to let it swell to much I wrapped it with an ace bandage, tied my boots up tightly and popped a double dose of aleve. Brad Luke (2-wheel) really helped by suggesting ways to wrap it better and lace my boots better; then off we went. Brad and I hiked together, albeit a bit alower than Brad would have been going, for the next hour or so to Burnett Field Mt.I was surprised how well I was getting along so told brad to go on along his way since he was planning to go all the way to Blood Mt Shelter and I was only wanting to go to the next shelter (Woods Hole Shelter). Thanks a bunch Brad for a surprisingly enjoyable couple of hours of walking!On my way again, I just kept going, slowly but steadily, arriving at Woods Hole Shelter about 3.30 to find the shelter full. OK, I'll just tent at Slaughter Creek Campsite. Alpine Strider decided to do the same so we headed out together. When we got to the campsites they were very exposed and looked very unappealing, so we decided to keep going, again. Our next option was Blood Mt Shelter at the top of Blood Mt, which also happens to be the highest point on the AT in GA. We filtered about 2-liters of water each to carry up to the shelter since there is no water at the top of the mountain. Up we went and arrived in less than an hour.The top of the mountain reminded me of a New England peak near treeline with a pygmy forest all gnarled and blown over and hedged by the nearly constant wind. In this case however, the trees were not spruces but were mt laurel. Very Neat! Alpine was looking for gnomes behind every tree!The shelter is a stone hut built by the CCC in the 30's and was designed to withstand the winds, and blow it did! And guess what, the shelter was nealy full! A dislocated ankle, knee pain, blisters, my first 13+ mile day, and the place is full?! I decided I had had enough walking for one day so I set up my tent inside the entryway of the shelter, next to a second tent with a couple who were thinking the same thing. The tent was the only protection from the incessant wind and it was going to get cold overnight.We had a great sunset from the top of the mt and got great looks at a small striped skunk who is living in a hole near the shelter. Then it was time for me to call it a day!It turned out to be a low of 22 degrees overnight and some folks water froze. I kept mine in my tent with me and it did just fine. I measured a wind gust of 36 mph so the wind chill was getting down there.I can't help but think that I've gotten a lot of what GA weather has to offer, hot (80's), rainy and in the clouds, cold (20's), high winds and strong storms. What a place! In spite of it all it's been another great day on the trail!