Date: 2016-03-26
From: Unicoi Gap

To: Dicks Creek Gap
Miles today: 16.7

Today was payback for our relaxing (short) hike yesterday. Our distance today was 16.7 miles, with some challenging climbs. So we¢re tired and a bit sore. It was certainly good training for the longer distances we¢ll need to do soon. And all-in-all it was a really good hike. We met a lot of people, the trail was in great shape, the weather was good for hiking, and we didn¢t run into any issues. Princess¢ brother stepped in and helped us one more time today. We followed him to Dick¢s Creek Gap (about an hours drive from Blue Ridge) where we left our car, and then he drove us to Unicoi Gap where we started hiking NoBo and he headed back to Blue Ridge. This enabled us to hike together (rather than the key-swap where we hike in opposite directions). He also suggested that we switch our plans and skip ahead one section. Today was dry, but rain is predicted for tomorrow and the section we did today would have been harder in the rain. Tomorrow we¢ll do the section we skipped today and the weather shouldn¢t be as big an issue. There were 3 significant mountains to climb today, the first was Rocky Mtn - a good warmup climb of about 1,000 ft in 1 1/2 mi. The second was Tray Mtn. This was the main event of this section since Tray (at 4,430 ft) is only about 30 feet above Blood Mtn (the highest point on the AT in Georgia). We remembered Tray from the last 2 years as a very long pull, the climb to the top is 2 1/2 miles. The trail on the upper slopes passes through groves of laurel and rhododendron, a feature we¢ve observed on a number of the southern mountains. The peak on Tray is relatively short, a few rock slabs with a vista and then the trail turns down. The third peak was Kelly Knob and we didn¢t remember it as significant. But it turned out to be tough for us and others. The slope was aggressive (steep) and continuous for about a mile and we passed at least 5 other hikers who were stopped on the climb trying to catch their breath. (We¢re not passing them because we¢re stronger, but because we¢re slack-packing and carrying a much smaller pack.) Anyway, we agreed after the hike that the third climb (Kelly) was the toughest, partly because of how steep and continuous it is and probably also because we had already hiked several significant mountains. Some of the climbs in New England are much tougher, but we should be in better shape by then. Today was the first time that I heard Princess humming ¢When the Saints Come Marching In¢, Pintsize may remember that.We passed quite a few hikers on the trail today. The first was a gentleman who started at almost the same time we did at Unicoi Gap. He headed up the Rocky Mtn steps just ahead of us, but took his time finishing his coffee and munching on a goodie, and we passed him relatively quickly. We cranked up and over the first hill and had forgotten about him until early in the descent he literally ran past us, he was jogging the trail. We didn¢t see him again until we were less than a mile from the finish and we talked with him for the rest of the way. Both he (Odometer) and his wife (Gutsy) are hikers, he¢s done the AT in sections (finishing last year) and his wife did a thru-hike years ago. We had a good conversation and traded experiences and then met his wife who was waiting in the parking area when we arrived at Dick¢s Creek Gap. He was moving much faster than us on the trail, but diverted to one of the shelters and spent some time there before catching up with us at the end. He and his wife plan to head out to do part of the Continental Divide Trail soon. We also encountered a volunteer trail maintainer, Stone Kicker, on the descent from Tray Mtn. We had noticed that there was fresh trail work during our ascent, the erosion control runoff channels had just been cleared. Later when we saw Stone Kicker coming up the trail carrying a strange-looking hoe, we learned that he was taking care of both sides of the mountain. He was very friendly and quite proud of his work. He demonstrated how he got his trail name (Stone Kicker), he showed us how he kicked any loose rocks out of the trail that might trip a hiker. We always enjoy meeting trail maintainers and expressing our appreciation for their efforts. I¢ve included a picture of Stone Kicker.We also encountered John, an acquaintance from Norfolk, when we arrived at Dick¢s Creek Gap. We have known his parents (Janet & Eric) for a year or so and found out through them that he is an AT hiker. He started a thru-hike several years ago, but had to stop when he was injured. We shared trail experiences with John several times and knew that he was starting another thru-hike attempt from Springer last weekend. He is a day ahead of us at this point, but he plans to zero in Hiawassee tomorrow, so we expect that we may see him again.It was a full day and there are more stories, but it¢s also bed time and we have a long, wet hike on tap tomorrow. Tonight is our last night with Princess¢ brother, Ranger and his wife Gay. They have been super hosts, putting up with us for a week without complaining. And Ranger has helped us with transportation throughout the past week, and we owe him big time for that. Ranger has done large pieces of the AT with us in the past 2 years, including everything up to Harpers Ferry and climbing Mt. Katahdin twice. We are planning more hiking adventures in the future - I¢ll talk more about that later on a slower news day.