Date: 2007-03-13
From: Woody Gap

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Three days down and beautiful weather for all three. Short sleeves and a bit of redness to our faces, ears, and arms. Woody Gap is US 60, the first road the trail has crossed that has not been a forest service road. There are a few picnic tables, a privy, and parking area for cars on both sides of the road. The place where we set up the tent is the quarry where the stone was taken for the picnic and parking area. John and Johanna said they had mice crawling over their tent during the night. We did not see any but Toto kept hearing something on our packs which we had covered with plastic bags. Probably was mice. Mike had said when we set up the tent that there would probably be a lot of animals around us throughout the night. Toto hung all of our food bags from a tree limb and before he went to sleep he heard a limb crash to the ground and quickly looked to see if an animal of some kind had broken the limb trying to get to our food but it was still intact with no sign of an animal. Good thing we had no food in our packs or the tent because we would have had a hole possibly chewed in them, ruining the pack and food.We were on the trail by a few minutes after 8am and got to Neel's Gap at about 4:30pm. When we were within a mile of the gap we met a couple from New England that gave us their phone number and invited us to call them when we get in their area. They also drove us to Blairsville because we have decided to take a day off. We are about a half day ahead and starting out on Thrusday again will keep us on schedule. My feet have some hot spots and a place on the top of my left foot right where my boots lace up and where my foot bends when I walk hurts a bit more than I like. It is red and appears to have some bruising beginning to show. I fell yesterday after stubbing my toe on a root and so may have hurt it then. I discovered today after getting to the motel and taking a shower that I also have a bruise on my left inner thigh near my knee. I also have a few bites on me--there are a lot of little bugs flying around and today I saw some type of fly that gave me some pretty good bites in 2005, but not this early in the hike.As for Mike his feet have been feeling good and has had no problems with his new boots. The boots he got did not need breaking in. He has his other boots at Tater's so if he should need to change to them he can, but it does not look like he'll need to. Our knees have not hurt anymore on the downhills so that is a blessing. Of course we are both stiff and our muscles sore. I am slow on the uphills but Toto just takes them like like they are nothing. He gets in some nice long breaks while he waits for me up the trail. The trail today was very rough. Lots of tough ups and downs. The biggest up and down was Blood Mountain just before Neel's Gap. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to do but Toto was probably on top of the mountain 30 minutes before I made it and then I rested about 15 minutes. The mountain was rocky with some of the rocks placed to make steps. So sometimes steps up or down were 1-2 feet which is much more difficult for me, and for most of the hikers, I think. Neel's Gap is at US 19 and 129. Across the road from where the trail comes out if going north is Mountain Crossings at Walasi-Yi Center which is a full-service outfitter. They also have a hostel there for $15 a night with shower and coin laundry. That is where Mike got his boots and where he bought his pack he is using now 2 years ago. It is where 2 years ago one of the workers went through our packs and eliminated around 8 pounds from it. That was sent home and never ever used!Before we leave for the trail Thursday we will need to purchase another cannister of fuel for our stove. The building that houses all of this is stone with a breezeway through it between the hostel area and the part that houses the shower, laundry, and store. Quite a unique building. We are staying at the same motel that we stayed in last time. This time we are thinking of Snowman and Icicle since we shared our time here with them. We went back to the Cookie Jar Restaurant where we ate with them and will probably hit the AYCE (all you can eat) pizza place for 4.25. The Hole In The Wall Restaurant is not called that any longer but is The Historic Diner. We'll be there for breakfast in the morning and are hoping it is as good as before. Icicle text-messaged us our first morning at Tater's and said that by her calculations it was about 7am and Tater would be fixing breakfast. She was not far off. Snowman and Icicle are from the United Kingdom and they were also recipients of Tater's hospitality in 05. It would not surprise us a bit to see them appear further up the trail. I really am out of things to say (well, not really, but I want to give Toto a chance to put in his 3-cents worth if he is up to it). Keep watching for the next update. And thanks to all that have signed our guest book. It is so nice to download all those thoughts while we are out here and we appreciate it very much.