Date: 2019-03-26
From: Woody Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: clear sky

Oh yes, I am so spoiled! My partner has an RV and is shadowing me especially closely these early miles. I got to sleep in a real bed without rain. This also involved a real cooked meal a shower and heat! Today will be another slack packing day where I will be back at the RV for dinner. So sweet! I feel sorry for the poor saps stuck out there in the storm last night. It was pretty rough. The morning was partly sunny in the valleys but the clouds were stubbornly hanging on to the ridge line. Rain was forecasted for the evening again though. Blood Mountain was on the menu today and it was my boggy man experience from the first time. I now remember that 20 yrs ago I had done 16 miles on my second day and wanted to reach Neels Gap by the end of day three. This time I would be reaching it at the end of day four. But that last time exhausted me and also taught me my most memorable hiking lesson. 20 years ago hydration systems as well as ultralite packs and equipment were barely on the scene. If I wanted to get a drink of water or food I would have to take my pack off and it was pretty heavy so not something I did much. Further I had an old hiking practice where I would reward myself with a snack or meal once I reached some goal, say the top of a mountain or so. But I would always miscalculate and where I thought I would reach that mountain top by noon, I might only reach it by 3. Thus I would go too long without eating or drinking. This problem was finally compounded by my lack of digestive feedback. Normally, when I'm hungry my stomach would let me know. I have an internal dinner bell that gets quite demanding. It had just stopped. So I didn't know I was hungry. Some speedy hiker passed me and said,"Warm bed, hot shower 3 miles ahead, warm bed hot shower 3 miles ahead" but I was acting like I was drunk, stumbling and weaving as I walked. Something was wrong. I knew 3 miles was far more than I could manage. There was a shelter nearby and I pulled in. It was only 3PM. Slowly I made myself a big meal. Then I laid out my sleeping bag and crawled in. 45 min later I woke up feeling like I had slept all night! Top on the list of changes was a hydration system. Next was changing my eating strategy. When hiking I now eat by the clock, Snack at 10, lunch at 12, snack at 2, drink, drink, drink. Blood Mountain was a cake walk today. Shorter hiking distances and properly fed and watered made all the difference. It was also sunny and beautiful with great views when I was there. There were perhaps 8-10 other thru hikers at the peak shelter so we shareds some fun banter. Trail names I heard were Polar bear, Almost There, River... (forgot) but the best was the story behind the newly minted trail name Thunder Buddy. He had been hiking yesterday and suddenly the skies let loose with some fierce rain and thunder. He ran over to the nearest standing tent and asked the occupant if he could duck in. I guess it was a very small tent and both men were of pretty good size, thus the name Thunder Buddy was born. Perfect, Just where a hiking trail name should come from. Made it in great time to Neels Gap where there is an old CCC building turned hiker hostel, outfitter and postal service. For most hikers this is the first time they get contact with the real world again and you could see they were happy. My partner brought up a little Trail Magic and we all had fun eating pie. While the views at the top of Blood Mountain were beautiful, in less than half an hour of our arrival it started raining again. So happy to be off the mountain as the descent had alot of ledges which would be treacherous in the rain. The rain became quite intense for a couple of hours. More hikers arrived but the hostel was full and the next campsite was another 1.6 miles away. They looked quite forlorn in the building's breezeway hoping for a break in the weather which did not come. Another day on the trail.Hyper99