Date: 2003-03-31
From: Woody Gap

To: Walisi-Yu
Miles today: 10.7

Last night it was very, very cold. It was 21 degrees by morning according to the thermometer and very windy with snow flurries. The wind was strong enough to collapse the fly on my tent and with no ventilation the moisture from my breath condensed and froze on the inside of the tent walls. The sleeping was damp on the inside and crunchy on top with ice crystals. I decided I had to hike despite the bad knee because it was too cold to stay in one place and I had very little food left. I got packing early and by 7 o¢clock I was walking. My knee hurt badly and my arms, especially the right one took a toll trying to compensate for it by slamming down the trekking poles. Downhills were especially painful because it takes two legs to stop. As a result the right wrist bruised up and began to swell. The sun came out around 1 pm so I stopped at the bottom of Wood¢s Hole Mt. and laid everything out to dry again. While I sat and waited for the sun to do its work, I pulled out the topo map and munched on beef jerky. The elevation profile showed an ominous, steep climb over Blood Mt. Once again the blond-haired smiling young guy passed me by as I stood there looking at the topo map. I felt there was no way I¢d be able to get over Blood, I was having a hard time over flat ground. To the east of Blood the map showed a blue-blaze trail called the Freeman Trail and I decided to try that instead. It turned out to be a mistake, the Freeman Trail was nasty. Although not as steep as the Blood Mt route it was littered with unavoidable fridge-sized boulders. It took me 3 hours to rock-hop the 3 miles and re-connect to the AT. The descent down to Neels Gap and the Walisi-Yu Center was steep and took until 3 o¢clock. Walisi-Yu is the first return to civilization since Springer Mt.; hikers were everywhere and I quickly reserved a bunk in the hostel before they sold out. The hostel was one large room with about 16 double-stacked wooden bunks and small mattresses, and another small sitting room with a microwave and tv. Adjacent to it was the outfitter¢s store and grocery, bathrooms, showers, and a washer and dryer. The laundry facilities were in the ladies¢ bathroom and were crowded as hikers jockeyed for them. The other source of excitement was the store as wet hungry hikers stumbling in from days on the Trail made right for the sodas and ham sandwiches. I had a great time just hanging around and watching the new arrivals¢ eyes light up as they walked in the door. Many of the hikers at Neels Gap that day were hikers I would see often in the coming days, and some who I would see for my entire hike: Sherpa, Goat, Sniper, Jason, who was given the trail name Spiderman; Mrs. Gorp, Two Dog Night and Iron Chef with their dogs, John and Laura, Ben and his dad, Janet (Edelweiss). The hostel owner announced that he would take us to the all-you-can-eat place but there were too many of us to sit in the truck, and it was a cold evening. John and Laura, Mrs Gorp, Jason and myself all got into rain gear and huddled in the bed of the truck to the restaurant. It was a wonderful place for hungry hikers with home-style cooking. Totally packed. $5.99 for all you could eat really good home cooked food. Then he took us to a grocery store as well, so we could get re-supplied. About John and Laura... they didn't really seem to be well-prepared for the AT. They seemed to be kind of on the outs and not what I expected to see out hiking. I got the impression they were out here because they had nothing better to do. I think that Laura said she was from Allentown, PA. They had really heavy camping gear. Just really crappy stuff they were trying to hike the AT with. I wa a little amused by John especially, he was carrying a full one gallon can of Coleman fuel which would probably be enough to do the whole AT. It weighed, I don¢t know, 8 pounds.