Date: 2002-09-03
From: Dick's Creek Gap

To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 16.0

Tuesday September 3 I¢m feelin good! I am up early for breakfast at Hardy¢s and in front of the Hiawassee Inn in my best hitchhiking pose by 7:15. I started hitching rides when I was 15 years old (ugh, 40 years ago) and the thrill of it is still there. Of course that can disappear in a NY minute when a lot of vehicles go by or young guys yell stuff at me. But it doesn¢t take long before a two time AT thru hiker Carl Moon and his girlfriend stop in a nice pick-up truck and ask ¢going to the AT?¢ Wow, what luck! Carl enthralls me with his two AT trips. The first took 5 months and the second 9 months. ¢Huh?¢ I ask. He explains he lost a leg after the first trip and was determined to show he could do it again with a prosthesis. And to think that I needed a rest after 3 days on the trail. Soon he pulls over, wishes me luck as I get out and away he goes. I look around at a vaguely familiar area and quickly realize that instead of being at Dick¢s Creek Gap, where I left the trail yesterday morning, Carl made a turn somewhere and has dropped me off at Unicoi Gap. Shit. It¢s 16 miles of tough hiking on the AT to get to Dick¢s Creek Gap. No way do I want to do it again so I resume my hitching pose and proceed to watch a bunch of vehicles go by in the next hour. Well, anyway, the day is pretty with puffy white clouds in front of a sky blue sky. Finally a young business man gives me a ride. Then after he drops me off I quickly get a ride in an old beat up truck driven by a cussing, reckless driving, friendly young hick. And finally, a couple about my age goes out of their way to take me to Dick¢s Creek Gap. At 9:30, I am back on the AT. Of course the trail goes up from the Gap but I¢m still feelin good. My muscles welcome the challenge. There¢s a natural fragrance from the lush bushes and trees. And the sky remains beautiful. A hiker moment. I meet Keith hiking south from Fontana Dam. He¢s taking his time, just enjoying the adventure. I ask if he saw Will yesterday. He sighs and says he passed a ¢milehead¢ yesterday. Two extremely different types of hikers I think. Also, Keith, in 5-10 minutes of talking, lets me know he is glad he hasn¢t run into any ¢feminists¢ on the trail. OK, gotta go Keith. I soon cross into North Carolina. State lines are a milestone for every hiker, especially this one for southbounders. It¢s marked with a GA - NC sign, pipe and white blaze on a tree. A few hundred yards further there¢s a unique Oak tree. It¢s very knarled and old looking. It¢s different than the thousands of trees that I have passed the past 3 days. Then the trail ascends and goes into a rhodenrum encapsulated tunnel. It¢s really humid and I am sweating like a dog expecting something to jump out of the thick bushes anytime. I figure the creature would know that I am trapped. I look forward to taking a break at Muscrat Shelter. I get there at 3 PM and since there¢s no one in sight, I strip done to nothing in the cool damp shelter while I keep one eye on the trail. I relax and cool down. Then I head out for the final 5 miles today to Standing Indian Shelter. I have it to myself. I have hiked 16 12 miles today in about 8 12 hrs. And it¢s a good lesson. I walked my own pace today and while I enjoyed hiking with Will, I wasn¢t ready to hike at a different pace than what I normally do even though I often hike that many miles in a day.SUMMARY SEPTEMBER 3: DICK¢S CREEK GAP TO STANDING INDIAN SHELTER, 16 12 MILES, CUMULATIVE 83 MILES.