Date: 2007-01-25
From: Blue Mountain Shelter, GA

To: Tray Mtn Shelter, GA
Miles today: 7.8

Woke up around 9:30 am to the best day since I started at Springer. I was hiking by 11pm. My knee felt great; the sun was shining, temp around 32, and the wind seemed around 5mph. There were some undulation on the trail before the steep descent to Unicoi Gap. I could here the wind howling down in the gap which was a little disheartening. Got down to the gap and began the climb up Rocky Mount. The wind is around 25 mph now, the trail is on the dark side of the mountain, icy, and it is a very tough climb. I have to stop many times before I reach the top. Each time I would get very cold. Finally made it to the top, after several false summits. I hate false summits. You think you are at the top, then you have another 1/2 mile to go! Ate a snack at the top, then way down to Indian Grave Gap. Where I rested again. OK,a quick flashback story: In mid November 2004, I was camping at this gap on a cold, still, starry night. On nights like this, sounds really travel a long way. Well, it was about 11pm and about 25 degrees when I heard an unfamiliar noise. I have been hiking and camping for many years now and I could not make the noise out. It sounded like a coyote; but different. AHHHOOOOO, I was like: what the hell! Then the noise got closer and I heard it again only closer, AHHHooooo! Then I heard a car. Oh, it was just some yahoos yelling out of their vehicles. I dont like camping near roads because this is what you hear or worse. Then I heard the vehicle hit a bump in the road. The yelling stopped and then shortly the vehicle stopped. Then I heard a girl screaming," Mary, can you hear me Mary, wake up?!" I said a quick prayer and asked that the girl wake up. The other girl kept screaming; so, as a 1st responder, I responded. (I changed into my Zero Hero suit and flew to the scene. I know; a bad and callous joke). I grabbed my sleeping bag and sleeping mat and took off into the night. I did not know where or how far. I just kept going towards the screaming. I finally got to the road after tearing through briars and Rhododendren. I looked up the road and there they were. It was an SUV with the back window open which two girls had fallen out of when they hit the dip in the road. One was staggering around and got back into the Suv. Mary, lay conscious; but, motionless on the ground with another girl holding her hand. There were three guys "with 100 yard stares" just standing there. They saw me and were a little startled. I wore all black fleece back then and I must have looked unnerving. From my days at the boys camp, I knew someone had to take control. I told them not to worry as I was "Zero Hero", (not really), I told them that I was a first responder and I knew what to do. I told the driver to go up the mountain, until he got reception on the cell phone and call 911. He hesitated and I said, "it is a dui for you or death for her!" It was Mary's older brother and he drove off. I started talking to Mary and trying to comfort her with all my counseling skills. I put my sleeping bag over her and my sleeping pad under her. Several hunters drove up and gave us some blankets and went the other direction to try to call 911. Finally, after an hour: Mary's brother showed back up. Someone was on their way with help. I asked if he had alcohol in the SUV. He said no, they had thrown it down the mountain. I thought to my self, "damn, I could use a drink!" A county mounty was the first to show up, after about another hour. Finally, after about 2 1/2 hours the ambulance and half of 2 counties volunteer fire departments(it seems we were on the county line and it had delayed the response time. In the end both counties came) showed up to take over the scene. I was relieved; left my e-mail with her brother to let me know how Mary ended up; took my belongings and fell back into the night, evolving back into my mild mannered life as Zero. Never heard what happened to that girl! The response time was so slow that Mary's brother passed the breathelizer test. As I climbed up towards the Cheese Factory area: I saw to ladies in their 50's out for a day hike. I told they were the first people that I had seen in 3 days. It was a brief encounter as it was really cold. As I climbed: I started wish I would have taken time to eat a bigger meal in the morning. My energy was really lagging. The time I saved by eating snacks for breakfeast was not worth the way I felt right now. Got to Tray Gap and climbed Tray Mtn. This climb was not as tough as I expected. Very nice view up on top. It was a very cold hike down to the shelter. I had toyed with going on to camp out under the stars; but I was not sure I could find a place out of the wind to set up camp. Usually when I hike during the day, I can find a nice place out of the wind. I could not do it during this day and did not want to camp in the wind. As "magic" and I had conversed about at Neel's Gap: every decision hiking this time of year is a life or death decision. It was a good decision not to continue on. When I got to the shelter, the wind was blocked in one corner of the shelter. I quickly went and retrieved some water. I did my usual rountine; but noticed that tonight was different. The water I spilled froze instantly and my sweaty clothes froze as well. I heated one Jetboil of water after another while I set up my sleeping area. I ate four things of hot food or tea until I got everything set up. I made one of those hangers for my food inside the shelter to keep the mice out of my food. I got in my bags and could not get warmed up. The temp was 15 degrees with 30 mph winds. I used my secret weapon of a hot water bottle which allowed my to get really warm. I was sooooo happy.