Date: 2012-04-12
From: Cheese Factory site

To: Dick's Creek Gap
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

The night before, we (Chief, Samson, two girls section hiking, and myself) camped at a large open place at the top of a gap called the Cheese Factory site and I froze yet again.  There were many windbreaks for tenters but I was out in the open and all of the trees gave me a wind-tunnel for a shelter.  It was sunny and warm when I stopped hiking for the day but when the sun fell behind those blue hills, things quickly cooled off.  I even had dreams about freezing to death and woke up every few hours to shiver my way back to sleep.  Morning came and I was stoked to get to go walking again.  We took off early in hopes of getting to the road in time to hitch into Hiawassee for a resupply.  I didn't want to take a zero but a hot shower, a town meal, groceries, and some action with a washer/dryer seemed like a fantastic idea.  We had some good climbs, some long views, and cool-to-warm weather the entire day.  And we put down the hammer.  I met two guys out for an Easter section hike from Springer to Dick's Creek and we had a nice chat about mileage, people along the trail, weather, and gear.  I told them about my hammock woes and told them I was going to buy a JRB underquilt when I got into Hiawassee and have it shipped to Franklin for my arrival in a few days.  One of the guys, Ashley, got excited and happened to have the exact quilt I wanted to buy.  He expressed his love for that quilt and we geeked out for a few minutes.  I eventually asked him if I could see it.  He tore his entire pack apart to show it to me.  He is such a generous person and I knew without a doubt, I would be buying one in a few short hours.  Around the corner came Chief.  The two guys, Al and Ashley, whooped a big hurrah!  They were stoked to see their buddy, Brandon, who had become my hiking buddy Chief.  We all got talking and they offered us a ride into town.  We hiked with them down the trail following Dick's creek all the way back to the car at the gap where they shared ice-cold Pepsis from their cooler.  We drove in at a speed that seemed unreal.  Everything moved so fast and we covered the eleven miles in a matter of minutes rather than hours.  And it gave me a view of nature completely different than the one I had immersed myself in six days prior.  I noticed this first when I came to a road and didn't really know what to do.  It seemed so foreign to me.  Nature is dynamic when you are walking through it all day.  The leaves rustle on the ground.  The new growth gets jostled about by the slightest breeze.  The big trees bend and sway in the wind.  Everything is moving and you notice that it is because everything is alive. Flexibility is built-in.  Although an argument could be made that roads built of asphalt are far more flexible than roads made of concrete, that spectrum is probably logarithmic when you toss nature into it.  I get to a road and almost don't know what to do.  Despite years of training, I lose it just like that.  This is how wild animals must feel when they come across such a break in their natural environment: what is this, what do I do, aaaah, what was that noise??!  You almost don't even see the cars.  You barely have time.  You have to listen.  And it helps tremendously to understand how the lanes work.  Wild animals have a disadvantage with that one.  Driving into town erased all of my abilities to see nature as dynamic and it became as static as the roads seem.  Perception is funny that way.  And it makes me wonder if that is why we abuse our environment so much.  We don't really ever witness it properly and see how special it is because we insist on having all of these distractions that compete for our attention.  Nature is just a pretty and superficial blur as we zip past adjusting the radio.  Anyway, we got dropped off at Ron Haven's Hiawassee Budget Inn, checked in, got cleaned up, plugged in the electronics, and started crossing things off the mental lists we had made.  Mine had an under quilt, flip flops, food for immediate consumption, food for the trail, etc.  We did things a little out of order for the geographical layout of the town and I approached a guy (Eugene) at the gas station about giving us a ride to the other end of town.  He obliged and drove us the four minutes down the road that we didn't want to walk.  We met a gang of other hikers, including two culinary masters, The Butcher and Matt, for dinner at Daniel's Steakhouse for an $8 all-you-can-eat buffet.  I had seven pork ribs, three pieces of fried chicken, two giant piles of mashed potatoes, a salad, a plate of garbanzo beans, a huge mound of bacon cheesy peas, and a cold macaroni salad.  8 bucks gets you a coffee and a scone where I come from.  While we slowly put this fine establishment out of business, in walks Dave from my stay at the Hiker Hostel.  We caught up quickly and I found out out he took a zero yesterday.  It was very nice to see him and hope we can hike some in the next few weeks.  We rolled our huge stomachs  home in the chilly evening air and bought a six-pack to pre-celebrate our big accomplishment coming up tomorrow: the first border crossing!