Date: 2007-03-19
From: White Oak Stamp, GA

To: Campsite before Rocky Knob, GA
Miles today: 9.6

Well folks, I am a hammock hanger tried and true. My body rejects the groundlike a small child rejects the thought of eating peas..it just doesn't happen.I crawled into my "bivy" probably around 11:00 p.m. last night. First, it is apretty huge challenge to just get situated, but I finally got there. I layedthere, feeling the Earth pulling my body heat out of me, even through my ccfpad. I think I dozed off for 15 or 20 minutes only to wake to chills(remember..this is on the ground and is supposedly warmer than hanging) and thepain..oh man..my back and hips were screaming, and it was exactly like the niteI spent in my Hubba..excruciating. So around 12:15 a.m., I said "the hell withit", and realized I'd been a complete dunce, in that I could indeed make thattree hugger work around that huge tree. I got up and totally set up camp again, only this time with my hammockhanging...where it and I belong! I remembered Just Jeff telling me that if thehugger is too short, you just run the spectra around to the loops anyway, andbecause the force is on the backside of the hugger, the tree will not bedamaged.   WELL DUH!!! I swear, I'm so dumb sometimes! LOL I had a one trackmind with using my carabiner, and totally forgot about that option..oh the woesof a new hammocker! ha haI felt badly because I woke everyone up I'm sure, and Nicole peeked out to seeif I was ok, but it was either this, or just not sleep. I finally got everythingset, brought my water and all batteries in my bag with me because it was at 32.5before I even went to bed, and when I layed down..it was pure hammock bliss.I heard angels sing, lights showed down from the heavans, and I even think Godsaid, "Good job Michele..now you are where you belong"I finally fell asleep, woke a few times to zip up my bag all the way, but here'sthe cool thing...I was actually wamer hanging than I was on the ground! Gofigure. I got chills early in the morning, but that was remedied by zipping allthe way up and cinching the draft collar tight on my bag. So lesson learned....if anything like this happens again, and a spot just won'twork for real I'll keep hiking till I find one that does....I will never trysleeping on the ground again. The good thing is that I did learn how to set upon the ground, and it never hurts to know that in case of an emergency. Hangin is in my blood, and I can't see how I could hike the AT without myhammock. So, it was in the low 30's still when I woke. Not sure if it dropped into the20's or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.I woke at 8:00 a.m. and did my biz while watching the sunrise. In myopinion...that is the only way to do your biz on a cold morning! LOL It wasbeautiful, pinks, blues, yellows, all streaking across the sky with thatwonderful warming sun right in the middle. I love the sun.I ended up crawling back into bed for another hour to just enjoy being out here. Finally everyone was stirring at 9:00, so I got up.It seems to take us forever to get out of camp. I made some hot tea to helpwarm up, and started breaking camp. Then Sailor showed up, and he was alldecked out. He had his pack stripped at Mountain Crossings and his pack weightwent from 51lbs to 38lbs! We told him he'd be flying past us now.Nicole and finally got hiking by 11:30 a.m., and oh...I now have a trail name. It is "Certain".Voted by Kay, Gadget, and Nicole because regardless of the fact I have neverbeen here either, they say I am always so certain about my opinions (as in...thetop of the mountain is just up there, and don't worry, it will work out). Basically I am an optimist and I truly have faith that all things will workout...and they always do. You have to just accept what this trail has to offer.So today we had only planned on a 6.2 miles but we were both feeling reallygood. Yesterday and today, I have felt like a hiking machine...my legs, afteronly 1 week on the trail (today!!) feel so much stronger, and my feet have notbeen hurting as much, allowing me to go further. It feels so good to push, andsweat, and feel the burn and look back to see the Mt. you just hiked over.We stopped at Low Gap Shelter for lunch and met Swamp Foot, a really cool guyfrom San Fran. We also met our first "know it all," a young guy named Antone. Nicole and I just made fun of him as we hiked away after lunch...LOL. There wasnothing this guy did not know...or so he thought.It was about 3:30 when we left Low Gap, and we "tentatively" decided to try toget to this campsite, or stop at another if it presented itself. Well.....it didn't. We hiked and hiked and hiked over Poplar Stomp Gap, andCold Springs Gap, but only saw 2 places, but they were right in the wind. It iswarmer today than yesterday, but wind is still bad.The overall terrain for much of the day was up, but much of it was gradual..soin comparison to other days, it was pretty easy.We ran into Mindi who had hiked 3 miles the wrong direction before someone saidsomething to her..she was pooped and was staying at Chattahoochee Gap, wherethere was space for Nicole's tent, but the terrain has been bad for stealth hammocking the past 2 days, ever since Wildcat Mt., due to really thick stickerbushes and undergrowth. We were going to stay there with Mindi, but the oneplace I found to hang...the trees were to close, so we decided to push on theother 1.3 miles to this campsite near Rocky Knob. Nicole hiked it in her Crocs, and it was a brutal rocky hike....thought we werein PA already! LOL I took a pic of it. I will be mailing my first round ofpics home from Hiawasee, our next resupply point.We finally rolled into camp at 7:21 p.m. It was a long day, and I was surprisedthat we hiked our longest day yet...and I'm not crippled either!We are here tonight with Adam and Jacob, two brothers from this area, Theybuilt a kickass fire. It was funny, as I was setting up camp, I heard one ofthem say, "Now what kind of contraption is that?" Apparently they had neverseen a hammock for hiking. It is a windy site, so I built up some leaves to fill in the gap between my tarpand the ground. We'll see how that works to help keep me warm.It still takes me about an hour to get changed, clean up, and set up camp whereall I have to do is eat, but it felt more routine tonight.It was a long day, hard earned sleep awaits me. Oh today, I met Swamp Dog andStinger, Ranger and Miles, and Sauce Master.   The temps are in the 50's right now, and I am going to bed at 10:15 p.m. I amnot exhausted at 7 or 8 yet. ~Certain