Date: 2005-05-29
To: Long Way Dungan
Miles today: 7.5

Hello Journal Readers..."Long Way" Dungan (I had been mistaken by saying it was "Long Road") again. I just spoke to Dream Catcher. She is in Hiawassee, GA. Right now she is staying at the Hiawassee Inn (Thanks a bunch to Sam and Ron - the Innkeepers). She said it was a wonderful place, and the Innkeepers have gone above and beyond for her and her hiking companions.Let's see...First a couple of tidbits of info I've learned from Dream Catcher today. She said that supposedly with all of the altitude changes (some very drastic I might add) that hiking the AT is the equivalent of hiking Mt. Everest 16 times (again, this is supposedly). Also, approximately 30% of all hikers who start hiking the AT from Springer Mtn. drop out by the time they reach Neel's Gap (where she updated me last week). Dream Catcher is almost done with the Georgia section. She is hiking with several characters. Two are Jersey Jeff and his son Blake. Jersey is a New Jersey State Trooper. She has also been hiking with Josh Lind who is an Olympic/World Class Tri-Athlete. Also in her group is a man named Hayward who is in school at Auburn. All of the guys have been great to Dream Catcher, and she wanted me to say how much she has appreciated hiking with them.Dream Catcher wanted me to relay a story she told me about how simple life has become to her while she is out on the trail. She looked in her food rations the other day and was so happy to see she still had a tube of Skippy peanut butter. Another item she wanted me to relay just for our friend Dawn (the published poet) - Dream Catcher has been taking pictures of all of the hiking shelters she has been to just to prove she is hiking the trail, and not just camping out in Georgia for the next 4 -5 months (hee hee hee).Another story she wanted to be told happened within the first few nights on the trail. She was at one of the shelters (she thought it was at Low's Gap) with Jersey Jeff, Blake, and I think Hayward. They were sitting around talking and Dream Catcher asked them if they had fireflies in this part of the country. Jeff said yes, but that it was probably a little too early in the season for them to be out. A few minutes later they were looking out and thought another hiker was approaching because of seeing a light in the distance. In fact it was a swarm of fireflies heading up the trail. Dream Catcher said they were beautiful.Along the trail she has stopped at several fantastic places that she wanted me to mention. Again, the Hiawassee Inn has been great to her and her hiking companions. In fact, the Inn was full, but Sam and Ron made room for them in their living room. They have also given Dream Catcher and her team opportunity to use the van, and Sam and Ron went way out of their way to pick them all up from the trail. Again, Dream Catcher wants to send her thanks and give the Inn 2 BIG thumbs up for any other interested hikers.Now I know I'll spell this incorrectly, but she also stayed at the Walasi-Yi Center's hikers' hostel at Neel's Gap. They ordered pizza there and the delivery guy went an extra 20 miles out of his way to get it to them. Again, Dream Catcher told me how wonderful everyone there had been to her, and highly recommends staying there to other hikers.A note for Dream Catcher's computer friends...she wanted to make sure I told ya'll that she has worked on the computers at both of these places. Once a computer geek, always a computer geek. In fact, after she hung up from talking to me she was going to try and resurrect the old computer of Sam and Ron's. I'm sure she's letting them think it's to help them...I happen to know she's dying to really see what I'm writing on her behalf, as well as check her email.Hiawassee is a beautiful place. The town is on a lake. It's raining there today, and Dream Catcher is very thankful not to be out on the trail this evening. The high humidity makes it almost impossible to get dry once it rains. Dream Catcher told me she has 8 blisters on one foot, and three on the other. Her buddy Josh was helping all of the hiking partners by clearing off space on flat rocks in the stream and having them cool off their feet. All of the guys she's hiking with have blisters. She said they were planning on taking the next day or so off from hiking.Well I think that's all for now. Dream Catcher wanted me to remind you all to sign her guest book and that you can leave a message there, as well as by emailing her at cyberyoung1@gmail.com. Goodnight from Hiawassee via Nashville.