Date: 2009-03-23
From: Gooch Gap Tentsite, GA

To: Slaughter Creek Tentsites, GA 
Miles today: 11.0

My first double digit day and man am I tired. Didn't sleep very well last night as there were a couple of dogs (with their owners of course) camped not to far from us and they barked a lot last night. I slowed down as the day went on, but I'm sure my stamina will increase as time goes by. I need to get to Neels Gap tomorrow as I ate my last dinner tonight. All I have left is my morning breakfast bar for tomorrow. I'm staying at the Slaughter Creek Campsite on the side of Blood Mountain tonight. Where do they get these names? Only 3.1 miles into Neels Gap and I should be there by noon with no problem. Just up the rest of the way over Blood Mountain and down into Neels Gap. Stud didn't think that Wolf Man would be able to do the 11 miles today. She is hiking with him for two weeks. She hiked with me for a few miles and then found a sunny spot to wait for him. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get here tonight, so I tried to leave camp early. Since we camped over a mile past the shelter, I had a head start on the group that is around me. I didn't see many people at all today and hike solo most of the time. It was peaceful, but something can be said for the entertainment Stud has provided over the past few days. I was sorry to get separated from her. As the night goes on many other hikers are showing up, as we all want to get into Neels Gap tomorrow for a shower and laundry services. I feel so crudy it is unbelievable. I am hoping to get an early start to get a space in the hostel, but if not I understand that there are other accommodations available. The weather continues to be fabulous and I had numerous views from the trail today. It was more ups and downs, but mostly not to bad. Long day though and I definitely felt it in my feet by the end of the day. I walked a little of my morning with Coyote and Boomer. Boomer is a Cocker Spaniel that has to be watched quite closely as he has tried to pee on several hiker's pack. He seems to like me okay and will sit with me while I pet him. But believe me when I say I keep a close eye on him when my pack is on the ground. Coyote was trying for huge mileage today and is trying to get all the way to Neels Gap. He is not carrying a sleeping bag, but just an old army green wool blanket. Crazy! He is having an actual sleeping bag sent to him and it should be waiting for him. I can't imagine not being surrounded by all my feathers during the night. Brrrrr!Joe Kickass caught up with me right as I got to the turn off to Woods Hole Shelter and there was a note saying no water. We decided to walk the half mile further to this campsite. He is quite a bit younger than me and the mileage today was no problem for him. He started way after me this morning and takes lots of breaks during the day and still finishes at the same time as me. Yak also is here tonight, but no sign of Stud and Wolf Man. They must of stopped at a stealth site somewhere along the trail tonight. Hopefully, Wolf Man starts listening to his own body and hiking his own hike. Hope he keeps on. I forgot to tell you about the funny bear bagging story from yesterday. There are bear cables at the shelters which make hanging our food very simple. Since we didn't stay at the shelter last night, we had to hang it ourselves. Yak, Wolf Man, and Stud hung theirs without a hitch (two of them have a lot of experience in this procedure). Joe and I which have no practical experience at this and we are hanging our bags together. Joe selected a branch and up he threw the rope. Perfect. We then hooked on our food bags and I was describing the method I learned from Backpackers magazine. He wanted me to show him. (I think it was called the PCT method). I got it hooked up and when we tried pulling it up the ENTIRE limb came crashing down on us. LOL. It didn't hit either one of us thankfully. So we go looking for another tree. We find what we think is the perfect tree and he throws up the rope only to have it fly over the adjacent branch and wrap around several times. We looked at each other like what now? He played with the rope and finally got it to unwrap and we hooked up the bags. We pulled it up and then we hooked up the stick to hold the bag in place, but the food bags wouldn't move down to meet the stick like it did when I practiced. They were stuck up there. Once again we looked at each other like what now? We finally decided to just tie the rope around the tree trunk like everybody else and we'd worry about getting the food down in the morning. Luckily they came right down when Joe untied them in the morning. Do you think the cut rope that was dangling from our perfect tree should have given us a hint of things to come? Tonight Yak hung all of our food. Thanks Yak! I am hoping for an early start tomorrow, so I must think about getting some sleep. Until tomorrow.