Date: 2007-03-16
From: Stream past Dockery Lake Trail

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: overcast clouds

March 16, Wind! It rained all night long last night and made everything nice and muddy. But, we all stayed pretty warm and that is good news. Before I fell asleep, some sort of animal was playing with my tent trying to chase my headlamp. It was sort of like the first day I got my tent and I set it up in my parents' living room. My cat was diving under the bottom of the tent and my mom said, "that's what the animals are going to do to you on the trail". Well, she was right!Anyway, we got on the trail around 11 a.m. after getting all of our gross gear put away. At the beginning, it was just a little rainy on the trail. Then, we turned to the other side of the mountain and the wind kicked in. Now wind on a cold mountain feels a little different than normal wind. You could actually see the fog being pushed around that valleys. It got cold! We must have stopped a dozen times to layer up or layer down trying to stay at a comfortable temperature but the wind just kept on finding us. At Jarrard Gap, we were able to walk down another trail to the other side of the mountain to get out of the wind and have some lunch. That's also when Michele and I decided that we wanted to try and get a place to stay in Neels Gap so we called and reserved a cabin.Today was also the day we climbed Blood Mountain. This one has quite a reputation on the trail ... it's generally viewed as not SO bad going up but a killer going down and boy that was the truth. I've learned that, yes, it is nice of the trail clubs to create steps for us along the way out of rocks but I am not a huge fan at all. It kills my knees. We made it to Neels Gap at about 6 p.m. and I was SO happy about that. It was SO cold outside and windy and I just shivered at the thought of staying outside for the night. We had dinner at the Walasi-Yi hostel - all you can eat spaghetti, meatballs, corn, salad and bread. I died and went to heaven. I also got to meet BooBoo there, she seemed like a great lady. I am glad we decided to come into Neels Gap today rather than tomorrow.After that we caught a ride from Butch to the cabin and we are living in luxury with a washer and dryer. We are here tonight with Gadget, Kay and Boatdrinks. But I am pretty darned tired.I don't think I mentioned this before but the reason we call Gadget Gadget is because of all of the little things he carries - a GPS device, a solar-powered battery charger, a cell phone, etc. He's the guy on the trail with all of the info.Well, even with the wretched weather today, I am still excited to be out here. I am having a great time.I am also very thankful that everything is working out so well. We really lucked out finding a place to stay tonight and I can't say enough how glad I am to be in a warm place since it's probably in the 20s and WINDY right now. - Sound of Michele typing on her PocketMail, the wind howling outside, and a toilet flushing.Post Trail Thoughts:It makes me cringe a little to see I was still in camp at 11 a.m.! I was still getting in shape and getting my routine down though - and just loving being out there. When Certain and I got to Jarrard Gap, I didn't really want to stop even though I was hungry. The wetness and the cold freaked me out and I just wanted to be warm. I was SO relieved we decided to hike to Neels Gap that night. When we got there, Certain and I turned up the radiator in our room full blast. I wanted to soak it all in.