Date: 2005-12-14
From: Dick's Creek Gap, Hiawassee, GA

To: Deep Gap Shelter, 3550'
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: overcast clouds

We awoke feeling a little rough around on the edges, are bodies no longer accustomed to the beer drinking we indulged in the previous night. Memphis was to meet his girlfriend sometime mid-morning as they had planned on concluding his thru-hike together. After news of a delay attributed to icy roads on the route which she would be taking from Knoxville, we decided to get some Shoney's breakfast and wait for her arrival there. Memphis felt badly about slowing me but I couldn't have cared much about the delay as I didn't feel so swell and hoped that the extra rest time would bring better a better physical state of being. I did a disapointing job at Shoney's buffet and spent a great deal of time in the toilet. Shannon, Memphis's lady friend, met us at the library around 12:30pm and we hastily headed out towards the road for a hitch back to the trail. The car ride was torturous and I had to work hard to keep from getting sick. When we arrived at the trail and thanked the couple who'd given us a lift, I was nauseous and not the least bit excited for a three mile climb out of the Gap. We started slowly with me out front and the reunited couple following. My breathing was heavy and my body ached, all I wanted was a bathroom. After 20 minutes, I began to wretch and had to take short breaks. I explained briefly my situation to the others and told them to go on ahead. My physical condition began to dive bomb and it was a coin-toss over which end should purge first. After a handful of trips off the trail to be sick, I could tell that I wouldn't be hiking 10 miles, would be lucky in fact if I could make it 3.5 to the first shelter. I let Memphis and Shannon know of my situation which they expressed concern over and I said that I would see them in a day or so when I recovered. After vomiting a few more times, I ruled out any form of a hangover and determined that my delicious enchiladas must have been the root of this evil now rendering me useless on the A.T. The last half an hour getting to that shelter replaced my previous "longest mental mile" back on Mount Washington in NH as I was now in agony, rapidly losing energy trying to get uphill to this shelter with the temperature dropping simultaneously. I arrived around 3:30 and took several trips to the privy before I was able to get situated in my sleeping bag. By the time I finally got in my sleeping bag and cinched everything tight, I was trembling from getting so chilled while spending time exposed on the privy at a fairly decent altitude in Decemeber in Georgia. After a while I was able to doze off but not for too long before I would need to get up and do some puking. The thrist got to be terrible, I would drink a few ounces and 20 minutes later would need to run from my sleeping bag and wretch it all out. Shortly before dark, a group of section hikers from a small college in Florida arrived and I was pretty grateful to see some people. They were very nice and offered to help with my situation. I asked if they had an extra sleeping bag as I was freezing inside of mine while wearing all available clothing. That helped considerably and I was finally able to stop shaking. They were kind enough to boil me some water for tea despite their own difficulites with one of their crew experiencing some minor hypothermia. They wanted to know about thru-hiking and I did my best to inform them until the tea which I'd drank was no longer welcomed by my system and I had to flee the shelter once more. I was glad they arrived to distract me from looming feelings of despair as I knew I was quite sick and didn't have the time in my schedule for another day off of hiking. Rain began to fall steadily in the early evening and as temperatures had been cold for days atop the mountain, the water began to freeze on tree limbs and the various structures of the shelter. As if things weren't already looking dire, a little freezing rain to make things really out of control. I spent the night in and out of my sleeping bag, struggling to keep a few ounces of water in my system and usually failing in my attempts. The privy, albeit quite nice under normal conditions as the sides and the roof had a sizeable gap between them to allow for light and ventialtion, wasn't condusive to inclimate weather and each time I would sprint down the pathway and open the door, I would find a fresh layer off ice formed on the seat for me to thaw. bummer