Date: 2004-03-03
From: Gooch Mt. Shelter

To: Woody Gap, Ga 60
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: light rain

Before I left my house last week, my father wanted me to promise him one thing. That I would always hike with someone. Never alone.   I didn't make that promise. And it's a good thing. Cause today, it would have been broken.   Sorry, Dad.   I woke up in the middle of the night, and my knee was SCREAMING. Popped a couple Advil (aka "Vitamin I" here on the trail. And yes..it is an essential vitamin) and went back to sleep.   When I woke up for good, my knee still hurt. I figured I'd either do a "Zero-day" (a day where no miles on the AT are hiked) or I'd at least do a low mileagle day. Burn offers to take the phone number of the Sara's parents and hitchhike into Suches at Woody Gap to make the phone call for me. At least that way, my Leki's would be on their way to Neel's.   Burn, you are a hero.   I got a really late start, but decided to hike a little anyway. It didn't make sense to me that I would have hiked yesterday when it was raining, but not today when it was beautiful weather. So, i hiked.   I didn't see a soul all day. I think this was a good thing. It let me hike at my own pace and be extra careful with my knee. Had someone else come along, I may have tried to keep up.    When I eventually made it to Woody Gap, there was a Ziplock bag on the ground under a couple of rocks in front of the sign.   It read:   "Chris Gates. Your Leki's are on their way to Neels in your name. Hike on! --Burn"   I can't tell you how relieved I was to see that note. It was a great feeling. Soon followed by a rather creepy feeling.   I was sitting at a picnic table at Woody Gap eating some GORP and drinking some Gatorade when a pick-up truck pulled into the parking lot. A guy got out and kinda stared at me. He finished talking to the guy in the truck, and then got out and headed to the picnic table.   How you doing? I asked.   "I'm good now."   Where you bad before?   "Well, I'm where I want to be now, so i'm good now."   I told him I was waiting for a friend who I was hiking with before I continued down the trail. This was a lie.   According to him, he was a hiker. I was getting a weird vibe, so I decided to ask a few questions to size up the situation.   You heading to Maine?   "Well, to me it's about the journey, not the destination"   Where's your tent and your sleeping bag?   "Oh, my car broke down and I left them in there."   Hmmm...   Don't you have any bottles for your water?   "No, i'll just figure something out as I go."   You know the trail doesn't actually start here, right? It's a few miles away at Amicalola Falls State Park.    "Yeah, but directions kinda got screwed up. I figure here is as good a place as any to start."   He failed my quiz. The pieces just didn't fit. I decided not to head into the woods first. Especially since it was going to be dark in a couple hours, which would not be enough time for me to get to then next shelter.   After a while, he picked up and said, "Well, I'm sure you'll catch up to me. I'm a pretty slow walker."   Yeah. See you soon.   He disappeared into the woods, and i didn't know what to do. I sure as hell wasn't going to follow him. I guess I could have hiked a mile southbound and pitched my tent, but i just didn't feel safe out there at all. I'm not religious, and I often question God's existence...but that didn't stop me from asking him for help.   And help I got.   Across the street, another truck pulled over. I saw a lady get out of the vehicle and walk toward the woods to check on something. I could just barely make out the letters on the back of her shirt: GATC.   Georgia Appalachian Trail Club.   I told her my situation and asked her where Hiker Hostel was, a place I had heard of from some other hikers. She said she knew of no such place, and after asking a couple other people, we were pretty sure that it just didn't exist.    It was about this time that we recognized each other. She was THE trail maintainer that had met on the trail yesterday! Her name was Darlene and after looking into a few options, she realized that there was a perfect place I could spend the night. This whole past week she had been working with a group of students from Grand Valley State University who had chosen to spend their spring break maintaining trails instead of getting drunk in Cancun like I probably would have done with my friends. I could sleep on the porch of their cabin, and they would probably even feed me.   I was sold.   These "kids" were great. They were part of a Youth Ministry group at their school, and they were very welcoming. We had tacos and fruit salad when I finally went to bed on the porch, I did so with a smile. It was the first really good night of sleep I had had in a week.   AT lesson #3: Sometimes when the pieces don't see to fit, they're actually falling right into place. And that's the real meaning of "trail magic."