Date: 2005-03-15
From: Justus Creek Camp

To: Woody Gap, and The Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: light rain

Burrrr-rrr! I don't want to get up! It is so-o cold. Okay. It's early still; I have time, back to sleep. ... Well, I should get my hiking clothes in here with me in the sleeping bag and preheat them. It's a nice mistly (but freezing!) morning. Must move. Must pee. Okay. The routein is to get dressed, pack up my bed gear (sleeping bag and pad), peak out the tent and search to make sure the bear bag is still there, grab my toiletry bag, and find a tree that is at least 200 ft from the trail of a water source. (Oh, and you bury all paper and other waste 6-8 inches below.) Then we usually break down camp, collect the bear bag, and make breakfast. Today we decide to break camp and make breakfast a bit down the road (1.3 miles away) at Gooch Mountain Shelter. Whoo-hoo! We're off! Once I get moving with my gear, I warm up right away. And, it's early so my bag still feels relatively "light." The day is just starting and it's exciting! You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet.   There's a real stream crossing, our very first with a real threat of getting wet if we miss a rock in hopping across. This is a real challenge. Balence is interesting on two feet when you have a 40+ lb pack on your back ... one footed leaping and hopping provide an interesting new debaucle. We managed.   At Gooch Mountain Shelter the off and on sleet finally ends as we prepare breakfast. Soon Joe appears, with similar plans to make food; followed closely by Bearbait, who now has dry gear. The shelter is the nicest so far; a double decker with a roof that extends to cover a pic-nic table and also makes a standing bar. It has been visited recently by trail fairies, the anonymous folk who do good deeds. There is cold soda, hot chocolate mix, and other easy-to-make foods, all safely stored away from the animals.   The four of us all much on snacks, and talk about where we're hiking to. Neels Gap is still a few days away OR we could go to a hiker hostel first for a big breakfast and showers. After awile of dreaming about the short hike to the warm hiker hostel ... we are decided! We're going there, but first we'll laze around for awile yet ... and eventually hike over to Woody Gap where we can hitch a ride.   The bird of the day is the Yellow-belly Sapsucker. The pesky little guy hid behind he trees refusing to be IDed until we finally gave up argueing about him and guessing. Then, just as we packed up, out he came into plain view. If you ask me, a Yellow-belly Sapsucker should know better than to be so dingy looking.   I hitched my first ride today. (BIG grins!) Then, my second came quickly after. It was Footloose, Fancifree, "Torch," and I who were begging for rides. Thanks to Darren for driving the 4 of us to "the rock pile." And, mucho-mucho thanks to the 3 guys on Spring Break who literally shuttled us over in muliple trips to the hostel.   Yay, we're warm and giddy at Josh and Leigh Saint's Hiker Hostel (www.hikerhostel.com). Showers! Laundry! A bed! Dinner in town! (Ironicly in Dahlonega where we stayed before we started!) Internet! It's a hiker haven.