Date: 2014-04-04
From: tray mountain shelter

To: Hiawasee, GA / Dick's creek gap
Miles today: 13.0

Friday, April 4: day 6Thought it was supposed to storm last night but that never happened. Woke up to the sunrise and the sound of the shelter getting ready for the day. Stayed at another shelter last night (Tray mtn). This time about 15 people or so. I think many went into town sooner because of the impending storm. Had a cliff bar and was on my way the 12 miles to Dick's creek gap. One of the highest climbs so far was ahead of me but the last couple days of grueling mountain peaks with 30 odd pounds on my back have conditioned me a bit. And my pack is a lot lighter with only a pasta packet and the ton of trail mix that I haven't eaten. I've have to add some peanuts and granola to it. You think about a lot of random stuff while you're toiling miles up and down random mountains. Today it was rain booties and if something breathable yet waterproof was doable. An E-Vent material bottom & a cuben fiber top with pull cord might work. Would need a really durable bottom to make it work though. Friction is one of the worst things for hikers (blisters among other things). Got to Dick's creek around 2 and waited for a bit with an old guy who called a shuttle. I was going to wait with him but then a car pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. A nice older guy. & since so many hikers are around this time of year, the locals are kinda used to us. I hitched a side with the guy and drove a few miles. Talking to him about my hike and answering and questions he had about my journey so far. A couple miles down the road I spotted a guy knew from last nights camp, Pilgrim. A 20-something who was hiking the trail as a pilgrimage and spiritual journey to find God. He's quite a quite guy and not as friendly as other hikers but gladly accepted a ride once he saw a fellow hiker was in the car. We dropped him off at a local hostel, the Blueberry Patch. I later found out that it's a only donation faith-based hostel where hikers can stay only one night. So times it's packed because it can be free & the do laundry, give you food and take good care of you. As we dropped off Pilgrim and passed the Blueberry Patch we came up to Hiawasee. The driver dropped me off at the Budget Inn & I was hopefully I could find a room. No luck. It was filled with thru-hikers but I did recognize Jolly from afar and asked him if I could stay the night. He okay with it & said I just needed to pay $5 for the night! I went to the Ingles for groceries (beef jerky, instant potatoes, and summer sausage) and by the time I came back two more hikers bunked in the room too. Ethan & Hunter, two kids out of high school taking time off to hike together. Cool kids that worked the last couple months to save enough to hike. They have a lot of great UL gear and sleep in hammocks at night. Cool guys. We hung out for a while and I called a driver to drive us to an all you can eat pizza joint, Big Al's pizza, a couple miles away. The driver, Gene, was a nice fellow and only asked for dinner with the crew as payment for his shuttle. The 6 of us cleaned out the pizza place and even flustered the waitress with the amount of pizza we ordered. 7 pizzas for five hikers and Gene. Gene has been shuttling hikers around for a couple years and thought of opening his own hostel with his wife but never had the chance. He's sectioned hiked up to Damascus a couple times too. He had some really fun stories during dinner, the best one about a mouse in a shelter that ran down his face onto his hand. He flicked the mouse off the back of his hand and flung it to God knows where. After a few moments he got his answer as a couple of girls screams as the mouse landed on them!After dinner, I grabbed a pack of beers for the crew as others smoked a few joints and settled in for the night telling stories about ourselves and going over each other's gear. Each looking at someone else's stuff and trying to wrangle a few precious ounces out of each other's pack. We all crammed into our tiny 3rd rate motel room. Two sleeping on the king bed and me and Ethan taking the floor. I wanted the floor, honestly. Seemed more normal after sleeping outside for a week. And it's only been a week! How time flies.Bedtime 9:30