Date: 2019-03-30
From: Neels Gap

To: Hogpen's Gap
Miles today: 7.0

March 30 ( Day 7): We stayed overnight at the Blood Mountain Cabins and it was wonderful! The cabin was kind of cold early in the morning but that was because we forgot to turn the heat on. When we did, we all woke up to a toasty cabin.We got dress and walked to the main cabin where there is a little store and they cook breakfast. We ordered coffee, hot tea, and 2 sausage and egg biscuits. Delicious!Diesel (Amy), Sarah, and Katie have decided to take a zero day. Lexie is going to hit the trail with us. After saying our goodbyes and promising to catch back up down the trail, we headed back in to the Mountain Crossing store to return their cloth shopping bag and go through the building to get back on the trail. When you shop, they have cloth bags to put your stuff in. Since most of the shoppers are hikers and will need to unload their pack and repack, they tell you to take the bag and just return it when you get back on the trail.One note about hiker's hello and goodbyes. You never shake hands or hug. We know we are dirty and probably smelly. Also it's a good way to pass on germs. So hiker ettiquette is to fist bump.Just before you go through the passageway of Mountain Crossing, there is a giant tree. Hanging from the branches are hundreds and hundreds of hiking boots and shoes. The tree is called the Tree of Souls.We started out on the trail, and what seems to be the norm every day, we were going uphill. Of course!We hiked up and then down. Then hiked up Cowrock Mountain. That was a killer. Stopped for a break and drank a bottle of Gatorade that we had purchased at Neels Gap. I was surprised how hydrated I felt when we started hiking again. We will definitely be getting more of that at the next resupply.We met Lexie taking a break along the trail and she proudly showed us the necklace she had purchased at the store at the cabins. It was made with a small smooth rock that someone had then hand painted on a beautiful sun and then sealed with a shiny sealant. It hung from a leather ¢chain¢. I said ¢We should call you Sunshine!¢ She grinned and said she really liked that. She really is like sunshine because we always look forward to seeing her toi, just like the sun. I gave out my first trail name!On the other side of Cowrock Mountain we came down into Tesnatee Gap and there was a huge spread of trail magic set up by several folks that had hiked the AT in 2017. The dad (Papa G) hiked to Hot Springs and then got off. His daughter (Antenna) and her husband (Thunder Buns) thru-hiked. They had all kinds of food and drinks, but they also had miscellaneous stuff that hikers use and run out of like the small tubes of toothpaste, mineral supplements, mini packs of sweetner or catsup. They thought of everything. I had 2 cowtails candy and grabbed some Jolly Ranchers. (I had just mentioned to David earlier that we should get some of them at the next resupply because they could help keep you from getting dry mouth.)They also had a hardcover journal of AT hikers and their stories for 2017. We saw Amtrak, a lady that we had met on the AT when we were day hiking near Humpback Rocks that year! So this book is created by a guy named Odie who lives out of his van and cruises up and down the AT each year. They say he is a legend on the AT. You send him your picture on the trail and then when you get to Katahdin and he puts together a book of all the hikers that year. We are definitely doing that!!Ugh! Leaving the trail magic stop had us going straight up another mountain. Not sure of the name but thankfully it had a lot more switchbacks than a lot of the previous ones. Those make a mountain hike much more bearable. I have to say too that I wasn't sucking wind as badly either.Down the other side put us at Hogpen Gap. We were able to find a small stream. It was wasn't fast flowing or deep but by using a cup we could scoop out water without stirring up the silt. It helps keep our water filter from getting clogged too badly.The trail led us over a highway and up a slight rise. We decided to cowboy camp for the night. Wasn't sure if we had another 5 miles in us at that point. And it was 4pm and a rainstorm was due in that night.We got camp set up and found trees for our bear bags. We have designated Sunshine as the master tree finder. Her tree was perfect. The branch was about 20 feet up and 10 feet out. She had never hung a bag before and we all had some good laughs watching her try to throw her rock bag overhand up over a 20 foot high branch. We showed her how to pendulum swing it back and forth and then fling it.We got the bear ropes set, had some dinner, hung our food bags, and planned tomorrow's hike. Then we hunkered down and waited for the storm.