Date: 2007-03-14
From: Justus Creek

To: Woody Gap
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: overcast clouds

March 14,"Life's Can Be a Hoot"How do I even begin describing our third day on the trail? I guess I'll start at the beginning.When I got up in the morning, it was 48 degrees - perfect, perfect, perfect. I had slept in until 8 a.m. after a long day before. The morning was lazy and productive and I enoyed every minute of it. I got ready, made breakfast, cleaned out my tent, cleaned up my feet and put on some duct tape, sorted through my pack and relaxed a bit. We finally hit the trail at 11:30 a.m.The trail was really enjoyable out of Justus Creek. We were under rhododendron tunnels for quite a while and it was great. I can't even imagine how great it would look in full bloom. We were headed for Gooch Mtn. shelter to sign the register.I was totally impressed with the shelter when we arrived - it was super clean and empty but for the remnants of hikers. Lots of weight cut from the packs at that shelter! So, we signed the register and learned that someone had seen a bear at Justus Creek (where we were camped) earlier that morning! We didn't see it though.On we went...we crossed a few creeks throughout the first part of our hike but we were headed to a nice one up the trail. Once we got there, we ran into Kay and Chris and we were starving so we decided to stop for lunch. Boy was that a great idea! The creek, Walden Creek, was pefect for soaking our feet, getting water, and enjoying our lunch. We spent a good hour and a half there lazing around and enjoying the sense of numbness in our achy feet. I even got to make a couple of calls (Yes, I have a cell phone. Yes, I'm glad I have it. No, I won't use it in the middle of other hikers.) It was good to talk to my mom and Eric since I hadn't talked to them yet.After that, we were headed for a few quick uphills and then we would be near our final destination. We had some great views from each of the mountains but the best was on Ramrock Mtn. so we sat with Kay and Chris to enjoy it until the cold winds started. We stopped near Woody Gap with Kay, Chris and Sailor and worked hard to try and find somewhere to get a pizza since we were near a road crossing. Chris called around and got turned down a couple of times until a shuttler accepted the challenge to come pick him up, take him to get pizza and come back. But, while we were waiting for the shuttle, one of the other folks that Chris had called came by and dropped off four pieces of pizza - they said they were done with it and they wouldn't be home tomorrow so we needed it more than they did! How amazing is that! I totally can't imagine a family sharing pizza in front of their TV and then saying, "hey, we don't need this, let's drive 12 miles to bring it to those dirty hikers that just called".So, two and a half pizzas later, we were feeling good. Michele and I walked up to the road where there was a privy and that's when our perfect lazy day got a little more action packed...As we were coming out of the privies, a car pulled up and some strange guy got out. Right away we got a bad vibe so we started walking down the wrong trail to make it look like that's where our group was. When we were sure he couldn't see us, we hiked back up and cut across to the AT. We told our fellow hikers what we had seen and then Michele climbed up a bit to peek over the ridge we were behind. Just then, we all heard LOUD pounding and Michele came running back to tell us they were breaking into cars. Chris called the police and it took them about 30 minutes to get there. We heard them steal a truck and start pounding on another car for more. We just waited for the police to get there and stayed together. When they did, they were only there for a minute and then they had to go chase the guy. They came back for us about 45 minutes later and took us to the station for our statements. Turns out they caught up to the stolen truck and the guy got out and started to run into the woods. They had to chase him a litle bit but they caught him. Turns out they had been looking for this guy for quite awhile for vandalism. Anyway, two sheriff vehicles were loaded with five hikers and another vehicle with all of our gear. We were escorted to the local Super 8 where the lady at the desk was quite alarmed to see us at 2 a.m. with four cops. The cops had to help us convince her that we were okay. We got a couple of rooms and took a couple of showers and went right to sleep. I was definitely never expecting all of that action...and, as Sailor said, "life can be a hoot". So, this slowed down our already slow start - but it all happens for a reason, right?I'll tell you one thing...we won't hang out near the roads anymore. We were all pretty let down that something like that would happen although we know it's not indicative of the trail. We are thinking of calling ourselves the AT patrol...consisting of me, Michele, Kay (maybe Ireland) and Chris (newly named Gadget), and Sailor, a 63 year-old man who we all think rocks. - Sound of The Beatles and cars on the Dahlonega highway.   Post Trail Thoughts:It strikes me how many things changed as time went on along the trail. Still learning the ropes of doing everything outdoors, I searched for a good place to take care of business that morning. I was very worried about someone seeing me. That concern faded with time. There was also some discussion when we arrived at the Super 8 about where Sailor would stay. Gadget and Scribe were getting a room and so were Certain and I. We were both comfortable having Sailor in our room but he was a little nervous. He didn't know how he should act and I think he was also nervous about what his wife would think. I would realize as time went on that this was normal for the trail. I guess the theory was that if you could cram eight people like sausages into a shelter, you could certainly share a double hotel room along the way.