Date: 2004-04-09
From: 1 mile north of Low Gap Shelter

To: Vista site at Powell Mountain
Miles today: 22.3

¢The gnats are dive bombing me . . . ¢- Bearbait, from Tray Mountain Shelter RegisterQuite a day. I had a feeling I might set a personal challenge for myself, as I have in the past when I got near Hiawassee. There is a reason.It was a long day ¢ nearly 16 hours. After an oppressingly warm afternoon, it became quite cool and I just felt like stretching it out, and walking long to get closer to my friends Gary and Lennie, who run The Blueberry Patch. They were the ones who hosted me for 18 days in 2000, when I was recovering from an injury.This was probably going to be my longest day in Georgia, and I knew it. but if I didn¢t feel up to it after stopping for dinner, I would have stopped short. The first of a loose hiking group ¢ hikers who tend to stop for breaks and meals at the same gaps or shelters ¢ has formed, and includes Stickman, Puck Finn, Radio Flyer, Ladybug, Jeremy, Mike, et al. some are hiking together, and most of us don¢t necessarily stop for the day at the same place, but see each other often.Another cloudless day that forces me to wear a long shirt to avoid sun poisoning, without leaf cover we fry ¢ and on a warm day it feels stultifying in the mid-afternoon. But we push through Blue Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Tray Mountain, and a seemingly endless succession of others: gain elevation, lose elevation, into a gap, climb next mountain, repeat. Strenuous but ultimately rewarding stuff.Around 6:30 p.m., after I finish dinner at Tray Mountain Shelter, and after a near 15 mile day, I¢m feeling up to a personal challenge. I want to get up and over Kelly Knob (4,267 feet) ¢ the last 4,000 footer in Georgia ¢ to set up an easy day into Hiawassee Saturday.Once I got going, in the cool breezy weather, with the lights of Hiawassee beckoning me on, I didn¢t feel like stopping until I was totally exhausted. I was able to walk past dusk until 8:50 p.m. without a headlamp, then it became necessary. While I could distinguish the contour of the trial, without moonlight I couldn¢t discern particular features like rocks and roots, making artificial light necessary. But there¢s nothing like hiking, sans lamp, to the light of a full moon ¢ have to wait a few more weeks for that.Anyway, after Kelly Knob I was thoroughly exhausted, but didn¢t want to disturb any of the hikers at Deep Gap Shelter by coming in near midnight. So I pushed on, like a punch-drunk hiking fool, another mile to a side trail on Powell Mountain ¢ the trail was marked ¢vista¢ but there was obviously nothing to be seen at midnight.I pulled out my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and sweater, bear bagged my entire pack, and slept under the stars again. Beautiful ¢ the night sky aflame with stars, constellations, entire galaxies seemingly at the tips of my outstretched arms. It was worth every exhausting minute of it ¢ this is what this endeavor is about for me, these deeply existential moments.Oh yeah, it¢s also fun. The nice thing about walking at dusk and dawn is the greater amounts of animal sightings ¢ today included my first Ruffed Grouse, a very large hen.Now I have less than two miles to get into Hiawassee tomorrow, after re-supplying it¢ll be like a virtual zero day. Oh yeah, did I happen to mention the black flies/biting gnats are out of control; legs and forehead pockmarked with bites, and I¢ve even swallowed a couple ¢ we all need our protein out here!