Date: 2009-03-25
From: Deep Gap Shelter

To: Hiawassee Inn
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: light rain

The rain did not let up as morning came. I was in no hurry to get up. I didn't hear any activity around me, so I remained in my sleeping bag. In the grey light, when my tarp swayed away from my hammock, I could make out a figure in a down jacket walking toward the food bags. I finally got up at 8:20am and made my way over to the bear cables where mine was the only bag hanging (a single, sopping wet food bag!). I packed up my fleece sleeping bag liner and sleeping bag and then Josh knelt down outside my tarp and asked if I needed help carrying my stuff to the shelter. (I thought that was so nice of him!) I broke down my hammock, brought some things to the shelter, changed, and ate some trailmix for breakfast, while the remaining hikers finished packing up and headed out. (I found Mothwing's extreme care in perfectly arranging all of his toiletries in place within his pack to be cute!) Josh (Tax Dollar) was the only one staying behind, as his down sleeping bag had gotten wet in his tent, and he wanted to dry it out before moving on. He let me have his extra filtered water (saving me from having to collect and sterilize water in the rain) and helped me rearrange the placement of my sleeping pad, as my pack cover would not fit over both my pack and sleeping pad. Then, I headed out at 10 am in the rain. I could not figure out how to keep my umbrella upright without holding on to it, so I carried both poles in one hand and held my umbrella in the other. Luckily, the terrain was not very challenging.       Everyone who had stayed at the shelter the night before, was moving on and not stopping at Hiawassee, with the exception of the older guy who had left several hours before me. I knew that I would have to hitch the 11 miles into town and decided to hike to Dick's Creek Gap alone and see what the situation was like when I arrived there. While I hiked, I wondered who might be driving past the trailhead when I emerged from the woods. Would Missile Man happen to appear just when I needed him? I had read about many fortunate chance encounters such as this, and the scenario did not seem far-fetched to me at all. A couple of miles into the hike, I passed a couple that I had seen the day before. As I descended into the gap, I listened for the sound of cars along the road to let me know I was close, and suddenly I was there! I pulled out my wet pages from my guidebook to try to figure out which direction Hiawassee was. Across the street in the trailhead parking lot, a lumberjack man in a red pick up called out that he was running a taxi service into town. I knew that I could get a ride for free, so I just ignored him. Then, the couple behind me appeared, and they accepted the $5/person ride into town from the bearded man and asked if I wanted to join them. We walked across the road to the cars, when Missile Man got out of his car and greeted me! "Hey, girl! Do you need a ride into town?" I nodded with a big smile on my face. Truly amazing! The Trail does indeed provide... I had a maildrop waiting for me at the Blueberry Patch Hostel, but I was already thinking that I would like to stay at the Hiawassee Inn, where I could have my own room and plenty of space to spread out and dry my gear. Missile Man had no problem pulling into the Blueberry Patch and waiting for me to pick up my package. Erik had mailed me the contacts I had forgotten and Gary said that they had arrived no more than five minutes ago! I jumped back into the car and Missile Man drove us the rest of the way into town and explained our options for rooms. Because he wasn't sure if there was a washing machine at the Hiawassee Inn, the couple decided to stay at the Holiday Inn, as washing their clothes was their top priority. After Missile Man let them out, he said, "In twenty minutes, they'll be snug as a bug!" with a big smile on his face. Providing trail magic to hikers was just as fulfilling to him as hiking the trail. He let me off at the Hiawassee Inn, waited to make sure there was a room for me, and said, "See you at Trail Days!"    Before I could even fill out my name and address on the card, Ron at the Hiawassee Inn offered me a warm cup of coffee, invited me into his kitchen, ("taste it to make sure it's hot enough and then you can add the milk"), asked me if I wanted a bagel, and gave me a laundry basket for my dirty clothes (with the offer of clean sweats to wear while the laundry was being done), which they would wash for me! He gave me the apartment his mother used to occupy because he knew I would respect her privacy and not meddle in her things, and I knew that I could not have picked a better place to stay! This place was clean, comfortable, and welcoming, and had everything I could possibly want. I called Erik to let him know that I was safe and sound and also called my lab to give them an update on my trip. After acquiring some shampoo and conditioner-in-one (the Dr. Bronner's that I used at Neel's Gap does not remove the grease from my hair! It felt as if I had not even showered there...), I took a nice hot shower, washed my hair three times, and enjoyed the body wash that they had provided. I spread out my gear, gave Ron and Sam my laundry, and headed off to the library to find a computer. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my ID with me, so I had to go back to get that. But then I saw Richard! I was so happy to see him and gave him a hug! It's so fun to see familiar faces that you haven't seen for days. He dropped off his packages and we walked over to the library together, where I had exactly one hour to start writing my first journal entry!   Minutes after I returned to my room (after picking up a new bottle of contact lens solution and 2 Cadbury eggs), Sam knocked on the door with my basket of clean laundry! How wonderful! My laundry had never smelled as fresh or felt as soft as that load! I felt so loved and taken cared of! Then, it was time for the ride to the Mexican Restaurant. Ron says "camaraderie is important" so he offers the dinner shuttle to all of the hikers staying with them. We could choose between Daniel's Steakhouse (where one person got off) or the Mexican restaurant (where six of us went). I was joined by Skip, Patrick, Kelly (Snuggles), Anita (Lightweight), and Ian (Mr.Ed). They had all met on the first night of the trail and had formed a little group, looking out for one another. I wished I had a little group like that. I remembered that I had seen Patrick at Low Gap Shelter when I had stopped in for water, and was impressed with his positive attitude, even with the extremely painful-looking open sores on both of his heels, as he explained his hammock set-up to another hiker.       Before we had even received our bill, Ron returned to pick us up, and because the waiter took so long to retrieve and process our credit cards, Ron became impatient and upset at the loss of his precious evening time. Kelly did her best to set him in a better mood, but he hurried inside as soon as he could get out of the van. I waited a moment before opening the door, sounding the bell to let them know I would be staying another night. "Okay, sweetie." I had a full day of writing ahead of me before I could set foot on the trail again!      Back in my room, I got to work on fixing some of my gear issues: a clogged Platypus tube and bite valve, a hole in my pack cover, and an adjustment in the distance of my hammock carabiners from the hammock itself (I was having problems finding properly spaced trees to accommodate the longer length of my hammock and the shorter rope of my tarp). Then, it was off to bed, where I got my first good hours of sleep since I had begun my hike!