Date: 2003-03-31
From: Unicoi Gap, Ga.

To: However far we get today!
Miles today: 0.0

start unicoi gapdestination however far we get todayThe mexican meal we had last night did not like mudbutt at all.We had to wait untilshe felt like she could get pretty far from a restroom.It was close to noon before we headed out with Coosa driving us back to Unicoi Gap.A late start was fine with me .The 2 tylenol pm I took last night at bedtime was offset by 3 glasses of sweet tea at dinner.That and the fact that my pocket mail was not downloading kept me awake until 4:30 this morning.Then a woman hiker started early bad mouthing our military and just would not shut up.I was in a foul mood right from the begining and it went down hill from there.My clothes wouldn't fit right,the same ones I have been wearing all along.My pants kept crawling west while my underwear went east.Then none of the dozens of buckles would snap right.I would either get my gloves or some other article of clothing caught in them. Even though the skies were a brilliant blue,it was too cold to go without a jacket,not warm enough to not wear gloves,just! on and on.I had really let that woman hiker push what few buttons I had left.When we got out at Unicoi Gap there were hikers waiting for a ride into Helen, so Coosa offered them a lift.It was at that point that my patience left me while trying to buckle my fanny pack.I turned to one of the young hikers and asked him if he would give me a hand and buckle it for me,rather than take my pack of and put it on first.As he tried to buckle the pack,he asked me if I had been to an all you could eat buffet and would I like him to loosen the belt for me?I glared at him, but of course he could not see my face,but Mudbutt could and she bent over with laughter.I just replied,just buckle the belt!The 1100 ft climb up unicoi gap in less than a mile took what little energy I had left.It is so obvious how much energy one can burn when mad.just about the time my body temperature was comfortable,we would go around to the other side of the moutain and it was like you were in a whole other climate.We finally called it a day after climbing Rocky Mtn.We set up camp early on the site of an old cheese factory.I can't imagine anyone coming up to the top of this mountain to make cheese much less to buy cheese!Moonshine maybe,but not cheese!But the hiking book says in the mid 1800's an eccentric New Englander establised a dairy farm up here and won several ribbons at the state fair for his cheese! The factory was 15 miles from the nearest farm house.There was still patches of snow and ice all along the trail today.In some places the snow still stuck to the sides of the trees.The temperature once again began to drop when the sun went down.I didn't think it had much lower to go!!By 5:00pm it looked like tent city here on top of the mountain. Within just a few minutes everyone was in the warmth of their bags for the night.I did manage to pitch my tent facing south so that I had an awesome view of undulating mountains and I could watch the twinkleing of far city lights as they came on..Mudbutt is feeling somewhat better,but I am glad we decided to stop early.Tomorrow we climb Tray Mtn.which is 4430 ft.It is hard to beleive we have hit the 50 mile mark but we have and only 2118 miles to go.A friend had given me a tiny fm radio which I have tried everynight to get to work without any success.I am sure one of my grandkids could figure it out.There is only 3 buttons on it,but for the life of me,I cannot get any music to come out of it.Mudbutt has graciously loaned me her tiny radio with a dozen different dials on it!I am sitting here in my tent listening to Amazing Grace.The current temperature in Athens is 30 degrees.Up here it must be 25 or so.I will sleep with my water bottle tonight to keep it from freezing. The skies are clear and the stars are brilliant.I wrote a song about our snow adventure and will share it later,but for now my fingers and toes are numb,so I wil sign off for now.bumpkin