Date: 2007-03-16
From: Lance Creek, GA

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: overcast clouds

When I went to sleep last nite it wasc 63 degrees, but the rain made it feel much colder. It rained all nite long, and when I woke up at 7:00 a.m.(don't ask me why so early....all I can think of is sheer excitement) it was still steadily raining and was 60 degrees. We've had fantastic temps so far.      Laying at nite and listening to the rain is incredible. The lack of "life noises" is even better. Nicole and I like to take frequent breaks and just stand still to hear the pure silence. You don't hear anything, no cars, music, no people..nothing. 2 days ago I told her this is what it must be like for a deaf person..zero sound. Then she goes, yeah, except for the gnats buzzing around my face!. We both died laughing...seems the gnats like her more than me.I use my maps more than I do my guidebook, which is no surprise seeing how much of a visual learner I am. I use the Companion for exact distances, then my maps for topo and refernce info. I can pretty much tell exactly where I am on my maps. So far we have been choosing our destination by whether or not there is water and flat ground (which doesn't bother me...there are always trees), while trying to keep itaround or under 7 miles a day.If you want to experience more solitude during peak starting season,all you have to do is camp in between shelters. I can't believe huge #'s of people are starting right now,because we are not seeing them while hiking, except at the usual shelters. It is really nice. One last blurb..packing up in the rain this morning was a breeze due tohaving a tarp (can ya tell I am really lovin' being a hanger?) One lesson I learned, though, was to be more careful with how I store my hammock snake skins. One of them wascollecting water last night, so I had to pour it out and try to wipe it dry as possible. I didn't like putting really damp skins on my hammock, and in hind site I probably could have crammed my hammock in my pack ok only half skinned. Ok, enough random stuff...about today's hike, which took us over Blood Mountain by the way, which is the highest point on the AT in Georgia, at 4461 feet.We got out of camp at 10:30 and were not sure if we would stop short ofNeel's Gap or not. We decided to get water at Jarrad Gap, about 3 milesaway, so it was a pretty easy hike.However, we knew a cold front was coming in, and boy did it. The higher we got, the colder it got, and the mountains were totally socked in with fog and high high winds. When we first heard the wind, we thought it was a big stream, because it was a constant pitch, but we soon found out it was the wind.I watched the temp drop from being in the 60's this morning, to being in the 30's with wind so strong it almost knocked you over. We got to Jarrad Gap and decided to eat lunch. I had to add several layers and my "Toasty" gloves plus my knit cap. We walked around the hillside to get out of the frigid wind and ate. It was at that point that we decided to call into Neel's Gap to reserve a spot in the hostel. Well, they don't have reservations for hostel space, and there were only 4 spaces left. We were sure we wouldn't make it there in time to get any of those spaces, because we still had to get up and over Blood Mountain.We decided to reserve a room in one of the cabins. It's 10.00 more than the hostel, but we soon discovered itwas worth it. So, at 1:15 we started over a fewsmaller climbs, and finally got to the beginning of our climb up Blood Mountain at 2:00. The weather was miserable, but we were still stokedto be doing this climb. We sang 100 bottles of beer on the wall, but only made it to 93 bottles because we were breathing so hard!LOLIt was a longer climb, but not as bad as Sassafrass or Justus Mt. We finally got to the top at 4:00, and had a view of about 40 feet. Prettyhilarious.We went into the shelter, signed the register and looked around. It is a cool shelter, but with no windows or doors, the crazy wind was literally blowing the clouds and fog in. Kind of cool to see. It was freezing cold, I bet the windchhill was in the 20's, so we snapped some pics and headed down.So up....not so bad. Down....pure hell. A lot of slick flat huge rocks that all the rain made very slick. Then there was the point that neither of us saw the next blaze and ended upon this insane rock face. We were like, "Is this right?" So Nicolewent on a little recon and sure enough, we had missed the blaze and were headed the totally wrong direction. It was the need for rapelling gear that made us question our path...ha ha.This was only the second time I got us off the trail, the first was on day 1, so Nicole gets 2 free passes. We just kept plugging away, knowing we would have a dry warm space to sleep in made a HUGE difference. There were some switchbacks after we got lower, and some would take us around the shielded side of the mountain with no wind, then we'd come back around and get slammed by the wind.I knew Mountain Crossings closed at 6:00, and we'd be cutting it close, so I called ahead to let them know we were about 1 mile away. It was 5:40 p.m. at this point. Finally a few minutes after six, we heard cars and knew we were close. The weather, by now was just horrrible, and hikers were calling for rides into town by the droves to get places to stay out of the weather, because the hostel and cabins were full.On the way down Blood Mt., I told Nicole that if there was a kitchen in our cabin, we should cook a huge spaghetti dinner if we could find the ingredients. As luck would have it, a new catering company who relocated here after Katrina, serves an AYCE spaghetti dinner at the hostel for $7.50, includes salad, bread, and corn! I ate two plates and was stuffed. Again, a woman at the hostel saw me and goes, "Hey are you Michele?", and it was Boo Boo from Cleveland! She was held up with bad blisters, but the amazing thing was that she mentioned she had the same camera as me AND the charger, so she offered to charge my batts, which I needed. I am having my charger mailed to me in Hiawasee, because I blow thru them so fast.   After dinner, we got driven to the "cabin" which turned out to be a whole house! Kitchen, 2 bathrooms,furnished, AND washer\dryer which were all free. Winton at Mountain Crossings gave us laundry detergentfor free too. The house looks like it is being renovated, and a for sale sign is in the front yard..but we didn't care. The most # of people that can stay here is 5, 2 double beds and 1 single bed, so Nicole and I are sharing 1 room, our friends Kay and Gadget in the other.When we showed up last nite Boat Drinks was here, and he recognized me too. Itis so funny when that happens...he used my pic of Henry with the Companion inhis gear list...Henry is now a star!!Nicole cranked the heater up in our room and we exploded our packs, becauseeverything that was not in the trash compactor bag was pretty wet.I took a shower, and it felt so good to be warm. We were both physicallyexhausted, my left knee was a little irritated and Nicole's collar bone wasbothering her, so we decided to take a zero tomorrow and let our bodies recup. Everyone tells you to take it slow at first, and we feel like we are doing agood job with that. The temps are going to be into the teens tommorow nite andthat wind is still howling, so we had perfect timing. We're going to catch the shuttle in the morning and try to stay another nitehere. We also need to resupply, so it will hopefully all work out. It is 11:30p.m. and I'm beat.~Michele