Date: 2011-04-26
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Hiawassee
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

Day 9It rained all night and into the morning. I was able to get everything packed up with my tent set up then was able to just pack up the tent at the end.Honey Badger and Moosette were still not ready to go by 11 and I wanted to make it to Hiawassee today, so I went on without them. They never did catch up and a father and son I ran into in the afternoon said they had seen them eating lunch and they didn't seem to be in a hurry. I'm sure I will see them again at some point. Maybe.I started out in the rain, but as I went down it cleared up and got hot. I did a little wardrobe change right in the middle of the trail. Modesty goes out the window when it comes to your comfort on the trail. Speaking of which, why don't the privies down here have roofs??I saw a few SOBO day hikers today but no NOBOs, only the one father and son who passed me. The son was about 8 years old and apparently was trying as hard as he could to make sure to hit every rock with his trekking poles. No risk of bears or snakes hiking with that kid!I liked hiking alone and made really good time for the first section, then came Kelly Knob. Almost 1000 feet of up in about a mile and a half. So not only are you continuously going up for 1.5 miles, but you are going STEEPLY UP.Oh, and I am now through all the "Sassafrases." 61.3 was Sassafras Gap. I also have found a lot of sassafras. It keeps me going to chew on it My dry socks were soaked through from my boots before I even left camp today, so I hiked in wet feet all day. It wasn't until about 5pm that I decided to stop and dry them a bit. My "dry" pair were still pretty wet even though they had been hanging on my pac all day so I kept the same socks on, but took off the moleskin and duct tape I had put on yesterday morning. I simply put that glide stuff on and went on with un-bandaged feet for the first time in a week. My big blisters had gotten a bit water logged from the wetness, so they went backwards a bit in the healing process, and I picked up a couple other small ones. The torn open blister on top of my foot is looking a bit angry. Not swollen or anything, but red and a little hot. I cleaned it with an alcohol wipe. The back of the heel blisters are a non-entity at this point as is the one between my toes. My right side front shoulder and back are all one great big peely skin area. Everytime I sweat I get more and more blisters, and then more pealing.I saw a bunch of turkeys today. Some ran across the trail, and then later three flew from just below the trail out into the alley. Turkeys are funny!My "100 Bottles of Beer" still has yet to fail me. My map said Dick's Creek Gap was .6 miles from the "stream" so I did my bottles and yup there it was. As I was getting closer to the gap, I came across a bench by the river. A nicely finished and painted simple little bench plunked down in the middle of the woods. I turned around to look at it and see if I could figure out why and saw a nice little stick. (Like the kind they put lawn signs on) near it, but that was all. I got out to the trail head and Old School and Chelsea were there. They had just come back from Hiawassee where they picked up a mail drop. I have a mail drop there too. I tried to call for the shuttle that the guide book says the Budget Inn has add had no signal at all. Chelsea didn't either...11 miles to town...out went the thumb and I started walking. It was about 6:30 or so, so I was hoping to get a ride or signal soon! I finally got signal and called the Inn. Yeah, they no longer do shuttles. They gave me the number of a local woman who does shuttle service and she came and picked me up. She brought me around town to show me where everything was and then back to the Inn. The "Hiawassee Budget Inn" what to say about it besides that I would have rather been in my tent in a thunderstorm and digging a cat hole in the rain. Besides that the people "staying" (I suspect most were living) there were on the sketchy side. The bathroom was horrific. The ACTUAL tub itself had mold growing in it. Not the grout, not around the edges, but the bottom of the tub. And the shower curtain.....*shudder*I got dinner from Subway next door and then sat on the computer in the office for a while. (Oh and the book had said resupply and dinner shuttle...wrong). I am sleeping in my sleeping bag on top of the bed and will head out early to walk to NC!!