Date: 2008-11-19
From: somewhere in the woods in GA

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

Listen here, i would have to say that today was pretty much an amazing day of surprises and accomplishment. So at this point at neels gap i have only 30 short miles to the end, what an array of emotions...ready to be done to accomplish this goal that has been set out in front of me for months, but then wanting to drag things out, cherish the moments the sounds the views the peacefulness of the walk etc...creekdiver and i packed up quickly this morning being motivated by the cold and the fact that our friend pacer was meeting us at neels gap this afternoon. We found this large rock wall laden with ice on one side of a road crossing. I mean the whole thing was just ice, icicles melding into one, single long sharp icicles, the grass below was covered. climbing up cowrock mt we happened upon large slabs of rock with a clearing in front making way for a clear view of the surrounding mts. the rock slabs were reminiscent of the tops of mts up north. so there are times when i am curious about the names of mts, usually ones such as big butt mt (which we really did hike over) all 20 brushy mts, even chunky gal trail...so i was curious about this cowrock mt, but looking back on the slabs of rock i think i have my theory for this one...have you ever seen a "cow rock" or cow pie??? the slabs of rock seemed the color and wavy layered texture of one of these cow pie gems...shortly after the top of this mt there was another overlook, as i stood there i was sarinnated by the calls or crys of coyotes. arriving at the gap around noon we hung out at the outfitter and hostel located here. the outfitter has a "museum" of hikers gear such as packs, shoes etc...that are well used and loved. we took a special interest in looking around at this items as one of our friends packs is hanging on the wall. On the bear boys first night out on the trail a bear came running through their camp and snatched up bearpacks pack and ran off with it... id, credit card, steri pen, camp shoes etc...so as you might guess the pack suffered from the ordeal. They had to be shuttled up to this outfitter to purchase some replacement gear, leaving the old damaged pack to be hung on the wall as part of the "museum". then pacer arrived, part of the old gang was back together for one last hurrah up to springer mt. we had been trying to persuade a few of our other friends from the trail to come but they had to work so we had sadly accepted that they couldnt come, tear. so we drove up to another hostel a few miles away because we decided to be really confusing in the way we hiked these next 10 miles...so blah blah blah we showered had dinner and were hanging out at the kitchen table shootin the breeze when someone knocked on the door. i didnt think anything of it, it wasnt my house, my pizza had already come, it couldnt be another hiker as the trail was about 10 or so miles away and it was dark...pacer gets up to let them in and in walks bearbait!!! what!! we were really shocked as we didnt think he would be able to make it all the way from TX. Dude, what an amazing surprise!! the other person we were strongly persuading to come was lotus so we were asking where she would be popping up, but sadly she really couldnt come, but we missed you Lotus!! Dude, i really cant believe it...such an amazing crew!!!!! I am really excited to have them back to hike with me to Springer!!!!!!!!!!