Date: 2017-03-15
From: Dick's Creek Gap (Top of Georgia Hiking Center)

To: Deep Gap, NC
Miles today: 15.8

Day 08: Dick's Creek Gap, GA to Deep Gap, NC - 15.8 miles:Last night brought no sleep again. The hostel messed up by overbooking two hikers, thus Sarah (now known as Toepick) and I had to double on bunk. This put me inches away from her snoring instead of what has been several feet, divided by the thin mesh of our tents. With no way to drain out the noise, I put in my iPod and listened to an audio book, Hatchet, that randomly made it on during my music addition before beginning the trail. I would later finish the book during the early morning of today's hike. Up at 7am, I returned to the lobby for another quick bowl of cereal and couple cups of coffee. With the outside temps only in the upper-teens, Sir Packs Alot shared with the hikers that he coldest temp at the hostel to date was on May 1, 2015 when temps hit -26 degrees. Already two months into my hike that year, somewhere in Virginia at the time, I must've been fortunate enough to have missed out on it. After a few goodbyes with hikers I'd befriended over he past nearly two days, I finished repacking my gear, purchased some earplugs (which tonight will be the fort trial run), and jumped on the shuttle form the quick lift back to Dick's Creek Gap.By 9:15am, Sir Packs Alot dropped off the ~10 of us hikers, and returned to the hostel down the road, leaving us standing in the parking lot shivering in the cold, knowing the only thing we could do to warm up was to walk back into the snow-capped mountains above. The morning miles passed by quickly and were actually quite beautiful despite the frigid wind blowing up and over the ridges we were crossing. The sky was a deep blue and the sun shown brightly in a sky void of clouds. The contrast between the sparkling white snow we made our way over and through against the blue of the sky was the best we could've hoped for in a day where the temps wouldn't break out of the 20's. The rhododendrons hung shriveled in clumps, the weight of the snow-turned-ice weighing them down. The trail was packed down and hardened by the handful of brave hikers that had broken the trail over the past couple days, giving the appearance that someone had pulled a sled through the fresh snow, leaving a small impression behind.Toepick, Odin and me stopped for an early lunch in a small clearing of sunlight, hidden from the wind, and were joined by Shades who had the same idea. We had just passed over a small mountain to the south that still showed the scorched scars of fires that swept the area during the 2016 hiking season. The flames had been relatively small, only blackening the lowest foot of the rhododendrons and small trees in the area. After our quick break, we returned to moving in order to thaw out our quickly freezing extremities. Moments later we passed a NoBo hiker Shades knew who was heading south. We asked him what he was doing and he said he was backtracking ~11 miles from Muskrat Creek Shelter to Dick's Creek Gap because last night he'd almost frozen and didn't want to do it again. We were heading about ~5 miles past that point, and tonight will be the coldest night, with lows expected to topple into the single digits.We reached the GA/NC border after ~9 miles into the day, marked simply by a small piece of wood nailed to a tree, next to a random piece of pipe that the tree has grown around and become part of over what I assume has been many years. As we were leaving the spot, I heard a hike arriving at the spot just before I rounded a corner and was out of view. I returned to meet and help Wild Thing, an Englishman, get a picture of his first milestone. A few miles later we reached Muskrat Creek Shelter where Tumbleweed, Moxie, and Shades were each planning to stay for the night. With it being only 3pm, Toepick and I decided to put in a few more miles since all there was to do otherwise would be to fight off the cold.A few hundred yards after leaving the shelter, the snow on and along the trail became deep, 4-6 inches, and closer to a foot deep in areas where drift had formed. I feel bad for the hikers who would've had to break the trail in gear not equipped for doing so, but I remain thankful for them, insuring our time wasn't drastically slowed in the process. My trekking poles sunk in a third of the way in some spots and, poor Odin, despite enjoying the heck out of the snow, found himself post-holing for a decent little stretch. It definitely made for an enjoyable hike - something I didn't experience a couple of years ago. The temperatures should gradually rebound starting with a balmy ~40 degrees tomorrow, so the snow should work its way off in a matter of days. A couple of views overlooked green pastures and farms a couple thousand feet below, bathed in what appeared to be warm sunlight, making me feel like I was in another completely different world.Toepick, Odin and me finally reached a gap in the shadow of the 5,000+ foot Standing Indian Mountain, a mile away from Standing Indian Shelter, but decided to pull up short and bank on the gap having less wind than the shelter a couple hundred vertical feet above. We strolled into a camping ever just west of the gap, already with four tents and their occupants closed in for the day in order to avoid the cold as best they could. It was only 4:45pm. We reconnected with Ewin and Malcolm, two cool Scottish guys we've flip-flopped with over the past several days. They're shooting to take their first zero in Franklin, NC and are excited the day they plan to reach there will be St. Patty's Day. They were sharing a tent since they figured the temps tonight will be too cold to endure without the extra heat.Toepick and I have decided the same thing since we both failed to stay warm a couple times already when temps were only in the upper-20's. I set up my tent where Odin is comfortably calling home for the night. Toepick and I are wearing everything we have and I, as I wrap up this journal just before 9pm, can tell it will have not made a difference. My fingers are closing in on being numb during the half hour it's taken me to conclude this update. Toepick is already snoring next to me so let's hope my earplugs work. The next ~10 hours will be no joke as the temps continue to quickly drop. I only managed to grab a few pictures today because the cold killed my fully-charged camera battery within the first couple hours of hiking. As a precaution, I've stuffed my phone, iPod, camera, and eventually my tablet into the bottom of my sleeping bag in hopes my body heat will keep them from experiencing potential death by cold.Stay warm, and here's to hoping the sun's warmth returns soon enough.