Date: 2005-03-23
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Betty's Creek
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

Before I forget, I wanted to add a word about the AT through Georgia. As part of a trail crew myself (working on a section of the AT in the Shenandoah National Park) I have some idea of what it takes to build, improve and maintain a trail. My hat is of to the volunteer members of the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club for the work they have done. The entire trail was very well maintained, including the clearing of a lot of blow-downs that have occurred due to hurricanes and other storms of the past six months. To return to my own adventure with storms, I obviously survived the heavy rains and high winds of last night. I am VERY happy to report not only that my tent stakes held, but that my tent stayed entirely dry despite the fact that about half of it was literally floating on about an inch of water.The storm stayed with us throughout the night and it was still pouring at 5 am this morning when the alarm on my watch went off I started packing things up from inside my tent, beginning with my sleeping bag an pad, but before I was finished, the rain suddenly stopped. That gave me a chance to get the rest of the stuff out of my tent, and to get my tent down and into the bag without having to do it in the rain The tent itself, of course, was still wet, but I was able to get to camp tonight and get it set up while there was till enough sun to dry it out.Our hike today was my second longest - at 11.3 miles, but we managed to make our best pace yet, averaging 2 miles an hour. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but when you've got 11 miles to do, you get there a lot sooner at 2 mph than you do at 1.5 miles an hour. And I leave my chronometer running when we stop for breaks and for lunch, so our speed when we're actually hiking is better than 2 mph.We reached camp today at about 2:30. We've stopped at a camping area near Betty's Creek. It's the same five of us that were at the Bly Gap camping area two nights ago - Hopeful Hiker, Nu-B, Phoenix, me and Butterfly Moon. (Last night I was getting tired of typing out all of her name, so I was going to switch to just the initials, but that didn't quite work satisfactorily. I've decided instead to refer to her as BfM for short.)BfM and I have continued to pace each other almost step for step, hiking up and down hills literally for miles at a time as if tied together with a string. I told her this morning that I had described her in my journal as 2 years old, and asked if I'd guessed correctly. She said yes, that she would only turn 24 next month, and would be celebrating her birthday on the trail. She said she' been trying to do the math to figure out how old I was and had come up with an estimate of "late forties or early fifties. I, of course, was flattered, and confessed that I would be 61 on my next birthday. "Oh great," she said. "That makes me feel like a real weenie; I can't even out-hike a 60 year old." I told her not to worry, as I still thought of myself as only 18.I hope we both hold up for a while longer, as she has been a great hiking partner for me, and it sure beats hiking by myself.The reality is, of course, that a sizable group is still pretty well keeping up with each other. We leave the shelter or camp site at different times in the morning, but then pass each other several times a day as we each take breaks along the way. It's kind of a traveling road show, and we will often congregate, as we did today at key spots, like a great vista photo shot at the top of a mountain, or a single log crossing over a rushing stream. We then take turns taking pictures of each other, trading off cameras so that my picture is taken with my camera, etc.I have no idea how I am doing taking pictures, but hope to find out tomorrow when we get into Franklin. There's a Wal-Mart store where I hope I can get some CDs made and ship them off to be added to my journal. Well, that' all for tonight, as the temperature has dropped to the point where it's time to get these little index fingers tucked into my sleeping bag.Today's hike is dedicated to all my friends at the World Bank, an especially my old buddies Skip and Ben. I can't exactly say that I am missing the work, but I do miss my friends. I wish you could all be out here with me experiencing the awesome sights and the wonderful people I'm getting to know on the trail. It continues to be a fantastic journey, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.Stay tuned, Longhaul