Date: 2013-03-06
From: Neel Gap

To: Whitley Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: overcast clouds

"I like bear butts and I cannot lie." - totally not Chickadee"I find solace in the presence of fellow idiots." - LucasWe wake up early and get breakfast cooked and ready ourselves. Things go downhill from there. We move up to the camp office to check out, but this gives the group a taste of the morning's weather. Inside the cabin we had joked about it in a lighthearted manner, but outside it holds a greater impact. Some of us are ready to get moving, and some of us are not as certain about moving forward. Snickers, the with the slowest pace in the group, is disheartened. I step inside to remove myself from the argument - I would persuade anyone to keep at it, but I think I should not force the decision on someone who is unsure of their capability.Crow moves inside to remove himself from the argument as voices get louder outside. Eventually the others move inside. Snickers has decided to get off the Trail. I think to last night when I said that we were moving past the point where a quarter of aspiring thru-hikers abandon the walk. I am not thrilled to see statistics are accurate for this small sample. We watch the snow and wind diminish outside. I wait for the chance to start moving. I feel like all we need to do is get some momentum and things will work out.After a couple rounds of board games, we finally get moving at noon. Our party heading out into the wind and snow is now myself, Crow, Chickadee, Alex, and Madison Star. We have to walk around to the back of the outfitter to get going, as there is a telephone pole down across the Trail right next to the building. Immediately we start a climb up 3,825-foot Levelland Mountain. It is nice to start with a long uphill on such a cold day. I stop to shed a layer in short order. I find myself pulling ahead of the group frequently, but take plenty of breaks when I can get out of the wind or reach a tricky section.There is a long fairly flat section following the descent from Levelland. This is followed by Cowrock Mountain, which would have had some great views in fair weather. In the current conditions the only views we get are occasional glimpses at the flanks of the mountain, or sometimes we can see as far as the next ridge. The descent from Cowrock is a little tricky, with a surprise bend in the Trail on an open rocky area starting off the descent. There are a couple good stretches of ice to keep us attentive on the descent to Tesnatee Gap. Georgia Route 348 touches the Trail here - almost our third paved road crossing, except the road merely touches the Trail before bending back away. We just cross a paved, empty parking lot. The road is silent, and might have been closed in this weather.The Trail rises up Wildcat Mountain on the north side of the gap, taking numerous switchbacks and surprising me with a climb I had not thought would be challenging. The side trail to Whitley Gap Shelter is just after the summit. It is 1530 when we get there, and we decide to take this shelter instead of pushing to Low Gap Shelter 5 miles away. The side trail to the shelter is 1.2 miles, so we figure this shelter gets little use. We also think most of the people that left Neel Gap today would get as far as Low Gap Shelter, and tenting in this wind does not seem fun.I take point on the side trail, and am pleased to see only one set of footprints. What a detour this is! The side trail takes us over another summit, and then down into a gap. I keep expecting the shelter to appear, but it is elusive. I wonder who the lone pair of existing footprints belongs to. Eventually I find their owner when I reach the shelter - Lucas! I am happy to see he is still on the Trail, and he is happy to have people to share the shelter with.I begin making the shelter more into a home. Lucas already covered half of the shelter opening with his rain fly. I add mine to the other half, and gradually this is augmented with the others' tents and tarps. We manage to put together a decent barrier against the wind, which is invariably blowing straight into the shelter. Once the barrier is in place, most activity takes place inside the shelter. All the cooking and socializing is done inside sleeping bags. Some music is played from Madison Star's cell phone, and then with Lucas' guitar and uncertain voices. We try to piece together Stairway to Heaven before giving in and reviewing it on the cell phone. It is almost dark - hiker bedtime.Peace,