Date: 2013-03-07
From: Woody Gap

To: Neel Gap
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: light rain

Had a hearty breakfast at the hostel and caught a ride with Fresh Ground back to Woody Gap. Fresh Ground is a previous thru hiker who now provides trail magic of hot chocolate, coffee, and hot dogs at various points along the trail. Trail magic is what hikers call acts of unexpected kindness along the trail. I gave Fresh Ground a hard time because yesterday he got too cold and discontinued the magic. When I arrived at Woody Gap it was bitter cold and deserted - only me and the howling wind. I arrived at the hostel and found Fresh Ground already tucked into a warm bed. Feebe (previously referred to as Freida - sorry Feebe) headed out before me. The trail immediately began to climb up Big Cedar Mtn (3,737 ft) and it was still quite cold, but a beautiful day. The trees were frozen with ice and I felt like I was walking through a glass forrest. Check out my photo in the photo section. The picture doesn't really capture how beautiful it was. At the first overlook I met Outside Dog and his partner Hot Springer (Alabama) and Grasshopper (North Carolina). Grasshopper wasn't feeling very well so we were all trying to encourage him. Shortly after leaving the overlook I saw 4 deer cross the trail in front of me. This was the first significant wildlife I had seen and it was a real pleasure to watch them casually romp off into the woods. Near Jarrard Gap I caught up with Feebe, Outside Dog, Hot Springer, and Silver Streak who were having lunch on a log. I joined them and soon Tracker (Washington) came walking in. Tracker was excited because she met AWOL on the trail. AWOL is the author of the guidebook that many of us are using. She got him to sign her guidebook. Tracker was also happy that she now has a trail name - she was previously Debbie. For the next 5 miles it is required to have a bear canister to camp due to previous problems with bears. Everyone has decided to hike thru this section since none of us want the weight of a bear canister. My only concern is that this is the longest distance and the highest mountain to date that I will have hiked. After lunch we started our climb up Gaddis Mtn (3,394 ft) and the young ones went ahead leaving Silver Streak and me hiking together. Tracker is a slow climber and brought up the rear. We all reconnected at Slaughter Creek where everyone was refilling their water bottles before the big climb up Blood Mtn (4,461 ft), the tallest mountain on the Georgia section of the AT. I felt like I had enough water and didn't want to carry the extra weight so I kept walking. I thought the others would catch me, but I was the first to summit and OMG what a beautiful sight. There is an old stone shelter on top and gorgeous views. It was snow covered, but the sun was shining brightly and I wished I had the time to take a nap on the warm rocks. We all took turns taking each others pictures and I spent some time talking to a family on a day hike who were very curious about my thru hike. I headed down the mountain leaving my friends behind as I wanted to be sure to get a bunk at the hostel that is first come first serve. Unfortunately when I was descending some steep rocks I missed a turn where the trail went into the woods. I continued descending down the steep rocks and then realized I was lost. Briefly, I considered trying to bushwhack my way thru the woods but decided I should be safe rather than sorry. So, I climbed several hundred feet back up the rocks until I found a white blaze and discovered where I missed my tun. I hiked for a while with a day hiker and then caught up with Silver Streak. He and I hike the rest of the way together. The hostel was a welcome site! The hostel is connected to a full-service outfitter and store where you can resupply. The staff are amazingly accommodating and helpful to thru hikers. All the staff are previous thru hikes so they are a wealth of knowledge. One of the services they offer is what's called a free "shake down" in which they go through EVERYTHING in your pack and make suggestions as to what you don't or do need. Generally they remove a lot and you can mail it home from there or donate it to other hikers. They will also make sure you have your pack adjusted properly. They said I had done a great job and only suggested that I remove about one sandwich bag full of stuff - about 6 oz. My pack weight was 28 lbs so I'm VERY happy with that. They taught me a new way to pack my pack which makes it much smaller.The hostel itself has an atmosphere of a big family get together. They was a large bunk room with 17 people sleeping in it, a small living area, and one bathroom/shower. There were two more bathrooms (no showers) and laundry outside and up a flight of stairs. A church group from Birmingham AL served us a free giant spaghetti and meatball dinner complete with salad, garlic bread, and apple strudel. A local minister organizes a dinner every night by different churches. This was the first time for this group and they were full of questions about how we managed on the trail, what was it like, and why were we doing it. They were just GREAT and said they would put us on their prayer list for a safe journey - I can use all the help I can get:-)One of the wonderful surprises when I checked into the hostel was finding my friend Sean (previously spelled Shawn - sorry Sean) who I hadn't see for a day. The hostel is run by Pirate who is a wealth of knowledge as he has thru hiked the AT 10 times! We asked him what one piece of advise he had for every thru hiker and his reply was "slow down and enjoy the hike". Not a problem for me to go slow!My favorite gear today are my Black Diamond Ultra Distance Z hiking poles. Not only do they keep me steady on my feet through the snow, ice, and mud, but I also bend over and lean on them as I gasp for breath going up the mountains. As much as possible, everything in your pack should have more than one use. I also use one of my hiking poles to keep the foot end of my tent spread when the ground is too hard to put stakes in. One final piece of advice for beginning hikers who may be reading my journal that I meant to mention previously is to put your water bottles/bag in your tent with you so they don't freeze. The day that it snowed and the wind blew do hard, my water bottle and bag were frozen in the morning.