Date: 2019-04-01
From: Steeltrap Gap

To: Plumorchard Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Happy April! Today was long. I started out late because it was still cold when I woke up. I had a lot of mileage to cover. Yesterday I said the plan was to stay at Tray Mountain Shelter. Well the original plan yesterday was to stay at another shelter, Deep Gap, and it would¢ve been a 13-mile day. Since I got out of Helen late, I changed my goal to Tray Mountain Shelter. That set everything back of course, so today I wanted to make up some miles. I decided to head for Plumorchard Shelter, even though the original plan was to go even further. I didn¢t even calculate the mileage, I just went. I also didn¢t know exactly where the site I stayed at was since it was not an official campsite, so I didn¢t know where I had started. The first half of the day was all uphill. It was quite a climb. There were a couple of guys going up it too and after we all descended, they said that¢s the hardest climbing they¢ve done so far. It really was tough. It just kept going! At one point I just shook my head because I couldn¢t quite believe it was still going uphill. At the bottom of it was Deep Gap, my original plan for the day before. It was nice to hit a mark and know where I was. I had filled up for water at an earlier Gap, but now I was at one I knew. I pushed on to continue to get those miles. I stopped a few times to munch, and found a beautiful campsite with 360 views. I did not stay there.Today I was feeling particularly lonely and a bit scared. I don¢t really know why. I met such amazing, funny people during those first few days, each time willing to start over and do all the introductions. But now that was changing. I was with new people last night and it was nice, but I was so cold and focused on getting set up that I didn¢t really get to know them. I remember one guy¢s name was Q-tip, and another¢s was Matches, and another¢s was BBQ. Some of them seemed like they were already a ¢trail family¢ or ¢tramily¢ and had been hiking together for days. I had officially lost everyone I knew except for Willow, and today I lost him too. He went ahead of me and was planning to stay in Hiawassee. A lot of people were. I felt really lonely and sad having said goodbye to all these lovely people, and I didn¢t really want to start over again. I hiked on past Deep Gap and got to Dicks Creek Gap, which is where everyone catches the shuttles or rides into Hiawassee. Before I arrived, I was dealing with two guys who were kind of making me mad. They both hiked ahead of me, but kept stopping every few hundred feet to look back or adjust something. I wanted to pass them because that was getting annoying to follow. I arrived behind them and one of them said, ¢we thought we¢d lost you!¢ I don¢t know, it was just weird. I passed them because of their frequent stopping, but the minute I did they were on my tail and didn¢t slow down all the way until Dicks Creek Gap. I felt the pressure and I did not like it. I was not trying to be competitive at all. They were stopping so I passed them. Ugh it was frustrating. At Dicks Creek Gap, some people arrived and then left in a shuttle. It was so tempting, but I decided against it. I ate some snacks and relaxed for a little bit. It was 4:30 when I needed to make my decision: press on or find a campsite near there. I decided to press on. I almost immediately regretted it because as I started to climb out of the Gap, my body was aching and didn¢t want to keep going. And I didn¢t have many hours left of daylight. But I¢m a pretty determined person, so I had set my sites on the next shelter and that¢s where I was going! I was getting that lonely and scared feeling again. I was racing against the clock and still had 4 miles to go. I was afraid no one would be at the shelter either. I think Willow spooked me this morning because he told me there had been a bear siting at Deep Gap just a few days before. Apparently the bear refused to leave, even with gunshots being fired into the air. When I arrived at my shelter, a man told me that that was a rumor from a year ago on the Guthook app. I don¢t have the app because I¢d rather just use AWOL and do it that way, but apparently rumors like these can spread easily on the app. Willow must have read the year wrong. Oh well, it just spooked me in addition to not knowing anyone again and feeling lonely. I stopped seeing white blazes and started to panic at around 6:20. I really was feeling a lot of emotions in addition to exhaustion and I was worried I¢d have to break camp beside the trail. Finally, I saw the wooden sign and I came up to it. It said Plumorchard Gap, with an arrow pointing to the shelter. I was so happy, but also still worried there wouldn¢t be people. It was a steep slope down to the shelter, but I heard laughter and I got excited! Humans! I walked up and there was a group of people around a fire. Perfect! It was exactly how I described earlier with ¢tramilies¢ and people knowing each other, but they were friendly, showing me where to camp and asking about my day. I got my tent set up and made dinner by the fire. It was getting dark. I stayed cozy by the fire and then headed for my tent. I am now snuggled up in my sleeping bag. It¢s much better than yesterday, but it¢s still cold. I¢m comfy though, and after a really long day of hiking, I¢m sure I¢ll sleep! Also my puffy face is peeling! Ah the lovely stages of sunburn. It is not very ap-peel-ing... hardy har har haha. Song of the day: ¢Stayin Alive¢ by Bees Gees. It¢s one of my all-time favorite songs and it came on my shuffle when I was hiking that last stretch to the shelter. Diana... Little Debbie?