Date: 2011-03-09
From: Horse Gap

To: Gooch Shelter
Miles today: 5.0

I didn¢t get on trail until 1:30 today. The rain started last night at 9:30 and was still going strong in the morning. Those girls left at around 9:00, but I was still considering just spending the day at Horse Gap. One thing in the way of that, I came up with kind of a cool solution for. I hadn¢t got camp water the night before because I thought I was going farther and didn¢t have much this morning. I¢m carrying the bottom half of a gallon water jug as a wash tub. My clothing bag end goes right into it, so it takes up virtually no space and only weights 2 ounces. The rain was going like mad, so I used a hiking pole to push the bucket under one corner of the tarp. It filled it in just a few minutes and I used my water bladder hose as a siphon to fill up. At about noon, I decided that a full day and two nights all in the hammock was going to be too much, so I packed up. As I was getting ready to leave, I heard trucks on the dirt road and then all of these fully equipped soldiers started coming through the woods. I¢ve heard the Army Rangers train down here, and last night we saw some Humvees towing artillery while we were eating. The soldiers were within about 50 feet of me then all started shooting simulation ammunition and yelling. It was something. As I was almost ready, one of the head guys came over to me and said they¢d be gone soon. I told him not to worry about me, that I was on the way out anyway. He also said they were about to fire off some simulation artillery and that it would be loud. When I got up to the road there was a guy with a ranger hat watching all them, maybe some kind of observer. We talked about the weather a minute (it was still pouring), then he said a thru-hiker was waiting for him at Cooper Gap. He said it was an older guy who was quitting and he was giving him a lift out. He said if I saw him, tell him he¢d be there in about two hours.I was a little alarmed by that. On the one hand, it¢s sort of cool that only about a quarter of us finish, but I don¢t want to actually see anyone drop off.When I got to Cooper, I saw a full pack by the road, but no one around. I yelled, but didn¢t hear anything. I was about to take a picture when an old Rodeo rolled up. It was the Springer caretaker and asked if I needed help. I told him about what the ranger had said and then the hiker came down the road. It was Terry, who I¢d seen at Stover [Creek Shelter]. He¢d spent last night at Cooper, which was kind of exposed, and it turned out he was just going to town to dry out. Evidently, everything he had was soaked. They called the Hiker Hostel, but they were full. I guess a lot of people were jumping off because of the weather. A ranger drove up, so I said goodbye and kept moving. I¢d gotten on trail at about 1:30, and it rained until I got to the top of Sassafrass Mountain, which was a steep climb, but not long. The rest of the day was super misty and the woods are all soaked, but it didn¢t rain again. I was very comfortable hiking. I had my Gore-Tex socks, pants, and jacket on top of hiking pants, a t-shirt, and baseball cap. It was around 45 all day, warm enough that I didn¢t need gloves. I¢d had a Builder Bar for breakfast and ate some jerky along the way.The trail was up and down, but never enough of either to be bad. I¢m still very slow on the uphills, but feeling better. It didn¢t hurt that I only did five miles either. Still, it was the most upbeat day I¢ve had, despite seeing no one else until camp. I got here to camp at about 4:45. I was worried it would be empty since most people I¢ve met were here last night, but it was packed, with tents and a hammock all around. I saw the North Carolina spring breakers, Moonshine, two other thru-hikers from Stover, and a bunch more. I set my hammock up near the bear line, and Murray from Alabama complimented my tarp and asked where I got it. He¢s in the other hammock, so we talked about them for a few minutes.By the time I was ready to cook, most everyone else was done, so there was room at the table. I had bread and stuffing and some snack mix, but wasn¢t super hungry. It started drizzling and someone had a phone, which showed rain off and on for the next few days. I¢m in my hammock for the night and it¢s raining again. My tarp and everything are working great. I was totally dry through the 15 hours of rain last night and this morning. And hiking in the rain isn¢t bad either. My feet are dry, and all my gear is, too, thanks to the awesome pack liner Erica got me. The real problem with the rain is that everything in the woods is soaked and muddy and stuff like rain flies and sweaty clothes never drying out. My knife also got some rust on the handle. I hit it with the silicone wipe before I left. The blade sill looks fine. I figure the handle probably had the silicone wear off. I brought some sandpaper and the silicone cloth, so I¢ll clean it up when things finally dry up. Neels Gap is about 12 miles away and a lot of people are heading there tomorrow. I¢m going to re-supply there, but won¢t go there tomorrow. I think there¢s a shelter about two miles before, so I¢ll likely make for that tomorrow. That¢ll put me in Neels early Friday so I can have some time there. That¢s the plan anyway. We¢ll see what happens. [Ed. note: This is a pretty cool overview map that shows a lot of the places Patrick mentions, and I'm sure will mention, in this Georgia section.]