Date: 2012-04-06
From: Tray mountain

To: Plumorchard Gap
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

April 6th Tray Mountain Shelter to Plumorchard Gap 15.5 miles.   "Today we got up early. We left camp at 4:30. Then Hiked 11 miles to town. Then we went to McDonalds and I had a side salad,  two Mc muffins, a cheese burger, one sprite, and a milk shake.  I went on the web there too.  I'm having a blast!  -Sunshine:-)BAM!  Now that's how we roll!  We hiked 11 miles this morning out to the road to Hiawassee, GA by 9:00 am.  I'll explain once I begin my rant.  The miles aren't too impressive, but we did go into town and pick up mail, eat breakfast and lunch, facebook, send you fine folks our latest journal entries, and charge our devises.  That's right, we made it to McDonalds at that magical time of day just before they roll over the menu from breakfast to lunch!  So we ate a big breakfast, facebooked and replied to emails, then ordered lunch.     Now, last night, I didn't mention any of this because I didn't  have it completely processed yet, but...  Ok, we haven't even been able to see the inside of a shelter yet because there are those who hoard them.  Some just hike the 4-8 miles each day to the next shelter insuring a early arrival and an empty shelter.  Then there are those who only hike to a shelter for a short trip and fill it with large groups perhaps for multiple days.  It is spring break here too which doesn't help.  Often the shelter is not completely full, but they will tell you it is so they can have plenty of space or privacy for themselves.   Yesterday afternoon we quit earlier than planed because of the pending storm (which didn't hit till around 10:00pm).  We were the second and third persons to arrive at Tray Mountain Shelter.  We met Wiggy, an Army Vet there.  A thru hiker named Justin showed up and found his space inside.  Soon two more hikers showed up looking for a camp site, but I invited them to join us in the shelter made for 7.  A young German man arrived and we all scooted together to let him (the 7 person) in.  We all had maybe 10 inches between mats which really is where your elbows fall.  The 8th hiker comes, and I was willing to squeeze together to make room, but Justin selflessly gave up his spot to the young college student and set up his tent outside knowing it would rain.  Turns out the last two arrivals knew each other from previous shelters and had quite a system.  The others went to gather water or something else and the German boy began scooting everyones belongings over towards us but stopped at me because I had a stuff sack between me and the next mat. This gave the last two arrivals 40% of the space.  Sunshine and I stepped outside and began cooking with my back facing The shelter.  She soon whispered "Dad look"!  I turned around to find the college student putting my stuff sack on my mat and scooting all 5 other mats together to the wall now affording them half the space.  Well, you know I'm not going to let that slide.  I shout "hey, what's going on"! Your not going to hoard this shelter"!  He scrambled to space the mats evenly again and claimed that was his intent all along.  I said "look, we happily made space for you, but you two are not getting half the shelter while the rest of us are on top of one another".  To his credit, he apologized and was pleasant company the rest of the evening.  In conversation the same young man mentioned a donation based hostel in Hiawassee, but space was limited.  We weren't planing to stay overnight in town, but an inexpensive bed with showers and laundry was appealing.  I woke up at 4:00am.  It was clear after the short but fierce storm with the stars and moon brightly shining.  I couldn't get back to sleep, when it hit me.  We could beat everyone there if we left now.  So we quietly packed up and were on the trail by 4:30am.  At first we were laughing and celebrating that we pulled off such a devious plan.  Then later we felt guilty that we used his information to swipe a bed right from under him.  We kind of felt as though we were doing the same thing to him that upset me earlier, so we agreed to reserve a bed for him when we arrived even if it were the last one. Thanks for listening.  I promise I won't put you through this all summer. I just had to get it out.  The attitudes towards other hikers seem so different here than on the PCT.  Most seem so territorial and not too willing to help each other.  Hopefully it's just this immediate group that we will soon be ahead of.  I feel like I'm on Survivor and can't make any alliances.  Hopefully we don't get voted off the trail. Ha, ha.  We realized it was Good Friday and Sunshine was delighted at the idea of going to a Good Friday service to celebrate Easter weekend. Well... we got to the hostel only to find out he was shutting down for the weekend.  He didn't bother to put a sign at the trail head (that he visits twice a day) to warn us before leaving a car that was going all the way to town so we had to find another hitch 8 more miles into town.  However, our new friend Amy picked us up in minutes and even waited at the PO for us to get our package then dropped us off at McDonalds.    Sunshine loves her new iPod, which allows her to go on line while I'm sending journal entries and submitting written materials and photos to our sponsors for there advertisements.   We called several local churches, but no one had a Good Friday Service. We didn't want to waste money on a hotel, so we hitched back to the trail and put in 4.5 more miles by 4:00 pm