Date: 2010-03-22
From: Neels Gap

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 37.0
Weather: light snow

Hello all.   I finished the second leg of the trip, from Neels Gap to Dicks Creek Gap, and got a ride from a trail angel to the Hiawassee Inn. It was a fantastic four days of hiking -- rarely did I see a cloud and had great company around campfires at night. The number of trail angels is astounding. I have met one at literally every paved road. In fact, in the entire time I have been down here, and that includes considerable shuttling, I have waited no more than 5 minutes for a hitch.   The trail seems to be getting quite crowded -- in the last hour I have seen at least 12 thru-hikers, all new to me. As a conservative estimate, I would guess there were about 20 tents near Low Gap shelter and Blue Mountain was similar. The social element is hard to impress upon people unfamiliar with the AT, but so far there have been multiple tents at every designated camp site or shelter, and at virtually all times of day.   Here is a brief summary of this leg:Thursday. Got a shuttle from Helen to Neels Gap where I was pleasantly surprised to find Bear, now called "Cast Iron", still mulling his plans. Apparently he will be heading home for a couple weeks to reconsider his pack and let the temperature rise a bit. I'd like to tell the story of his new trail name, as it is a good one, but I was not at the hostel when the prank was played and wouldn't feel right recounting it second hand. I was also glad to here that Wally arrived at Neels the day after me. I'm not sure where he is now, but with the good weather I guess he could be well ahead.   As I indicated above, the weather was great and the trail dry. I made good time to Tesnatee Gap, and was then pleasantly surprised at the relative ease of Wildcat Mt. (also the trail angel waiting at Hogpen Gap). My uphill pace is glacially slow, but I seem to have reached a point where I can mosey up even steep trails without stopping to catch my breath. In fact, I often leap frog slower hikers who take more breaks (by "slower" I mean relative to the average hiker, I've yet to meet anyone slower than me on the ups).   My destination for the night was Low Gap shelter, and I wasn't the only one. It was a veritable tent city when I arrived, perhaps with some residual of a St. Patrick's Day party held there the previous night. I should mention that very few people have been using the shelters during good weather, so the appearance of so many tents may be a bit misleading. In any case, it was a great night with a campfire and friendly company; my first night outside the tent after dark in fact.Friday. Even better weather. For most of the day I leap-frogged with many of the friends I had made a Low Gap over an old graded road, then a trail that had the good sense to slab the side of a ridge rather than bounce up and down atop it. The last mile or so was a bit of a winder, and very rocky, and always the topic of conversation when a new arrival appeared at Blue Mountain shelter. Several of the hikers there were nursing injuries of some sort, including sun burn (!), but the view, weather, and warm temperatures made for a great evening. It was only 7ish miles to that point and I wanted to get a few more in, so I ate an early supper then headed down to Unicoi Gap. I knew that I would not be ascending any significant portion of Rocky Mountain (the next climb and ironically not nearly as rocky as the preceding Blue Mountain), and didn't like the camping opportunities at first glance. So I stuck my thumb out on the busy road and got a ride on about the 7th car.   To me, this day was trail magic. The ATC describes trail magic as ¢small, unexpected, remarkable events that lifted a hiker¢s spirits and inspired awe or gratitude¢. As I was descending Blue Mountain, I lamented somewhat the fact that was missing all the NCAA basketball and it occurred to me that the best way to finish such a great day would be to watch Sportscenter. Not only did I get to see that, but I also caught the Michigan State game ¢ the most interesting one to me ¢ and got a shuttle back to the trail early the next morning. It diminished the backpacking experience a bit to sleep in a hotel that night instead of my tent, but I was very refreshed the following day and faced two tough ascents. Anyway, the ¢magic¢ for me lies in the way these small, often unconnected events string together to form a great day. It¢s magic to reflect on a day like that as I drift off to sleep.Saturday. Could you believe even better weather? It happened. This was the first day that I took off my long johns and hiked only in shorts. Refreshed and fattened, the ascents up Rocky and Tray Mountains seemed downright easy. I even broke with my slow pace and bounded up some of the smaller climbs late in the day. The vast numbers of thru-hikers, week-enders, and day-hikers gave the day a festival feel which was dampened only by the news of a lost dog. I met the section hiker at Tray Mountain Shelter and learned that he had lost his black lab at Addis Gap some five to six miles north. I took his number since I was heading in that direction, and found the dog in a sense (many people did) but could not get him to come close. He would come galloping up the trail, and later into our camp, but immediately split upon seeing strangers.   Notwithstanding the lost dog, I had a great night with four other thru-hikers at Sassafras Gap. We had a nice fire (caveman TV) and stayed out late watching it burn down to coals. Those guys are all young and strong hikers so I have no doubt they will leave me in the dust presently, but hopefully I will see some of them up the trail.Sunday. The reader will not find it difficult to believe that the weather deteriorated on this day. I was quite lucky that the rain didn¢t start until about 20 minutes after I had broken camp since I tented on the soft silt left by a mud puddle. Actually, I was not too concerned since it was only 6 miles to Dicks Creek Gap and civilization.   Somewhere on Kelly Knob I entered the Twilight Zone, and just kept climbing and climbing, seemingly without end into the fog. Fortunately that only lasted for 20 minutes or so; then I was back to the rain soaked descent on planet earth. In terms of the hiking, the only noteworthy event was some nascent chafing in an area not suitable for polite conversation. Needless to say, I am glad this happened on a town day so that I can find the appropriate balm.   The rest of the day was devoted to basketball, or more precisely to Ohio State¢s dismantling of Georgia Tech (recall that I am still in Georgia), but I did get to see the last 30 seconds of the Michigan State ¢ Maryland game. If you have any interest in this, then you already know what happened and my reaction.   Well, that¢s the recap. I¢m getting tired of sitting in this library so I¢ll grab some munchies and head back to the Hiawassee Inn. It snowed this morning in town, and will likely snow again tomorrow. Despite that, the plan is to hike on to Franklin, NC tomorrow morning and take a couple of rest days there. I think I have a decent weather window and will hopefully make it by Friday evening and catch more basketball over the weekend.One last thing: any thru-hikers out there interested in weather forecasts may want to check out Ray¢s Weather Center (http://www.raysweather.com/). It doesn¢t cover the AT, but seems like a reasonable approximation for the ridgeline.