Date: 2005-04-09
From: Hiawassee, GA Holiday Inn

To: Plumorchard Shelter
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Thursday night at Tray Mountain Shelter was unbelievable. I had just closed my eyes to sleep when a flash of light stopped my gradual drifting toward unconsciousness. A low rumble echoed across the valley and surrounding hills, building to a deep roar that shook the shelter to its foundation. The shelter¢s residents simultaneously and unanimously expressed the sole thought possessing our minds: ¢Holy Crap.¢The storm eventually passed and I slept my warmest night to date. I think I¢m getting the hang of sleeping in my quilt. The next day dawned foggy, but cleared before I left camp with Doc Holiday Inn (trailjournals.com/docholidayinn) and Olivia. We made good time getting to Dicks Creek Gap during a day that couldn¢t decide whether it preferred sunshine or rain. Doc regaled us with tales of losing an engine in a fighter jet; he was a Navy pilot for several years. Eventually we emerged at the gap, reaching it at nearly the same time as Andy and the Professor.The Professor quickly hitched us a ride into Hiawassee in the back of a pickup. Well, most of us were in the back ¢ Olivia and the Professor were up front. When we were dropped at the edge of town, they told the rest of us all about the clearly drunken driver. Note to self: Pay better attention to the person driving the truck. Without trying we soon got another hitch to the Holiday Inn with a far more sober driver who even offered to run us back out to the trail the next day. The driver, Stump Jumper, is a section hiker who will be hiking New England later this season. Maybe we¢ll see him further up the trail.The Holiday Inn earns its reputation as the best shelter on the trail . Comfy bunks, cheap laundry, a hot tub, and a convenient location ¢ the place truly has it all. We chilled for a while in our room before heading across the street to a fine Mexican restaurant. Those fajitas sure hit the spot, as did the many refills of chips and salsa before the meal. It¢s almost like they¢re used to hikers passing through. Afterwards I did some grocery shopping and for the heck of it, tallied the calories I bought. It looks like I¢ll be doing about 3,500 calories a day for the next 10 days. We¢ll see how it goes. It sounds low, but it¢s a lot of food. So far, I appear to be doing well, though. According to the hotel scale, I haven¢t lost weight, and may have even put on a pound or two. Better than wasting away, but I¢m knocking on wood ¢ the full hiker metabolism hasn¢t kicked in yet.We chilled in the hot tub and then called it a night. I made a quick call home to my folks too, in order to check on things in general and line up some supplemental supplies for my Fontana Dam maildrop. I want to add a drawcord to my sleeping bag to keep out drafts.After a good night on the roll-away cot, I took full advantage of the hotel¢s breakfast. Cinnamon buns, a bagel, cereal, a banana, coffee, OJ ¢ it was pretty sweet. We packed our gear up; I mailed some stuff home and also sent a three day food drop to the NOC. We chilled by the hotel pool for a bit and ducked down to Hardee¢s for a quick bite to eat before Stump Jumper came back for us. He was right on time, and were back on the trail at 1:30.It was then that I finally got a trail name ¢ Papa Razzi. The meaning should be pretty obvious, given that I¢m hauling around 5 pounds of camera gear. I like it ¢ thanks, Crazy Legs (Jeff)!After 4.5 miles of what felt like all uphill we arrived at Plum Orchard Shelter, which is the cedilla of AT shelters. This beauty is a triple decker! It¢s got a concrete foundation, plexiglass windows, a tetherball pole (I think), a pink swivel office chair, and quite a privy. They apparently airlifted in all the materials via helicopter. Tonight, there truly is room for all in the shelter.Right now, we¢ve got around ten people filling it up. Us four horsemen (me, Crazy Legs, the Professor, and Andy), Bjorn (who hiked in with us), and a guy named Andy or Andrew, I can¢t recall which. Matt (now Vapors) just drifted in along with the dreadlocked fellow with the husky I¢ve seen several nights. More people continue to drift in ¢ it could get ¢crowded¢ soon. Looks like we¢ll have a good number of people heading to the next state tomorrow ¢ only four more miles in Georgia!