Date: 2012-03-06
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Jarrard Gap
Miles today: 9.8

Longest day so far. I am so worried about there being no beds at the Neel's Gap bunkhouse because we've heard from people moving southbound that they are filling up. And I know how slowly I hike so today I made a concious effort to try to get as close to Neels as I could and stay out of the 5 miles of trail were the rangers have asked hikers to carry bear canisters because there has been so much activity. So I hiked further than my feet really wanted to. Tomorrow is Blood mountain and i know that is going to slow me way down. But today was a really good day regardless of the miles. I started out late because I didn't get up until 7 and finally hit the trail around 8:45. the trail was really evenly graded and god bless whoever routed it because they made sure that every slope/grade was smooth and avoided unecassary hills Hiker lingo I hear these are called PUDs or Pointless Ups and Downs. places with no views or other features to make their elevation worth it. Just starting out of course I would probably label over half the trail this way so HA i guess that's just my sore muscles talking. Every time I thought we were heading up a hill the trail would turn to go around it. SMILES! And it also followed along the top of a ridge with some really pretty views on green fields and white farmhouses below. I love the little valley views like this. A young kid from Alabama passed me just as we were starting out but he kept resting every so often and i would pass by him again, we kept doing this for awhile until finally he said well i might as well hike behind you and just keep your pace. Joey is funny. He's carrying a pack that i swear must weigh 80 pounds and seems taller than him. His orginal plan was to have enough fuel and food to stay in the woods for a month and save money by not going into town. this kid was doing 15+ miles with this pack. Oh My God. So we spent the day hiking together because appaernetly i set a very even slow pace that doesn't fluctuate. Go crew training! the miles came a lot faster today and it was a nice change chatting with someone as we hiked and having someone there to take pictures rather than using the timer. (I will try to post some next time I visit with friends and can upload them) So we ate up the easy miles and came into woody gap around miday. Public bathrooms! Trash Cans! these are very exciting things that i have never been so thrilled to see. toliet paper! being able to dump 4 days worth of trash and not carry it any more! okay okay it's only been a few days but i tell you it feels longer and these little pleasures were amazing! The sun was out and i was finally warm hiking. LeeBob joined our group after woody gap and we made a merry group hiking along. although i will say that today i felt like someones mom because early in the morning i turned a corner and came upon an abandoned campfirer that was not appropriatly put out and was still smoking heavily with dry wood hovering very near it. I didn't have too much water but i spread the ashes out to help them cool and stirred in a liter of water and moved the dry wood away from the coals. sheesh people forest fire much? then out of woody gap there was a good half mile of trash liter someone had obviously thrown down as they walked. we were only a half mile from a trash can! grrrr not to be too high on my horse here but seriously? how is that acceptable. so i picked it all up and hiked it out of there. Jimmy passed us just a mile before lance creek were he was planning on stopping for the day but when we all got there i felt like pushing on to get closer to neels and the boy's of course felt like if I was going to do that then they could too. Jimmy, still on the fence and getting grief from his feet was on the fence but he joined up with us 0 minutes later. Okay so this last stretch to jarrards was suppose to be 2 miles. that is the longest tow miles I have ever walked! I'm serious there is no way that was only two miles. LeeBob called out guidebook the book of lies which i thought was hilarious so i've picked up calling it that. So we hiked along with the boys letting me set the pace of the tired, overpacked and injured aslowly making our way looking for a landmark we all missed until we landed at jarrads gap and realized oh my gosh we're here. that was unexpected. mantra of the day "every step today is one I don't have to take tomorrow". Camping just outside the bear canister restriction area. Tomorrow we plan to wake up around 5 and hike into neels to get beds, we're pretty confident that we're ahead of the crowds and will get in early.