Date: 2004-04-14
From: Dicks Creek Gap

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Editors Note: This journal entry covers days 6, 7, and 8. That should cover the time period from 4/12/04 thru 4/14/04. The last place mentioned in this entry finds them camping somewhere just past Muskrat Creek Shelter for total miles right around 78.4Ryan's Journal Notes: Today is Day 08--I think I haven't written in my journal in a couple of days and kind of a lot has happened since then. Looking back, I see that my last entry was Blue Mountain Shelter. We layed up that day (Day 05) waiting for Mike and Dan who had actually passed us and worrying about the bad weather report. We spent the night with Jason and Amy who had quit their jobs in mid-life and planned to spend a few years vacationing and generally slacking off. Jason had worked writing programs for some start-up company and Amy wrote technical manuals. I can see why they wanted to get away. They were living in California. I also met Carsten and Eyal, the first internationals I've seen on the trail. Carsten is from Germany and Eyal is Israeli. Two other hikers, JollyTime and Pacific Joe pitched their tents nearby. JollyTime is middle-aged and from Iowa and wears shorts in the coldest weather. Pacific Jim lives in Hawaii and has successfully hiked The Trail before. He moves slow, but I never see him take more than a two-minute break to fill his water. He is the tortoise to our hare. Supposedly, he thru-hiked The Trail in 4 1/2 months and took only one 0-day. He just keeps walking when everyone else is resting or in town.    Anyway, at Blue Mountain Shelter I was up most of the night listening to mice scurry past my head and watching the storms come in. Everyone hung their packs to keep them away from the mice, but I was the only one with the foresight to put my raincover on as well. Throughout the night, walls of mist and water vapor wafted in through the open wall of the shelter and in the morning I was the only one with a dry pack. Too bad my boots, bag, and shoes were out though because there is nothing more miserable than getting out of a warm, if slightly damp, sleeping bag and into cold wet clothes.    The day went downhill from there as the weather turned nasty. All day long we hiked over ridgelines covered by clouds. Visibility was never more than 25 yards in any direction as sheets of tiny raindrops stuck to the hair on my face and arms and sucked away my body heat. To make matters worse, I had to wear raingear and pack-cover just to pretend at staying dry, which of course just caused profuse sweating which soaked me from the inside of my clothes. One good thing though was that we didn't take breaks all day and ended up hiking 15 miles; past Cheese-Factory, past one shelter and ended our day at the very well-built Deep Gap Shelter. We stayed the night with exactly the same people under the same conditions, mice and weather and all.   The next miserable morning (Day 07) we put on our wet clothes and decided to make a short 3 miles and change trip to Dick's Creek where we could get a ride into Hiawassee and a room for the night. We needed to resupply and rest our sore knees and feet and we were also wary of a weather report of snow headed for the area. We got a ride to the Hiawassee Inn where Ron and Sam spoiled us with chili, rides to the grocery story, and to the AYCE buffet. We showered and drank beers and streamlined our packs. I ditched my rope, Gold Bond Medicated Powder (which I switched for a tube of topical cream which got to the source of the problem instead of just the symptom), my sunscreen (opted for a smaller bottle), and some of my more unappealing food items that I had gleaned from a hiker box in the last hostel. I also sent home my Swiss-Army knife and lock and a couple of stuff sacks to cut weight.    I now carry my tent and ground pad inside my pack instead of strapped on the back and weigh in at about 35 lbs. stocked with 1.2 liters of water and 5 days of food.    The next morning (Day 08) This morning Sam fed us a 'continental breakfast' (bagels, cereal, and coffee) and shuttled us back to Dick's Creek by 10a.m. We said goodbye and thanked him and his partner for everything and started off. During the night the predicted snow had fallen to as much as a couple inches thick above 3000 ft. and we were soon hiking through a white winter forest. Again, miserable weather discouraged us from taking any breaks and we were soon at the border between Georgia and North Carolina. Elated by the completion of our first state and the fact that the sun had appeared from behind the clouds, we prepared to hike on the three miles and change to the shelter where we were to spend the night. We weren't carefree for long though, as it seemed that North Carolina had a little welcoming reception planned for us. It had snowed quite heavily last night and filled the trees and now the combination of a bright sun and extremely gusty wind was causing chunks of ice to fall on us from above. At first we were shocked by the force of the domino size and shaped projectiles as they fell 20 and 30 ft. onto our heads and packs, then we were awed by the ability of the ice chunks to draw blood when they hit our face and arms. After that we bitched and swore as we put back on our rain-gear and pack covers and prepared to slog through it.    After about an hour and a half of taking hits to the temples and ears that would leave you seeing stars and hearing bells, respectively, we made it to Muskrat Creek Shelter. The shelter space and all the camping around it was completely occupied when we got there and I was especially pissed to learn that the people staying there had been there ever since the bad weather came in two days ago and laughed and joked and built fires in relative comfort as the more serious thru-hikers were forced to hike on and camp in the woods. I guess it's not that big a deal though since it will be my ability to pitch my tent in the snow and cope that gets me to Maine and not my luck in finding a nice dry shelter to sleep in every night. I'd just like to wish all those "sheltered thru-hikers" the best of luck on their trips, they're going to need it.    I guess that just about brings me up to date. I'm lying in my tent now behind a small brush pile where I'll ride out the 50 mile per hour wind gusts in the forecast and wake to an extremely cold and more than just a little miserable morning. Oh well, the knowledge that I'll be suffering from cold in the morning won't cause me to sleep any less well tonight. Goodnight.