Date: 2009-04-04
From: Goose Creek Resort, Blairsville

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

"Bears Are Pussies"We arrived at Neels Gap by shuttle from the Goose Creek resort, to be greeted by the Trail Dames, a group of "women hikers with curves", as they describe themselves. Many of them had hiked sections or even all of the AT in years past. They were performing a service called Trail Magic, which are friendly deeds done for hikers along the way. Those providing any form of Trail Magic on a regular basis are referred to as Trail Angels. The Trail Dames set up a spread of hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, beans, fruits, cookies, brownies, drinks, etc... all for free to thru-hikers.Neels Gap is a popular place for bikers and hikers. Many motorcycle riders like the curving roads that wind up through the pass by Blood Mountain, the last obstacle that northbound hikers must overcome before descending into Neels Gap. There is also a big outfitter there called Mountain Crossings, which has most everything a hiker needs. The people who work there offer a free "pack shakedown", where they do a thorough inventory of your gear and tell you what you don't need, and what your missing. Surprisingly, they aren't trying to sell you a bunch of things, but honestly do an assessment of what you have and how you can make it work without buying more. Of course we spent another $500 there anyway - half of that on a new tent. Their goal is to try to get your pack to a reasonable weight of 30-35lbs, which they did.We ended up sending back a lot of our clothes and gear, including our water filter, out tent, and a few other 'luxuries' that we just didn't need. We bought a new Black Diamond Teepee tent, which is as light as our original tent, but has twice the room and is easier to set up and take down. We also bought some Aqua Mira water purifying drops which will be much lighter and easier to use than our MSR ceramic filter. After the shakedown, my pack was down to 34lbs and Liz had dropped a few pounds as well. Alpine was the person who did our shakedown, a former Army ranger and thru-hiker, who is living and working at Mountain Crossings. Both he and Winston, the manager/owner (?), were very friendly and helpful.The biggest success of the day for the guys at Mountain Crossings was our Australian friend Sandy, who we were happy to see again. Sandy started off with 60 lbs, 55+ in his pack and a gallon jug of water he carried in his hand. By the end of the day, they had re-outfitted him completely and had him down to 31 lbs. He sent a 25 lb box of his old gear off to Maine to retrieve at the end of his hike. He was quite happy to be relieved of the load, and I'm sure the outfitters were quite happy to relieve him of a hefty soum of cash from his wallet.After getting our packs, and wallets, shaken down, we checked into the Walasi-Yi hostel for the evening, which is attached to the outfitter. The whole complex was built in the 1930's out of mountain stone. It was a nice place with a communal area, a kitchen area, and a room with about 16 bunk beds. There were games, books, puzzles, videos, etc...for anyone to use, although most were too tired to use any of them, or too busy testing out their new gear. Einstein spent some time getting to know and playing with the dozen or so dogs who lived at the complex with the employees of the outfitter and hostel.We spend most of the evening up behind the hostel at the old pump house, where Ten Sticks, Muscles, Ezra, Julio and Patience Jr. were bunking. They had a nice fire going, so we decided to hang there, along with Maxwell, a thru-hiker from Cincinnati. Einstein and Patience Jr. finally hit it off and spent an hour or so chasing each other all over the complex. They were both soon completely exhausted and spent the evening sleeping next to us by the fire, while we all took the time to get to know each other better. We went through the speil - favorite movies, books, music, etc... I told them of my brush with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr and played some music of friends of mine, Bill Passalacqua, John Statz and Tom Irwin.I also spent some time regurgitating some of the advice Alpine had given us earlier about water treatment, smelly clothes, and protecting food from bears. After hearing that Aspen advised us not to worry about bears too much because the dogs would keep them away, Maxwell offered the explanation "that's because bears are pussies". It was the funniest line of the night. We were especially concerned about bears because the area we were in contained a pesky bear that had been stealing people's food, including two hikers who came in the next day that had all their food stolen off of the bear lines many shelters provide to hang food high, supposedly out of reach from the bears. We were advised not to camp or shelter for the next 6 miles out of Neels Gap.So, its going to be a long hike tomorrow to get to the shelter beyond this particular bear's territory. Bad storm coming our way in two days, so we plan to be in a place where we can duck into town if we need to as well.