Date: 2013-05-09
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Hiawassee
Miles today: 0.0

69.6 total hikedLet me start off by saying I am overwhelmed and humbled by the responses in the Trail Journals guest book, my email and Butch's Facebook account to this simple walk. You know I would never be able to recognize everyone individually. It is a painful process for such a klutz to work around a keyboard. I can barely get these journal entries out on time occasionally. I will do my best to answer questions. Please know I check these sites every evening that I have connectivity. Your comments are not taken lightly.So far on this ZERO I lightened my pack a little and sent stuff to Butch. I bought a light weight stove which will only be used for hypothermia emergencies, and I went shopping to change over my food bag so that I will "eat cold". No cooking. As I told you I haven't cooked since I have been on the Trail. I will try to see if I can arrive in Franklin, NC with a much lighter food bag weight than I dragged into Hiawassee.A couple things I have been thinking about the last couple days of interest mainly to those people who use these journals as reference sources for planning their thru-hike, as I did with the journals of others before me while I was still researching.Do not step on logs laid across the trail as either facing for steps or as water dams to divert rain runoff to the downhill woods away from the trail. These can be very slippery when wet and I make It a practice not to step on them when it's dry so that I may be less apt to make a mistake in the rain. Do not step on leafs on rocks. These are treacherous when wet and even two days after a storm, when the top of them appears dry, under that top can be wet and fatally slippery. One thing I forgot to put into yesterday's entry. That mile long straight up that seemed never ending prompted me to rename it and to develop an acronym for the new name... FSU. Sorry Seminoles I'm a Hurricanes fan.About FSUs, Larry from TN who I told you about a couple nights ago said that the worst of them are in NH, ME and GA, in that order. That's why mileage seems drastically low in reports coming out of NH.I have eaten two great meals at a cafe about a quarter mile from the motel. I can't get over how good the food is, how large the servings and how inexpensive the cost. They close at 3pm so I brought an order back to the room for supper. Alas, they don't carry deserts. Hmmm, there is a Dairy Queen right next door...I have added a pair long john bottoms a sleeping bag liner and an external iPhone battery. I have reworked my food supply so that there hopefully there will be less uneaten dead weight when I walk into Franklin in four days than there was yesterday when I got off trail. Added three ounces of spare chemical water treatment.Walking out the door tomorrow morning my pack will weigh 29 pounds with two liters of water. I could eliminate one liter, two pounds, as water sources are plentiful at this time of year but later I would need to add it back so I may as well get used to it.Should I have Dairy Queen before orafter supper?There is a small tree here at the motel with beautiful pink flowers that remind me of the much larger magnolias. Sleep well, that's what I intend to do. :-)ole slo