Date: 2006-03-08
To: Jack's Gap
Miles today: 12.0

2006-03-08 Twelve miles with and overloaded packRosie dropped me off a Hogpen Gap for a northerly hike over to Jack's Gap where I left my Jeep for a ride home. While I was getting my gear out of the car a thru hiker came out of the woods. His trail name is "Mountain Goat" and he is from New Jersey. He said this hiking business is pretty new to him and he feels that he has a lot to learn. He had just hiked over from Whitley Gap shelter this morning. That shelter is well over a mile off the trail. I have never even seen that one. I don't like to hike way off the trail without a real good reason. Mountain Goat was out of water and felt he couldn't take a chance on going further as it was getting late in the day, that makes good sense. For the record, this picture is proof that he was at this place on this date and his fuzzy face is probably fuzzier than when you saw him last. I caught up to him and several others further up the trail and they all were complaining of aches and pains. Seeing that they were all young guys I felt better about the numerous aches and pain I have. Don't get me started on that long list. I took a short break and continued on passing a few others further up the trail.   I didn't see any of them from then on so they may have stopped at the Low Gap Shelter 4.2 miles north of Hogpen Gap. I didn't stop at the shelter but I understand it has a real good year round water source and it is only 0.1 mile off the trail.In all I saw four guys hiking with dogs carrying packs plus my pooch makes five but I can't find a pack small enough for him. Again today I saw a lot of hikers and I was walking north as they were unlike the prior hike. At 9.2 miles I reached Chattahoochee Gap and took the blue blazed Jack's Knob trail for 2 miles down to the Jeep.   I'd like to come back to Chattahoochee Gap again to sample the water from the spring that is the confirmed source of the Chattahoochee River that is ultimately the water source for all of Atlanta and surrounding area and continues on to form the border of Alabama and Georgia. So, bottom line the hike was a pretty easy one because much of it was along an old road bed that was almost level for several miles. However, my pack was loaded heavier than it will be on my thru hike and I felt it. As I came within a mile of the Jeep I said, "Digger, wanna ride in the Jeep?" Until then he was just moping along at my heel as he does several miles into the hike, but when he heard that he started jumping up and down and ran up ahead. I too was just as glad to see the Jeep and collapse behind the wheel and head home for hot food and the recliner. I don't know how I'll ever get in shape to do this every day, without the recliner. You may notice that I'm only doing conditioning hikes about every other day. I wonder how long I'll last without the day of rest in between hikes. Peacemaker has had to get off the trail again due to knee and foot problems. I think I would call it quits for thru hiking. Section hikes would be a better approach. I may end up in the same situation before long, and I realize this from the whimpy hikes I've been doing. For me the answer would be......just get the weight down. I may still have to go to a lighter pack. The pack I'm using weighs about 7 lbs. empty. Further, I know I'm packing quite a bit of "nice to have" things. I could drop a pound or more on just that. Then there's my camera. Do I want to hike or take pictures? These things may be the difference between hiking the trail or going home hurt. I have some decisions to make here. I should be carrying about 20 lbs. before food and water. I know that but I'm spooky about eliminating certain things.   photo on http://ozzyo.com