Date: 2011-04-22
From: Hogpen Gap

To: Camp South of Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 5.Today I woke up in a cloud, and stayed in a cloud ALL DAY. Everything is wet (well not my sleeping bag or sleeping clothes and socks). When I say a could, I don't mean its foggy. I mean A CLOUD! Not a nice whispy cirrus cloud, but like a full fledged cumulonimbus cloud. Besides being just WET, the temperature isn't so bad and I am able to wear my tank, tshirt, and shell without my fleece. I do believe I have gotten my trail legs or some semblance there of. The first few miles of today were a steady up. I didn't stop except to thermoregulate (open my pit zips, take on or off my glove liners, adjust my hood). It probably also helped that since I was encased in water vapor there was no view to stop and gawk at. I stopped at Low Gap Shelter to take off my fleece and dry out a bit. It is hardly actually RAINING, mostly just...cloud wet. WHile I was there and older couple and their dog came. Cece, Bill, and Bosely. I ended up hiking with them for a few hours and I had so much fun! Cece (we decided her trail name is "Wildflower") is an AP history teacher about to retire who has a love for botany. We shared our knowledge of the flora as we went along. Bill is a nurse who is into geology and shared so much about the area with me. Did you know that is is due to the rich quartz veins that there is gold in the area?Bill (dubbed by Wildflower and myself "Indian Bill") also is into Native American history and artifacts. He hiked much faster than Wildflower and I since she and I kept stopping for her to tell me what a plant was or for me to have her try eating a hemlock bud or something, so Bosely kept trotting back and forth keeping us all "together" at a distance. Bill told me to try chewing sassafras root and so Wildflower and I were on on the lookout! We found some and I loved it! I only had to stop and catch my breath on a couple of big steep rocky ups, otherwise, I think the sassafras might have helped my hiker legs kick in.It really was a joy hiking with them and when they decided to stop at 5 to look for a camp site they invited me to stay. I decided to press on since the shelter was only about 2 miles and we said goodbye. Oh! Wait! Bill would stop and wait for us every so often and so for a few minutes we would all be together. During one of these times, he stopped suddenly and became very excited as he picked something up and came back to us. He had found a quartz arrow head! Trail magic...that is all I can say about that! He had told me earlier in the hike about how the indians of this area would fashion their arrows of quartz and then take them south where there is no quartz and trade them like they were platinum.As I got to a camp site about a mile from the shelter I heard voices, so I decided to see who was there. It was 3 guys who have changed their trail names a few times. I had met them at Neels Gap on Thursday before I left. The only one whose name seems to have stuck is "Sir Pees A Lot." They were setting up camp since apparently there was a very large group at Low Gap last night, which means that same large group is probably at Blue Mtn shelter tonight. I figure this would be a good place to stop. It is 3 miles from town and I am planning on going into Helen tomorrow and be a tourist (and get a room with a SHOWER and LAUNDRY)**HIKER FUNK UPDATE** Yeah did I mention I am a diva?**ANTI-MODIST WARNING** (Jump ahead to the next ** if you don't want to read it)Yeah, remember how that book said in reference to menstruating on the trail "don't"...my body is a rebel! But...(insert fanfare music here) I have my Diva Cup!! I will spare you the details and for the curious you may Google it. In reference to the Hiker Funk though, I am hoping that some level of funk will lessen when I am done with the Diva-ness.My hair is still nicely braided though, no knots. My nails would look nicely manicured if you couldn't see all the dirt under them. Other than that I do believe I have achieved true hiker funk and can't wait to shower and do laundry!**And now back to our regular scheduled journal.The guys are a riot. This is their first backpacking excursion and I guess they are "only" going to NC. They have no clue. But, they definitely have realized it after 6 days on the trail. Things like that they have their oatmeal all still in the individual packets. Bear bagging with them was the sitcom of the evening. They had their rope with a carabiner, but no bag for weight to launch. They were trying to throw the carabiner over a branch 25 feet high. This was a regular light weight Walmart special smallish carabiner. (in the voice of the Monty Python guy doing the "Swallow us Coconut" skit) "a 1/2 ounce carabiner cannot carry 35 feet of rope!" Sir Pees A Lot ended up tying the other end to a large stick and throwing the stick javelin style over the branch. I thought I was going to pee my pants!!Since it was more on the rain side than just cloud side we all turned in fairly early. I was getting a big chilled from being just WET, but am snug as a bug with my Amy Feet on and my silks tucked into my cocoon bag - woke up at 1am, POURING out and I have heard some interesting forest noises. Some...bird like sound I cannot identify, a strange knocking or running sound, and an owl I will focus on the owl Oh, and another successful "in tent peeing" executed!