Date: 2018-04-18
To: Neel Gap, Mountain Crossings hostel
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

Last night we saw a beautiful sunset through the trees. This morning I eat my oatmeal while Mike and I sit on the rocky outcropping and watch the foothills gradually bathed in golden light as the sun rises behind a hillside.Jason is worried about being low on water, as our tentsite is dry and he didn't carry much in. So I give him most of my water to make breakfast. He's hiked a lot of mountains in Arizona and feels pretty gung-ho about pushing hard early on. Mike is feeling yesterday's miles in his feet, as am I. So I find myself dispensing trail wisdom that I didn't follow myself, like go easy in the beginning and listen to your body. I did the same thing yesterday for an older lady named Laura who's done lots of dayhiking in far-flung places like Central America but never any backpacking. Still, she's already planning a circuit around the Himalayas after the AT because Nepal is so cheap.I hike out at 8 and reach Woody Gap shortly where there's an older couple with a pickup checking out the view. They ask where I'm headed, then the guy pulls out a couple water bottles from the truck and hands them to me. When he hears I'm going to share them with my buddies up the trail, he pulls out enough for everyone! They get in the truck and pull out before I think to get their names, but I'm very grateful for their generosity. I dump my trash in the picnic area bear-proof receptacle, then leave two of the bottles behind a rock facing the trail for Mike and Jason and head north. Up on Preaching Rock I sit in the sun awhile taking in the foothills view. Ducky walks by going south. From California, and a former PCT thruhiker, he's nearing the end of his 500 mile southbound section from the Grayson Highlands in Virginia to Springer.The next few miles are sidetrail around the peaks. I see sunny hillsides abloom with wildflowers - great white trillium, bristly buttercups, blue violets, and purple wild geraniums. I know this only because of an app I downloaded that holds a database of southern plants and an intuitive filter by color, number of petals, etc. That and my PhD in botany, of course! As I get up from my analysis I see two deer tics have landed on me and flick them off before they dig in. If the wildflowers are out, so are they.Nearing Blood Mountain I'm low on water, but the only source is at Woods Hole shelter almost half a mile off trail. Meh, not walking a mile off trail when it's only 3.5 to the hostel at Neel Gap.On the way up Blood I meet a French hiker named Bernois who's been dubbed, by creative American hikers, Slow French. Asking him about the trails in his country he extolls the beauty of the 10-day Mont Blanc circle through the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps. I'm too embarrassed to try my meager college French on him. Maybe later.There are several hikers on top of Blood around the stone shelter. No one sleeps here because it's in a zone that requires carrying a bear canister, and it's usually cold and windy. There's a good view from the top of a large ledge nearby. The climb up was challenging in places but not very long. There are lots of stone steps, and near the top some bedrock sections that remind me of NY or NH.The way down, however, reminds me more of Maine. It's steep and full of boulders and sharply angled bedrock. People are taking their time. I'm enjoying it however, how odd is that? So I bounce down the couple miles to Neel Gap. Along the way I hear the story of Charzetard, a guy who nearly burned down Black Gap Shelter on his first night by turning his stove all the way up then freaking out and kicking it off the table, whence it rolled under the shelter, set someone's Frogg Toggs (rainjacket) on fire, and only went out after prodigious amounts of dirt were kicked onto it. Charzetard goes stoveless now!Neel Gap is the first milestone for northbounders. There's an outfitter and hostel here. But they're mostly busy heating up frozen pizzas for a couple dozen hungry hikers. It seems almost everyone I've met ends up here over the next couple hours. Matthew (with Maybelline the terrier/dachshund) is in the outfitters trying on new packs. Yesterday his Walmart backpack spontaneously exploded on him and he dragged his belongings to the next road crossings to get a ride here. I register for the hostel and nab the last bunk. The bunk room is in the basement with a sign over the door reading "Detention Center". It smells like a high school locker room. Well, that might be unfair to locker rooms! But there is a working shower so at least I can be clean. Also here are Philip from Nashville, Dan (possibly to become G.I. Dan after his love for G.I. Joe toys), Liz, Lelu and her dog Stitch from Vermont, Float (3-time thruhiker), Nate, Flash Hand (a deaf hiker also on trailjournals), Marileia (a French lawyer), a couple more Tennessee boys, and more.Of course a pizza is quickly consumed after my shower, and I pick up fuel and enough food to get me the next 40 miles to Hiawassee. Not only the hostel but the nearby Blood Mtn Cabins are soon sold out. So Mike and Jason from last night hitch to Blairsville when they arrive late. Many more move on to tent nearby.Having arrived at 2 after a 13 mile day I feel like I should be moving on. But I have to stop at Hiawassee for resupply in two days anyway so it's either cool my heels here or cool them later. So I while the time journaling and chatting with all the hikers. I leave a message at home since I finally have consistent cell signal. Fortunately they call back shortly and I get to hear all their voices. I was thinking about Sara and kids on today's hike, as I do every day. It's not easy being apart, but I know I will see them all soon.Suddenly two ladies pull up and invite us all over for hot dogs, soda, and beer. Trail magic! Thank you Kathy and Maryhelen from Tampa! Kathy has hiked a bit of the trail, and before we're done we get Maryhelen to hike through the Walasi-Yi arch which is part of the trail. So she too is now an AT alumna! A cold beer makes everybody happy after a tough day coming over Blood Mountain. We have an impromptu gathering at picnic tables under the famous boot tree, where people quitting the trail traditionally hurl their boots. No boots are hurled today though!Aaand...just as I thought the day was over and about to post the journal, Wok Man rolls in to serve up a second round of trail magic! Fried chicken, fruit, chips, and more beer. Wok Man hiked in 2016 with, you guessed it, a wok to make small fires in, among some other, er, appliances. He's a character and kept us all laughing well after dark. It's a great group at the hostel tonight. Flash Hand cracks us up as well offering beer to the dog. But the party must end because we're all dead tired and have an early wake up call and plenty of miles to cover tomorrow.Safe, warm, dry, and trying not to breathe too deeply of the hostel air on the AT tonight.