Date: 2018-03-01
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: moderate rain

Youknow the old adage, ¢March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.¢In the North Georgia Mountains, the month of March definitively arrived roaringlike a lion. Theday started in Blairsville, where we took one final shower, loaded our packs,and dropped the room keys in the drop box. We arrived at The Hole in the Wallat 7AM, just as they were opening for business. Entering just ahead of us werethe town Sheriff and a few other regulars, all of whom our server, Vicky, knewby name. We grabbed a booth immediately to the left, placed our packs on thefloor, in between the booth and the door.  Vicky was standing at our table in no timeflat ready to take our order. Good service and good food left us full,satisfied, and out the door in thirty minutes. As we were settling our billwith Vicky, I overheard one of the locals commenting to his buddy, ¢there wasno way I would be caught hiking in this weather.¢ Alongthe traffic circle circumnavigating the town square, the Seasons Inn sits onthe NE side at one o¢clock and the Hole in the Wall sits at 11 o¢clock. The twocrazy hikers (aka Which Way and Next Step) continued counter-clockwise to sixo¢clock, where US 19 North exited the traffic circle. That is the road that leadsto Neels Gap, and these crazy hikers were going to hitch their first ride fromthis very spot. Before I could take my pack off, Which Way, pack still on,stuck out her thumb. Thirty seconds, and three cars later, she turned to me,looking disgusted that no one had stopped yet to offer us crazies a lift.Personally I thought she looked rather cute in her red rain jacket and pack onher back and it would just be a matter of time before someone would stop topick us up. However, I was a bit concerned that Which Way¢s ego was about toget bruised. That¢s when I put my head on a swivel, looking desperately for aquick way to avoid the pending tragedy. Over my shoulder (five o¢clock on thecircle) I eyed a man looking out the door of the Cabin Coffee Cafe and I gavehim a friendly wave. He waved back and stood there a few seconds contemplatinghis next move, as I willed him to cometh hither. Then, just as Which Way wasabout to risk her fourth rejection in less than 40 seconds, the fellow steppedout the door and hollered, ¢Do ya¢ll need a ride?¢ One minute later and we hadour packs secured in the bed of his pick-up and hopped inside his vehicle.Which Way slid into a jump seat as tour driver, Bill, moved his Bible and somepapers out of the passenger seat to make room for me. Asit turns out, Bill was the unpaid greeter at the Cabin Coffee Cafe. The nicefellow certainly possessed the gift of gab needed for such a role. We spentmost of the 20 minute ride to Neels Gap listening to Bill¢s story about thetime he met Mike Greenberg, of ESPN¢s Mike and Mike, right there at the CabinCoffee Cafe. Turns out, Mike Greenberg had just finished covering the Mastersand drove up to the mountains. Why? According to Bill, Mr. Greenberg thought hemight someday want to hike a section of the AT and wanted to give it a closerlook. Evidently, Bill and Mike are now Facebook Friends, making them bothgenuinely nice people. When we arrived at Mountain Crossings I offered togive Bill some money for gas. Of course, he said no, so we grabbed our gear,thanked him, and parted ways. Thereis a Hiker Hostel on the left end of the structure that houses the Outfitter atMountain Crossings. The two are separated by a breezeway and there is a WhiteBlaze (A.T. marker) painted on the breezeway to signify to hikers that thetrail passes through the structure. There is a Blue Blaze painted on thehand rail of the steps leading down to the Hostel. As I waited outside, WhichWay took the blue blaze, slipping into the Hostel for a quick potty break. As Iwaited for her, another hiker approached that I recognized from our Day 1-3,mini-hiker bubble. It was Craig (aka Heartburn), the retired EMT who was afirst responder for the man who had the fatal heart-attack hiking up SpringerMtn last Saturday. He was anointed with his trail name on the first night whenhe asked if anyone had any Tums. You guessed it, one of the girls with the 50lbpacks was eager to assist, reducing her pack weight by .01 ounces. Anyway,Heartburn had been hiking with Ron, who was having knee issues and would betaking another Zero Day. Heartburn said that several of the hikers from thefirst few days were staying in Blood Mountain Cabins. Of note, the Dynamic Duo(blind hiker and his wife) were in a Cabin.Aliciaemerged from the Hostel and reported that about a dozen hikers were millingaround. One of the young girls said she hiked down Blood Mountain in the rainyesterday and didn¢t think she would make it down alive. After Heartburnsnapped our pic, we all passed through the breezeway at 8:30 to begin ourday¢s hike. Which Way and I planned to hike 11.5 miles to Low Gap Shelter.Heartburn said he would probably stealth camp (unofficial camping site)somewhere short of Low Gap. There is another shelter about six miles north ofMountain Crossings, but it is over a mile down a blue blaze trail. Backto ¢in like a lion¢. It was windy, foggy, and spitting rain when we stepped outand immediately began the 900¢ ascent up Levelland Mountain. We stopped a shortdistance up the trail to remove our rain jackets. As was did so, Heartburnpassed us by. The temperature was hovering around 55 degrees, but it felt muchcolder with the blowing rain, unless you are toting a 25/30 lb pack up themountain. I hiked in my shorts and short sleeves most of the day. Which Wayhiked in rain pants and her jacket came on and off with the rain. We overtookHeartburn about halfway up the mountain, as he was taking a picture of a treethat looked to him like a monster in the thick fog/clouds. We did not see himagain for the remainder of the hike. Which Way and I felt really good comingout of our Zero and we conquered the first, and steepest, of the four mountainswe climbed today.Therain really picked up around 11:00 and the temperatures began to fall shortlythereafter. By noon, we were seven miles into the hike and only one hiker,¢Hungry Cat¢ had passed us by. He said that several other hikers were closebehind. Ourtrail guide indicated that Low Gap Shelter only slept seven and there werelimited tent spaces around the shelter. Which Way and I were hoping tonab two of the shelter spots, avoiding the hassle of setting up our tent in therain. So, when she suggested that we should just press on and eat lunch afterwe arrived at the shelter, I agreed. Up until this point in our hike, we madeit a point not to press too hard and to take frequent breaks. But, with theLion roaring hard now, we broke form. Abouteight miles in, as we paused to grab a quick snack, we saw/heard three younggirls below us working their way up to the top on the switchbacks. Selfishly,not wanting to lose our spot in the shelter, we kicked it into high gear. Thetemperature was still dropping and the wind was blowing hard, so I decided tostop about two miles out and put my rain jacket on, over my soaked clothes,along with my hiking gloves. Otherwise, I was putting myself at greater risk ofhypothermia. Been there, done that, no fun!Webreezed into Low Gap Shelter at 2:00PM. Other than Hungry Cat, no additionalhikers had passed us, so we felt good about our chances. Shoot, there wouldprobably be room for the girls too. As I came down the side trail, I noticedone person outside the shelter. The opening was covered with a few tent groundcloths, not a good sign. When I pulled one of the ground cloths aside, gave agreeting, and waited for smoke, thicker than the surrounding fog to clear, Icounted six hikers. Hey Dude!Notime to wallow, or we could easily become hypothermic. Job one for us, and thedozen or so hikers that came streaming in shortly after us, was to get dryclothes on¢or else! Which Way and I found a spot around the back of theshelter, stripped down, and replaced our cold, wet clothes, with dry, warm wooland fleece. Just around the corner, the three girls were doing the same.Stripping down sounds like an easy thing to do, but with our shoes and sockssoaking wet, our shoes caked with mud, and our fingers half frozen, it tookmore than a minute to get it done.  Meanwhile, it is still rainy, windy, and muddy;and the tent still needed to be set up. Afew minutes later, the rain let up a bit, so I put my dry rain pants and fairlysoaked rain jacket over my 250 Smartwool base-layer pants/shirt. Which Way¢srain gear was soaked so she remained under the shelter eave to prepare tunawraps as I struck out up the muddy hill, tent in hand. I found a level spotnext to a downed tree (don¢t have to worry about that one falling on ustonight) that looked like it would hold a tent. Usually Which Way and I set upthe tent together, and it is done in less than two minutes. In the wind andrain it took me about five. In the process, some water had found its way insidethe tent. I¢ll worry about that later. Just as I finished staking down the lastvestibule, I stood up and one of the young girls was standing to my right withher tent in hand. ¢Sir, do you mind if I set my tent up next to yours?¢ ¢Noproblem,¢ I answered. Then I look to my left, a second girl, ¢Sir, can I putmine here? I don¢t snore.¢ I replied, ¢Sure thing, but we do snore.¢ As I type,their tents are less than two feet away and Which Way is the only onesnoring. Bythe time I made it back down to Which Way, several other hikers had arrived andwere performing the same ritual. Among them was Heartburn. Aquick tuna wrap, another break in the rain, and we scurried up to the tent toput our trash compactor bag containing all of our sleeping bag/quilt on the wettent floor. We then managed to inflate our sleeping pads with both of us in thetent together (she usually goes first while I start dinner). Then we snuggledunder my quilt, with me still shivering, and eventually got a little nap. Itstopped raining about 5:30PM so we raced down to filter water and cook dinner.The clothes I was wearing were still damp in places, but they had a chance todry out in the wind. By now it was dark, but I still needed to hang thebear bags. The cable system used here was not working, as the trees with thecables attached had blown down in a recent storm. So, I hung our bags the oldfashioned way, throwing a small bag (with a rock inside for weight) attached toa line over a tree branch. Then I attached our food bags to the line and tiedit off to the same tree. I got the line over the branch on the first try,but I realized it was too close to the tree (about two feet vs the recommendedfour). I look up, thinking that that is not ideal, then I see that I amstanding on a muddy slope among a bunch of downed trees. Too bad, I thought tomyself, the bears can have it. I¢m going to bed! Eventhough the conditions were bad today, the hike was still good. Which Way and Ienjoy the challenge of going up and down mountains, but we really did not wantto tax our bodies any more than the terrain dictates, as we are in this for thelong haul. I must say though, it is on days like this that I am blessed to bemarried to an amazing woman. She is one tough gal!!! Althoughit is cold outside and the Lion is roaring hard, we are warm, safe, and dry inour tent. - Next Step Elevation Data:Ascent ~ 3,000Descent ~ 3,050Grade ¢ 9.7 Weather:Day ¢ 40 degrees / Rain/FogNight ¢ 33 degrees / Rain/Wind  Over the Horizon: GA/NC Border