Date: 2008-03-25
From: Tray Mt. Shelter, GA

To: Dick's Creek Gap, GA
Miles today: 11.1

Last night was frigid. Up until now, the cold nights have just been an annoyance...just cold enough to keep me from sleeping soundly. Last night was unbearable, though. I was wearing 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and a fleece, and wool socks. I even resorted to putting my mittens over my wool socks, but to no avail. Twice during the night, I heated water, and put the bottle in my sleeping bag. That worked, but not well enough. When I finally had to get up to pee (5:00 a.m.), I couldn't handle being cold anymore so I built a fire and stayed up. Good thing we collected so much firewood last night. The fire helped a lot and it gave me a chance to see the sun rise. It also gave me an early start on the day's hike, which was nice. Tara's sending my fleece sleeping bag liner, which will hopefully keep me warmer. We each bought a fleece liner after thinking we were going to freeze to death at the Grand Canyon a couple years ago. I'll be receiving the liner in the mail when I get to Franklin, NC (probably on Saturday or Monday).I hiked with Crabby today and it seems like we're hiking at pretty much the same pace right now. Remember when I said that Bob hikes faster than us? He left a bit before us this morning, but he was in town and at the hotel when we were leaving our lunch spot, only halfway to Dick's Creek Gap. He's gotta be cheating somehow. He's got a really light pack, which helps a lot, I'm sure.Kelly Knob kicked our butts today. It seemed to go on forever. The uphills are still really slowing me down. They just take all my energy and I have to stop and rest pretty frequently. I'm anxious for my trail legs to arrive. I'm sure it would've helped if I had done some cardio training before starting my thru-hike. Well, I guess I'm training now.Before leaving camp this morning, I went over to my tent, which, you'll remember, had a Burmese Mountain Dog tied up next to it. Striker, the dog's owner, let me know that the dog had snagged my trekking pole from next to my tent and used its handle (the important part of the handle) as a chew toy. Striker and his wife Tracer offered to pay for a repair. I'll call Black Diamond tomorrow to see if I can get a replacement handle sent to me. No hard feelings...I have a dog and I know how it goes.We had lunch with Greenwood and OrangeDust at Addis Gap today. They're both really cool. It was a nice, quiet spot in the sun. Their dog, Bea, tried go steal my PB+J roll-up after I gave her a taste of peanut butter. Bad Bea.We ended up doing 11.1 miles to Dick's Creek Gap and catching a ride into town from the shuttle driver for the Cloud Nine hostel. I'm writing this while lying on a comfy bed at the Hiawassee Holiday Inn Express after filling up on an AYCE buffet at Daniel's Steakhouse (good, not great) with Crabby, Bob, and Paul. At dinner, they were trying to think of a good trail name for me based on thei morning's trekking pole chewing incident. "Chewtoy" seems to be a general favorite.The plan for tomorrow is to grab breakfast downstairs, resupply at the grocery store next door, get a fast food lunch, and catch a ride back to the trail from a local shuttle service. We'll hike 4.5 miles to the Plumorchard Gap shelter in the afternoon. If all goes as planned, we'll be crossing the border into North Carolina on Thursday. Feels good.It's gonna take everything I have, both physically and mentally, to finish this thing. I've always know that, but I'm more aware of it now. The past couple days have been a challenge and it's also really hard being away from Tara and ZigZag. I talked to Tara before dinner. She's doing well, but it's hard for both of us. I promised Celia I wouldn't put too much mushy stuff in this journal, so that's all I'll say about that.I'm finally caught up on my journal entries! I'll try to add some pics after I get my memory card reader in the mail in Fontana Dam, NC. Off to bed...a warm, soft bed. Heaven.