Date: 2017-03-02
From: Neel Gap, GA

To: Low Gap Shelter, GA
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

3/2/17 Low Gap, GAMiles hiked: 42.9 Miles to go: 2146.9Sunshine! Glorious sunshine! We woke up to a beautiful, blustery day with full sunshine and temps in the 30s. Blood Mt (the man, not the mountain) and I decided to have a hot breakfast at the Blood Mt Cabins lodge. He insisted on buying my breakfast since we were so kind as to take him in last night. Antman, Alexa, and Courtney decided to head on out. After breakfast I arranged with the owner to borrow a galvanized wash tub in an effort to find the leak in my sleeping pad (fill the tub with water, put the air mattress underwater, squeeze and watch for bubbles). All I managed to do was freeze my hands. I decided to go to Mountain Crossings and buy a new sleeping pad and resupply food for the next four days. Blood Mt stayed behind to get his clothes laundered since he arrived too late yesterday to get them done. After resupplying and shipping a few items home, I headed out. It was a great day hiking. A little on the blustery side; but, I was wearing sunglasses! Today's hike wasn't too bad. Only one big climb. The rest was undulating along ridge lines. I passed several people and was passed by several people. The Twenty Somethings are interesting. They all put in earbuds, put their heads down, and fly up the trail. I move slower, listening to the forest and taking in the views. I also talk. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I like to talk. I talk to other thru hikers, I talk to dayhikers, I talk to Ridgerunners. Rocks... Trees... In fact, the day before yesterday, I stopped to talk to a hunting dog coming down Sassafras Mt. He was one of those hound dogs they use for bear hunting. As he came trotting along the trail, I noticed that he was wearing a GPS collar so his owner could track him. I could also see down to the road and could see a pickup truck driving along and the owner was hollering for the dog. I said, "You know they're looking for you." He just grinned and said, "Shh" and trotted off into the woods. I went on my way, too. I figured I didn't have any dog in that fight. Anyway, as a result of my talking to everyone, I never caught up with Antman, Alexa, and Courtney. I experienced my first trail magic today. Trail magic is when something unexpected happens along the trail, usually at a time when you need it most. Trail magic is usually performed by nice people, known as Trail Angels, who go out of their way to do nice things for thru hikers. In the last few years, it has sort of become associated with people providing food to thru hikers and, unfortunately, many hikers have almost come to expect trail magic like they are entitled to it because they are thru hikers. Now don't get me wrong, if someone offers me food, I'm not going to turn it down. I just hate that sense of entitlement that seems to have grown in my the past few years among many thru hikers. In my particular case, I was running low on water coming out of Hogpen Gap. I knew it was several more miles to the next reliable water source, so I was trying to conserve. Luckily, some nice Trail Angel had left jugs of water beside the trail. Yay. I arrived at Low Gap Shelter, where we all had agreed to stop for the night, to find a major tent city. Everyone had pushed into Neel Gap yesterday to avoid the storm. As a result, we all ended up at Low Gap Shelter today. The shelters are three sided structures that sleep 6-12 people; spaced every 7-10 miles apart or so, and generally have water, bear cables, and a privy. So, people tend to hike shelter to shelter. There must be 30-40 people here. Courtney was here; but, no sign of Antman or Alexa. I checked the shelter register and they had left us a note saying they were pushing on a few miles. Courtney and I decided that we had hiked enough for the day and went looking for a flat spot to put our tents. We found a spot and set up our tents near Alex, his dad Jerome, and their dog Springer. Just as it began to get dark, Blood Mt arrived and joined us. Tomorrow promises to be another pretty day.