Date: 2006-09-08
From: baggs creek gap (?)

To: campsite just beyond red clay gap(?)
Miles today: 12.7

======2003====== wednesday, february 26, day 5walked in the rain yesterday afternoon¢¦.pitched camp in the rain¢¦¢¦thought we were a pretty good team!....had dinner under the tarp¢¦..had stopped raining by bedtime which was 8:00¢¦..we awoke this mornin¢ to a black sky FILLED with the brightest stars you¢ve ever seen!...a fingernail moon glanced the horizon¢¦¢¦got out of camp at 7:00¢¦..started hiking without breakfast*¢¦.hiked till 8:00,then had muesli in a windy gap (but snuggled down behind a big tree)¢¦¢¦soon we had another weather surprise (it seems to change every 12 hours!)¢¦it started to rain(with a little snow mixed in)¢¦..so we walked in the cold rain all day*¢¦..still the day was not without its bright spots¢¦..at lunch we sloshed into a shelter where some other folks were waiting out the rain¢¦..new friends!....all thru-hikers¢¦¢¦vic and irish (engineering couple from knoxville) , shot and his beagle, governor, and kevin (c-blue?) ¢¦..we were freezing (and I have to admit to coveting irish¢s warm , poofy, down booties!) but we had fun getting to know everybody¢¦..we decided to slosh on out in the rain 6 more miles to camp¢¦..but then is where the real ¢fun¢started!....we pitched our tarp at camp but paw couldn¢t find the water!*....so we caught some off the tarp and filtered that¢¦.(a good feature for the tarp we realized, as you can sit right under and stay dry while catching the rainwater!)¢¦we ate a cold supper (part of our lunch that we are havin¢ a hard time finishing) and had a little water¢¦¢¦our gear is pretty wet¢¦..fortunately I think it¢s supposed to be a little less rainy tomorrow¢¦.it¢s very warm,you know, while you¢re hiking, though, even in the rain¢¦.We saw grass-of-parnassus today by a spring¢¦(us ol¢ plant freaks always lookin¢ at the growing things!)¢¦.the trail just before camp was VERY rocky (could PA really get worse? hmmmm)¢¦.but it was also very beautiful¢¦.so glad we¢re out here!Almost done with GA!......read today from the book of james¢¦(4 : 13-17¢¦. ¢come now you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business¢¦.yet you do not know the least thing about what may happen tomorrow¢¦.what is the nature of your life? You are really but a wisp of vapor¢¦.you ought instead to say, if the Lord is willing¢¦.¢)going to ¢ bed¢ now¢¦.charlie¢s already snoring!....it¢s 7:30, but we need the extra rest for our 13 tomorrow¢¦¢¦======2006====== thursday, february 16 day 5   (neel¢s to poplar stamp 12 miles)30 12 miles from springer!*.....slept well, paw-ee and I together on a single bunk here at walasi-yi (¢place of the frogs¢)¢¦¢¦i scorched their bench out in the breezeway here cooking (MAJOR oops!)¢¦.gotta go confess to the management before we leave¢¦..don¢t wanna be known as an arsonist!So far besides all the glorious beauty, we have seen (oddly) an army helicopter dip down into these mountains!...felt like i should yell ¢incoming wounded!¢¢¦or that hawkeye might jump out of the bushes or something!......yesterday near the end of our day we saw a snowman that someone had built beside the trail with a coiff of sedge on top! ha ha!....and we had trail magic!...some one had left beer once (too chilly for that!) and then last evening just before neel¢s gap there was cranberry juice!...we GUZZLED and were SO grateful! (thank¢s whoever!)we met the pooler bears from ¢03 whom we had not met then even though we were both on the trail,but they went over to dahlonega to the hiker¢s inn¢¦..though we¢re comfortable here,it¢s a bit more ¢humbling¢ and are happy to get to know pirate who has hiked the trail 19 times! glad to be able to get straight out to the trail this morning¢¦.the folks at walasi-yi are great! (they didn¢t even make me pay for their bench!....just cautioned me as i left not to burn down the woods!....i will certainly be more careful!)we had a break on wolf laurel mtn¢¦wow! would say this is one of my favorite places!(wanna come back)¢¦.there were lot¢s of grasses, hypericum¢¦..views as far as you could see¢¦¢¦we kept sayin¢, ¢do you remember this from last time?¢¢¦..we didn¢t!...i think it was rainy and foggy so we missed all this that we finally got to see today¢¦the mountain after tesnatee gap was a monster! straight up!....(i did remember that from last time!)¢¦.but once you get to the top it¢s mostly easy walking for the day¢¦(in fact, we met some folks hikin¢ with an elderly lady out there ¢¦.i was sorta dreamin¢ of getting¢ my brother and his family to drive up and hike this section¢¦.only a couple of hard climbs,but good views in winter¢¦nice!)we stopped at low gap shelter* for water (pretty place)¢¦. ¢wrongway¢ was there washing his hair in the stream (without soap I¢m sure)¢¦don¢t know his name¢¦we just referred to him as ¢wrongway¢ because when we met him it was at the foot of blood mtn. where he told us he had gone the wrong way down to slaughter gap which was closed¢¦.he seemed a little discouraged¢¦.we tried to cheer him up by letting him know we had gotten lost before, too¢¦¢¦.i think the poolers were planning to stay at low gap, as well, but we came on up here¢¦..a little campsite on a knoll with water about 1000 ft down the trail¢¦¢¦we had started to hike on from here when we realized THIS was our destination, so we turned around and came back¢¦(guess we were ¢wrongway¢, too) there¢s one other guy here in a tent with a weather radio¢¦..he says it might get bad saturday so he might hike out¢¦.we¢re headed to the ¢blueberry patch¢,though¢¦thank heaven!we enjoyed singing hymns together before layin¢ down here tonite¢¦¢¦a breathtaking sunset has finally melted into dark¢¦¢¦.GOD IS GOOD!*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS--------*cleveland,tn is 30 miles from chattanooga where we live, and we would never dream of WALKING !*the water is just .2 of a mile up the trail from the campsite past red clay gap (before you get to the blue mountain shelter which I imagine could be pretty windy and cold this time of year)¢¦..this little site was great, but going up the trail (quite rocky there) and in the rain, made it seem further¢¦.i think that¢s why paw couldn¢t find it¢¦.it¢s there, though, hikers, and well-marked, so keep searching if the weather¢s bad*it¢s funny how weather (in some exact location as before) can cast a totally different look and feel over everything¢¦.almost as if you weren¢t in the same place at all (indeed you¢re not¢¦.in your head,that is!)¢¦.low gap shelter in ¢03 could have been located on the other side of the universe from the low gap we experienced in ¢06¢¦..all because of weather¢¦..we must be careful how we relate our experiences to others¢¦..it¢s always good to remember that everyone is influenced differently¢¦¢¦.it¢s our hike (sort of)¢¦..but God¢s plan ultimately* in ¢03 we hiked out often in the mornings BEFORE breakfast¢¦..not so much in ¢06¢¦I don¢t know why¢¦¢¦old people sometimes change their minds, I guess..¢¦.it¢s easier to eat while you¢re hiking, i think, too, than to sit around camp half the morning freezing to death¢¦we always ate a cold breakfast, and REALLY liked the hand-held things (we had more of those in ¢06) like our big, sturdy, healthy squares of homemade gingerbread!*rain!....they say ¢03 was one of the wettest years ever¢¦..may have been¢¦¢¦we didn¢t know any better¢¦.we just thought the mountains were always wet¢¦¢¦we were havin¢ fun¢¦.there were ALWAYS ¢views¢ for us¢¦.of the plants at our feet or to the horizons of our souls¢¦..rain or no we were always just excited to see what was around the next corner¢¦..we carried umbrellas¢¦.more on that later¢¦¢¦