Date: 2013-03-09
From: Dick's Creek gap

To: Muskrat Creek Gap
Miles today: 12.5

This morning I woke up with the sun in the Blueberry Patch but stayed in my sleeping bag until I heard Gary ring the bell signaling that breakfast was ready. We sat down to a table big enough for the ten of us and were served a delicious breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, sausage, eggs, biscuits, orange juice, and coffee! It was really great and Gary and his wife treat you like family.In fact my only complaint with the patch is the rather large, prominently displayed print out of a brown recluse and what a bite from the spider looks like.... Great!! Staying there and filling up on food was a great morale booster. However I soon regretted the amount of food I was carrying out of Dick's Creek Gap. My pack was at its heaviest and the section we hiked to Muskrat Creek Shelter had some serious climbs. To give you an idea of how stupid I am the contents of my food bag for 4 days and 3 nights on the trail was as follows: 8 ct pack of tortillasJar of creamy peanut butterBottle of honey8 clif's bars4 rice/pasta sides by Knorr'sPack of pepperoniBlock of pepper jack cheese5 oz bag of craisinsProbably 8 oz of granola and dried fruit 2 12 oz cans of BudweiserAdd in 1.5-2 liters of water ( no water filter yet=carry more water) and I had a serious weight problem. I have seen ( and passed) people with 60 lb base weight packs. I don't know how they do it. With food many of them are in the eighties. They are stronger than I am. Brice decided to hang back and rest his knee at the first campsite, and considered hiking to the plum orchard gap shelter. I hung back and visited with him and rested before heading back to the trail. So the Stover Creek Boys now number 4 unless Brice catches up. ( Moxie decided our group name is Moxie and the Stover Creek Boys since that is where we all spent our first night on the trail ).When I got to the side trail to plum orchard gap shelter I went and checked it out. Brice told me it was worth seeing and was dropped in by helicopter. I left my pack just off the AT and made the short hike with my camera. The shelter is the best I've seen so far with a really cool three tiered loft system. I climbed in and took a video while visiting with an orthodontist who was hanging out inside. I soon passed some hog hunters. They had 3 pit bull catch dogs and a hound. I have yet to see signs of hogs from the trail. I caught up with Moxie and Joe around the state line and moxie and I chugged a Budweiser each. She went with me to get water and let me purify mine with her drops. In some ways drops are easier but I am still looking forward to getting a new filter in Franklin. My day was pretty tough from that point. Lots of serious climbs right into NC and I fell pretty far back. I decided I had plenty of time to make my goal for the day so I slowed my pace, took in views, and made it to camp with several hours of daylight to spare.Muskrat creek shelter was full and there were Boy Scouts camped out nearby, as well as a couple thru hikers and weekenders. I set up my tent next to the creek and set my remaining beer, pepperoni, and cheese in a patch of ice. Slapp, Dragon, and I took the raven rocks trail to a cliff where we had an amazing view. Maybe the highlight of the trip. Pictures do not do it justice. On the way back the leader of the scout troop, Shutterbug, pointed out a wrecked Cessna. I don't know how we missed it on the way to the cliffs. Pieces were spread everywhere in a large thickly wooded area. Looked pretty horrific. Back at camp we visited around the fire and I tried to eat as much food as possible. A thru hiker in the shelter named Roswell had almost a liter of whiskey which he generously shared. As I went to sleep the reality of my undertaking set in and I started to get nervous.