Date: 2004-02-04
From: Blood Mountain Shelter

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Log entry: 4Start time:0830End time: 1730Overnight low: low of22, clear, Jacob said we got a little snowMorning weather: sunny andwarm, mid40sEvening weather: sunny and warm, 50sBreakfast: cib and fr Lunch: payday, oats n honey, peanutsDinner: mashed potatoes and chicken gravy and stuffing and turkey gravyTrail description: muddy, great views, long climbsPeople: dudes @ walasi-yi, the solemates, kevin!Wildlife: birds and squrrielsMoney: $34.01(waldies, gatorade, 5 oz fuel)Complaints: missed hiking with Andy, no physical complaints.Oh for a thousand sunrises like today's. I got up at around 0430 to go to thebathroom and noticed the cloudless sky. Jacob got up to do the same at 0730and almost came running back into the shelter telling us that we had to see this.The clouds had sunk to what we guessed about 3000 feet. As we stood at 4400 ftit looked like a lake of clouds below us with a few islands which were actuallymountain tops. It was surreal. I took another 20 or so digital pictures in thehopes that maybe just one would turn out and the folks back home could get a taste of why I am out here.After breakfast out on the rocks I packed up and started down blood mtn about 20minutes behind the solemates. The hike down blood mtn was so cool. A lot of thetime was on open, exposed rock. It was easy to imagine Indians fighting andrunning on the very same rocks. I made great time down the mountain and cameupon the Walasi-yi hostel and shop. I should have done a food drop here as Icould have saved hauling 4 days worth of food.So anyways as I approach Walasi-yi I notice a very familiar face, Steve!I spoke with him as I dropped my pack and he cooked breakfast. The belt buckleon his waist strap broke just before the road crossing into Suches. He hitcheda ride to the nearest gear place which was here. This is also where he spentthe night. I¢m glad he is okay.I then made my way back to the pay phone and called home, but no answer, so Icalled Andy. The good news is that I woke him up. Not much new, he made it homesafe and sound and in record time, way to go.I then called home again and left a message, then called my sister Gina. Atfirst she thought I was the "counter top guy" returning her call. Had I knownthis ahead of time I really could have had some fun. Anyways it was good to hear her voice. Not much new on the home front, so I headed into the shop.As I walked in I was greeted by Trisha of the solemates who announced to me thatthey had come up with a trail name for me. That is officially when I waschristened "officer taco". I then signed the "official AT Northbound register".It¢s located at the cash register and all north bounders should sign in and geta number. I am the 13th NB through Neels gap. Damion was the 1st, Barkeater 2nd.I am not sure who else came in where but EZ1, and 81-year-old dude, Stanimal,and Crom were all on there. Steve who self titled himself "turtle" because ofhis slow pace and the fact that he falls over a lot. Anyways he was number 10,and the solemates 11 and 12.It should be duly noted that the first song I heard was "Feeling This" byblink-182. The 2nd song you might ask? Well that was "Self-esteem" by theoffspring. The mojo was in full effect.The only piece of gear that I was looking for was a pair of sandals, waldies.They are super sweet. I also picked up 5 oz of white gas and an orange gatorade.I then journaled in the corner for a while whilst enjoying the music of theAtlanta "all punk rock all the time" radio station.After sending my first 2 days journals to my dad via pocketmail. I then made myway into the hostel part where I met Steve who was on his way out. The solemateswere doing dishes and invited me to dump my dishes in the sink. Jacob washedthem and I dried. That was about all the chores to be done so I set out about 15minutes ahead of them. We both agreed that we were going to head for Whitley gapshelter but maybe push for Low gap shelter. Low gap is only another 4.4 milesfrom Whitley. So anyways...The weather was beautiful, sunny, low 50s. I was in very high spirits due to the weather and the fact that I now had a trail name. There is no turning back now. And it was an afternoon like this that I imagine Andy and I would have spent either:-Divulging rage against the machine lyrics or...-Making up our own lyrics to Garth Brooks songs or...-Girls...-Talking about police procedure and policy...-Swap war stories about prisoners we booked, "did I ever tell you about the dude____ brought in?" "Naw dude, go ahead" "a'ight, check it..." ("Check-it" is thekey phrase which means, listen up kiddies, story time.)-or most likely conversation would at one point or another turned to girls..In any case, we would have for sure been talking like Cartmen from South Park.I took lots of pictures as I figured that cloudless days like today maybe fewand far between. I was feeling great and planned on pushing towards Low gap. Butafter a few hours of hiking my legs were growing weak. I remember passing the sign with an arrow saying that Whitley gap shelter was 1.2 miles. Mistakenly I thought that it meant that I had 1.2 miles on the AT, but actually it was 1.2 off the AT on a blue blazed trail. It was my mistake but I¢m glad that I pushed on. After a few long, strong climbs I made it down to Low gap shelter. When Iarrived I unpacked my gear and took advantage of the last remaining sun light totry to dry some of my gear. That being done, I spread my maps, handbook, anditinerary on the picnic table in front of the shelter. I looked over the profilemaps and pretty much decided that that to try to push the 14.9 miles toTray mtnshelter would be a novel form of suicide. The 7.2 miles to Blue mtn shelterlooked like a non issue.   The hike to Blue mtn is a long climb, but the grade looks favorable. From Blue mtn to Tray mtn was another story. The climb out of Unicoi gap looked severefollowed by another great one up Tray mtn. Just as I was about to set the goalfor tomorrow to be Blue mtn shelter, I flashed back to Saving Private Ryan, bearwith me, its about to get deep in here...On the bridge, as Captain John H. Miller is dieing, he tells Private Ryan to"Earn it". What he means is that Ryan needs to live a life worthy of the cost ofthe men who died to save Private Ryan. How does this apply to me at this picnictable in the fading Georgia sun? Well, the way I see it, "who I am is God's giftto me, what I make of myself is my gift to Him". In my aspiration to becomea ¢great man¢, and in turn give great gift to God, I thought to myself what I would say to Andy if he was here.Ben- ¢Andy, what do great men do?¢Andy ¢ ¢Um, I really don't know Ben.¢Ben ¢ ¢Great men do great things.¢There at the picnic table I decided to push Tray mtn tomorrow. I was going toearn the gifts God has given me. I better get some rest I guess.