Date: 2003-04-13
From: Blue Mtn. Shelter

To: Tray Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 7.7

Happy Birthday, Heather! I miss you! Hope all is well in the land of Lebanon, NH!!!My allergies are pretty terrible. I feel bad keeping Craig awake as I blow my nose all night long. Craig had to wear earplugs last night because of me. hee hee. We had a later start today, we woke up at 9:20am. Tray Mountain is beautiful. It is the 2nd highest peak in GA at 4400'+. It is sunset and Craig and I hiked up to the summit to watch the beautiful glowing fire ball slip behind the horizon. We're blowin' snot rockets into the wind and loving it. We got our "chores" done early so that we could watch the sunset. We are getting much more proficient at cooking and cleaning our pots/pans and filtering water when we arrive at camp. Our tent is really easy to set up (especially when the weather is nice). This will be our 2nd night of sleeping without the rainfly on. Our tent site is pretty sweet, we overlook a rocky cliff that faces northeast. It is grassy and wonderful. It is not too chilly out either. I've been pretty chilly at night and find myself inching over to steal Craig's body warmth. Today at Unicoi Gap a really nice older trail couple gave us some of their extras: much-needed toilet paper and some dehydrated corn. The corn was very tasty in our evening meal of ramen, corn, and garlic/cheese mashed potatos. We topped it off with a Snickers Cruncher for dessert. I eat a lot - my appetite keeps increasing. I've almost managed to finish off my 3-lb. bag of GORP. Yikes! Craig still has a lot less. I need to stop eating so much or I'll come home bigger than when I left. Today was hard hiking. Down Blue Mtn. to Unicoi Gap (2949') up to Rocky Mtn (4017') down to Indian Grave Gap/Tray Gap, then up to Tray Mtn. My feet got really sore after 6 miles. They just ache!!! It hurts to walk and I have to rest frequently. I wonder if my feet will start to adjust because Craig and I want to start increasing our mileage. The bugs here - some sort of gnat variety - love us. We REEK! They buzz around our heads. I had to fashion a capilene shirt turban tonight while cooking to keep them away from me. Perhaps we will get head bug nets soon. We took photos as the sun went down... so peaceful up here. The summit reminds me of New England - looking out at the rolling green below. At our tent site we can see the lights down below us. We are sitting on the rocky cliff looking out at the world down below. It seems very surreal, like some sort of underwater world. We are high up! The moon is very bright and we can see Orion in the sky. Most of the other hikers are ahead of us, we are taking it easy. I have to anyway - I know Craig could easily take off and do 20 mile days. I want my feet and knees and muscles to adjust. It is just so nice out and I love this weather! At the shelter is a nice guy who is hiking the Eastern Continental Trail (meets up with the AT). He asked Craig and I a lot of Qs about how we met and decided to hike. We told him how that was one of the very first conversations Craig and I ever had at the Nashua Garden - where we met. There is also a creepyish guy staying in the shelter that sort of talks to himself. It weirds me out a little. Earlier today I had to dodge a guy at a road crossing who started asking me a bunch of trail questions (he seemed nice enough) but then he followed me into the woods. Even if there was nothing weird going on, it creeped me out and I had to turn up the juice and get way ahead. So I get a little wary.My sunburn is peeling. Craig and I continue to smell very bad. We also pass this skunkweed plant stuff on the trail that smells awful! I wish we knew more plant names. I know we have seen mountain laurel, a blooming white tree flower. No real wildlife sightings thus far - just salamanders, spiders, bugs, and a mole/vole thingy I saw scurrying into the leaves today. But tonight (late) we awoke to the most hideous noise.... an owl in the tree right next to our tent. But this owl didn't do the normal "hoo..." noise. This owl sounded like it was vomiting or choking. It would go "hooo... hooo.. ba blah block blah wahhya" or something. Picture a cross between an owl noise and a chicken clucking... it sounded so strange! Really loud, it infiltrated my dream and I awoke listening to it. Then Craig suddenly awoke and was totally confused by the loud noise. The owl took off for a tree further away, but it still made quite a racket. Our camp spot is sweet. We are hoping to wake up to see the sunrise too! On to Dick's Creek Gap/Hiawasee tomorrow.