Date: 2006-02-18
From: Woods Hole Shelter

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: snow

I woke up at 06.00 and started to cook my breakfast. The night hasn't been that cold and as I have learned my lesson the night before I had put my tent footprint under my sleeping pad so the wind from underneath the shelter wasn't a problem. The sky was overcast and the wind blew heavy but it yet hasn't begun to rain. Around 7.30 the first drops started to fall. First opportunity to put on the bad weather gear. As we left the shelter half an hour later the rain has picked up but it still wasn't very cold. The hike up to Blood Mountain wasn't very tiring and the uphill hiking generated enough heat to stay warm. The rain gear worked well but instead of getting wet from rain I was wet from sweating. But the main purpose of rain gear is preventing major heat loss through cold rain and if you are hiking uphill in bad weather there is no way to staying dry. I knew that the top of the mountain was near as I saw the privy, which is only some yards from the top. Sunset and Pilgrim were already at the shelter and we took a break to take some pictures. Sadly there was no view from the top as the clouds were almost hanging a couple of feet above our heads, but the mountain top itself was nice. Very big rocks and stone plates which must be a great spot for taking a sunbath in summer. As we started our ascent to Neels Gap we meet a group of maybe 20 teenage girls with their teacher, most of them in sneakers and with cheap plastic ponchos. I don't now what they were doing on Blood Mountain, but whatever it was, they for sure have picked the wrong day for it. The downhill hike was not easy as there were rocks all over the trail. My knees did their job very well though. I'm surprised that my body does has held up so good and the only problem that really bothers me are my fingertips. Due to the dry cold air the skin is dryed out and there are several spots on my fingertips, where the skin looks like it has been cut with a sheet of paper. Long before we made it down to Neels Gap we could hear the road from the distance as the fog carrys noise over a far distance. Pilgrim has mentioned a couple of minutes before that his hiking poles were covered with ice. The temperature had dropped severely and the tops of the trees started to accumulate ice. As we mde it to the road crossing the weather was getting really lousy and the wind stated to pick up heavily. So we went to the store to sign in for the hostel. The guys in the store are really friendly and offered us hot coffee and explained to us how to do the laundry. It's a very well equipped outfitter and at the first quick look it seems as if they can fullfill every wish a hiker could ever have. As I'm very satisfied how my gear has worked until now I will only get me a new 2006 Companion and probaly a new pair of hiking socks. You never can have enough socks and so I will at least do a little good for the local economy. At the hostel there was already a group of hikers. Gary from Hawai, Red Blaze, Pirate and the 74 year old youngster "The Bull" that we had missed the last 2 days. We took a hot shower (man was this a good feeling) and did our laundry, as the hiker stink already had begun to set in. Afterwards Sunset's mother gave us a ride to the nearby town of Blairsville where we did our resupply at Ingles and she even drove me to Wendys to have my first original american fast food dinner. It wasn't that good but probably I should have eaten my burger at one of the local burger places. Sunset's mom Mary is a really nice lady and I had a good conversation with her as we went back to the hostel. I'm really surprised how my ability to talk english has improved over the last few days. The Southern accent isn't hard to understand as they are speaking slower than other people. The only person I had real problems to understand so far is Red Blaze, a 18 year old from Vermont. Although I have my dictionary with me I haven't used it one single time, so when my entrys are a little harder to understand that is probably the reason why.As tomorrows weatherforcast announces even bader weather than today (freezing rain and temperatures under 30 degree) I will probably stay another night at the hostel. And I'm pretty sure I will not be the only one as hiking conditions in this kind of weather are not only unpleasant (that may be a PITA but quite normal), but dangerous when the ice covers the rocks and stone plates on the trail. Next stop will be at Blueberry Patch Hostel where I hope to arrive at least at Wednesday.      Nuts