Date: 2004-03-29
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Dick's Creek Gap
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: broken clouds

I left Saltlick at Tray Mountain Shelter to get some alone time. But he caught up with me four miles later. He was so silent upon his approach that when he said hello, I nearly jumped out of my skin.The sun was still blaring and I had already shown the first signs of fatigue by leaving the cap to a freshly filtered bottle of water unscrewed. I was just going to hike to the next shelter and refill there, I figured.I have to say that I'm a little backwards here. I find the uphills challenging and exhilirating, but the downhills are excruciatingly painful. I have remedied the knee problem with the poles, but the cummulative pressure you apply when descending begins to burn the soles of your feet. Add to this some unusual blisters on the insides of my toes.We had a long clip up to Kelly Knob. Invigorated, I left Saltlick and Turtle behind. I reached the top and met the Garland Five, a family from North Andover hiking the entire trail, taking a breather. Lots of families this year, I thought. I spoke with Craig, the father, on our way to Deep Gap Shelter where they planned to stay. I would have too but the day was too young to quit and I chose to go ahead to Dick's Creek.Geezer, Turtle, and Saltlick had the same plan since the forecast suggested a badly needed storm that night. I made my second attempt at syphoning water from a pitiful mud sludge stream at the shelter but managed to drop my Guardian into the mess. My aggravation was compounded by Geezer's "words of wisdom" about how he only uses tablets. Yeah, whatever.I know that I'll probably abandon the filter idea midway but I strongly feel the whole controversy of tablets vs. filters is moot when you are faced with a mud puddle as your source for drinking. I also want to add at this point that I have found the water in GA to be rather sumptious. Why ruin it with iodine or bleach? The trip to Dick's Creek was a long persistent downhill. Turtle and Geezer were being polite and letting me lead, but I insisted they pass since I was about to breakdown from the pain. While I was alone, I wanted to scream but I figured that would alarm them, so I settled for pitiful tears that ironically made the aching more bearable.I caught up with everyone at Moorland Gap where we had a discussion about prefernces for ups and downs. Saltlick said he feels discouraged on the uphills the way I feel on the downhills. I am really looking forward to the long decent into NOC in a week.At Dick's Creek, I made my first hitch-hike in my life. Geezer and I shared a pleasant ride with a Georgian to the Blueberry Patch to get our maildrops and spend the night. Unfortunately, Gary had only the highest bunks left which were approximately four inches from the ceiling so we decided to call the Hiawassee Inn for a stay instead. Meanwhile, our friends Saltlick and Turtle furnished a horrifying ride into town from a high-speed Corona boozer who drove most of the winding highway in the left lane. They were praying for their lives.We met them at the Inn along with Jim (Palmtree) who was held up with the flu, and Cat (I lost track of her after Neels Gap). Hiawassee Inn was a dump until the new owners, Ron and Sam, gave it a rundown. Their official opening day is April 1st, but business with hikers has been so good, so they started early. Generosity abounds as they shuttled us everywhere and let us use their laundry facilities that evening.After a fulfilling dinner at Daniel's in town with the gang, I organized my maildrop, recharged my batteries, and made a few calls to home. I also washed Saltlick's laundry (not a huge deal) in exchange for a few beers he bought at the gas station nearby.As night rolled around, a downpour began and lasted through the night giving this planet a good, long drink.