Date: 2016-04-02
From: Blue moon shelter

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 19.1

Today started like all my other mornings in camp. Me fumbling around taking down my hammock and tarp. Then getting everything to fit in my place in an orderly manner. I take my vitamins and make my breakfast shake and then I hit the trail. This should take maybe a half hour. It takes me well over an hour. I can not wait until I figure out camp life better. My hammock is very comfortable and I have had no back aches. It is just getting the darn thing set up and taken down. It is awful. It also turns out I have 2 blisters on my right foot. I drained them and put some mole skin on them. I had a plan to get half way to Hiawassee and the do the other half tomorrow. However when I checked the weather it said temps would get below freezing tonight. So I left it open to do all 19 miles today if it would work out. If I was not so bad at camp life right now it might not be quite as much of a problem. I am also expecting some more warm gear to arrive Monday. I left Blue Moon Shelter at 8:30am. Most everyone else had already left. I felt great as I headed north. It was a very sunny clear crisp morning. It was beautiful out. There were a lot more ups and downs on the map today starting with Rocky Mountain. With the summit at 4017 feet it offered awesome views. I caught up with Patriot again at this point. It is the second time I have caught him. He will probably pass me again tomorrow and then I will re catch him. As I came up on the second large mountain of the day at Tray Gap there was a big set up ahead and it was a big trail magic event. The Boy Scout Troop 24 out of Cornila were set up and serving a ton of food for all the hikers. I had a chicken breast burger with this awesome black bean pasta salad. It was so good. So a big thank you to all those folks. I then headed up Tray Mountain. It was about a 1400 foot accent to the peak, which stood at 4430 feet high. The views were incredible again. I was feeling great and taking it all in. I had done about 8 miles at this point and the next 7 mile were much easier to get to Deer Gap Shelter. As I moved across the landscape the wind continually picked up all afternoon and by mid afternoon it was sustained around 20-30 mph. In my head I was thinking temps in the high 20's and winds of 20-30mph. I wasn't felling up for that. I arrived at Deer Gap Shelter at 4:30pm. My feet were fatigued and telling me they were done. I had hiked 15.5 miles to this point. I walked the .3 miles down hill to the shelter. Filtered and filled my water bottles. I found a spot to set up my hammock. The shelter area was actually on the side of the mountain where is was protected from the big winds. I took everything out of my pack, but decided to eat some food before doing anything else. When I finished I checked my maps. It was only 3.6 miles to Dicks Creek, which is the road that goes into Hiawassee. Everything was telling me to get into town. I had plenty of time even if I went slow. So I went with my gut and repacked my bags hiked back up to the trail and headed out all fueled up for one final push. The terrain was not bad, but I did take it easy because my feet hurt. I got to the gap around 6:30pm. I took my pack off put it in front on my and used my newly learned hitch hiking technique. The 3rd car picked me up. A very nice guy named Tim from Murphy NC. Thank you Tim. I had him drop me off at the Budget Inn. There sign out front said there were vacancies. However once I went to get a room I was told they were full. Turns out there are multiple events going on in the area. I then put my pack on and walked at least 3/4 of a mile to a Holiday Inn Express and got their last room. I dropped my pack in my room and went to the steak house across the street and had dinner. Now I am in my room, nice and warm and comfortable. So I think I hiked 19.1 miles today after 18.8 yesterday. Tomorrow is a day off as I have several packages arriving in this town for Monday. I will pick them up and get back on the trail Monday.