Date: 2008-01-02
From: 1/2 Mile S of Horse Gap, GA

To: Woody Gap, Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up a number of times throughout the night because of the high winds. I kept thinking to myself...did you check REALLY good for dead trees nearby? The wind was probably 20 to 30mph most of the night, then about 3 or 4am it started gusting to what seemed closer to 50mph. I checked my thermometer that I hang outside the tent when the winds had increased and saw that it was 8 degrees and there was an inch or two of snow on the ground. I LOVE weather like that!! I never did zip up my sleeping bag and I slept nice and warm all night. I had the bag over me like a quilt again. I watched the sunrise from inside my tent. Everything was white with the fresh snow and the sky slowly turned pink just before the sun shown over the distant mountains. Life just doesn't get any better than that!! :-)) I think it was about 7:30am when I finally stuck my stove out the door and started my Starbucks. It took a little longer for it to come to a boil this morning because of the high winds, but it wasn't too long and I was enjoying my coffee and eating some baked goods that Carlene had sent along for me. I told Superstar that we needed to start packing up at the same time because it was too cold for one of us to stand around and wait on the other to get ready. We packed up and were walking by 10am. It was absolutely beautiful out!! The wind kept it feeling cool. I checked several times during the day and the high was 20 degrees. The winds stayed up all day. We got to Horse Gap and then started a nice climb. That warmed me up so much that I had to shed some clothes. I ended up having to carry my water bottles inside my shirt to keep them thawed out. That worked great. I had some ice chunks in the water for a while, but for the most part they stayed liquid. I am really loving my new winter gear. I didn't feel cold at all today.We did walk slower because of the snow. The trail was pretty slippery, but neither of us fell. I told Superstar this morning that we could call Josh at the hostel and stay there tonight if she wanted....she smiled yes, so I called Josh and told him we would probably be at Woody Gap about 4pm. He said to call about 30 minutes before we got there and he'd pick us up. That's nice for two reasons...it will be warmer :-)) and I've never stayed at their hostel before. I'm still trying to do and see things on this Trail that I've missed. Yesterday was the first time I've ever seen Hawk Mountain Shelter. I've been by it many times, but never took the side trail to see it before. We got to Cooper Gap and I saw a tent. I decided to check it out in case someone was having trouble. As I got closer to it, I saw it was a free standing tent and was blown over on its side. It was a nice tent, so I wonder what happened to the people that it belonged to. We climbed Justus Mountain next. I really like these GA hills. Some of them will make you work to get to the summit, but they are usually pretty short....maybe 500 to 700 foot climbs.We stopped at a small rock outcropping that was in the sun and out of the wind and ate lunch on the way up that mountain. I took quite a few pictures today....some with my regular camera and some with my cell camera. I used up the battery in the cell phone, but the battery in the camera seems to be holding up better. I started keeping them in my pocket to see if my body warmth helped make the batteries last longer. I think that's going to help a lot. The cell battery probably wore out faster this time because I forgot and left it on the other night on Springer Mountain and I think it was searching for service a lot, which might have used up the battery. Luckily, I'm carrying a spare. We got to Gooch Mountain Shelter and took a break and ate some snacks. I showed Superstar the picture of Chief on the wall of the shelter. That picture was taken in '02 when I first met Chief at that shelter. She was impressed that Chief's picture was there. :-)) We walked the last 3.5 miles out to Woody Gap and waited for about 5 minutes before Josh showed up.There were a couple girls that stopped at the parking area across the road and took a few pictures. They were dressed with plenty of warm clothes, so it was funny to see how they ran back to the car to get out of the cold wind. Made me feel even better about my gear. :-)) We ate Chinese food that Leigh brought back from town. We're the only hikers here tonight, but Josh got a call from Trek and I guess he'll be on the Trail soon again. We walked all day and only saw a set of footprints in the fresh snow once when we walked near where a residence is. Someone came and walked about half a mile and went back....that was it. Saw lots of coyote tracks, a few deer tracks and some rabbit tracks. That was about it. We had a couple branches fall from the trees and land near us, but none landed on us. :-)) When I was laying in my sleeping bag this morning, I remembered that I had internet access on my cell phone, so I checked my email and was blown away by all the people that signed my guestbook wishing me well on this walk......THANKS!!!   That was a very nice surprise. I laid under my sleeping bag and read all of them and they really made me feel good. :-)) I¢ve made lots of friends by walking this Trail. Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-))