Date: 2005-02-14
From: a great rock overhang just above Cooper Gap

To: Campsite near stream
Miles today: 11.1

Yahoo!!! Yippee!!!I got my spririt back!!!I've figured out what I want to do after this hike. Great plans.So what did I dream up? Well, I'd still like to go to Ghana this winter and I'm still going to join my friend on her sabbatical travels (which by the way will include Peru, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and India). That's happening in Jan., Feb. and March. After that I'm planning to hike the long distance trail in New Zealand !!! I'd probably start that in the fall of 2006.That leaves me about half a year in between projects. I'd probably spend three months hiking in the U.S. Revisiting some CDT stretches and maybe doing some shorter trails up in Washington. The rest of the time I want to focus on a Dutch version of my journals and try to get some publicity in Dutch hiking magazines so that they might be interested in writings about New Zealand. I'll try to get them interested in my pictures too. The thing that makes me most happy is that I've decided to become a massage therapist whenever I go back to Holland. I had already figured out that I would try to get a job as a trekking guide. Being a massage therapist would be great for the off season. I wouldn't have to be in school for a long period and I could practice whenever, wherever. And I think I would like it a lot. I mean what could be better than making people feel good?Yeah, I got it all figured out ; )Anyway, I'm hiking this AT and let me tell ya today was interesting. The rock 'cave' was a great spot to sleep except when the rain caused major dripping on the bottom of my sleeping bag. I tried to ignore it for a while but I have a down bag and it didn't seem the smartest thing to do. So I used my tent as a bivvy. That worked okay but I should have done it earlier. I was still warm and comfy though. It was pretty grey in the morning and still raining. The fog and the trees made a eerie combination. Like walking in a ghost forest.The rain didn't let up so I was very happy when I made it to Gooch shelter. I almost stayed there because some of my stuff had gotten pretty wet. After spreading everything out and spending some time taking a nap and decorating the register (happy valentine's day everyone!) it had almost stopped raining so I decided to move on. It was still nothing but fog and trees but at least I didn't have to wear all the wet raingear. So what was I wearing? Well, some lacey red...err... wrong journal...I was wearing my long fleece pants, my long sleeved shirt and my windshirt. In the end I started heating up and I took the windshirt off and even rolled my pants up. Really when it stops raining the temps aren't bad at all. Most of yesterday I hiked in shorts and long sleeved t-shirt.Just like yesterday the trail had lots of fallen branches on it. And of course there were lots of slick muddy stretches. It's still weird to me that you can just hike this trail without maps or even a guidebook (I'm buying one at Neels Gap though). Such a difference from the CDT. Also the registers are very different. Whereas there were only a few on the CDT there are ones at every shelter here and most of them only have this year's hikers in them. Doesn't make for a very interesting read yet. I thought those CDT ones that went back more than ten years were really awesome. It's very cool though how the three big trails are so different from each other. I'm camped now at the exact same spot I was camped at last March before going up to Blood Mountain. I hope my tent won't collapse this time.Want to hike the AT without the crowds? Hike it now. I did not see one single person today.