Date: 2007-04-03
From: Dockery Lake Stream

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: broken clouds

7.4 miles, 7 hours, $29.50As I suspected, I slept like a baby next to the stream. I woke up around 9am but couldn¢t get out of my cozy hammock. I managed to hit the trail just before 10am. My goal was to make it the 5 miles to Blood Mountain. I have gone up there twice before and hated it. It is the tallest peak in Georgia at 4100 feet, or some such distinction. I surprised myself and went a couple miles further. I took several log and rock breaks all day, and a big ¢shoes off¢ break just before the climb up Blood Mountain. I think it broke up the day so I didn¢t feel like I had been going uphill all day long. The climb definitely didn¢t seem ¢so¢ bad. I used the camera timer for a picture of myself on top.I met several people who I bumped into later at the shelter; some of them have been very nice to me - I felt almost sociable! Josh (Treework), Matt, two shaved-head brothers I kept leapfrogging with all day, and Just Joe are all around here tonight. Not all of them are sleeping here. Some are at the cabins nearby and some are tenting. One guy just came in at 9pm for a bunk - he said it¢s supposed to hail around 4am! Thank You, God, for Your perfect timing. As I was busting my hump like a goat, jumping from rock to rock down Blood Mountain, I was worried that I wouldn¢t get in until 6:30 and the store would be closed or the hostel would be full. I decided to leave things up to God for a change - if I stay at Mountain Crossings, ok, if not, it wasn¢t His will. I see now how He takes care of me.Just an hour or so after I hit the trail this morning, I saw something blue hanging in a tree. When I got up to it, it looked like someone had pitched their wet raincoat and stuff sack. An hour or so later, Just Joe came SB with a little daypack and asked if I had seen it. Someone had found it on the trail and hung it on a tree because they didn¢t know if it belonged to a NB¢er or a SB¢er (there had been several day - or - two hikers around). It looked to me like it had been purposely ditched. I wish I would¢ve brought it with me; it was Just Joe¢s tent! His internal frame pack had just cost him two hard miles! I kept expecting him to catch up with me; I figured he must¢ve taken a logging road shortcut with just a little daypack. Finally during my pre-Blood Mtn. break, he came up with a full pack! I asked him how he got his whole pack - he had cached it in the woods to back track! We went about the same pace up Blood Mtn. but I lost him when he took a privy break on top. While I was in the hostel, he appeared! Actually, lots of peopled appeared when the caterers and their spaghetti did. It was $7.50 for AYCE. I had a plate and a half - the meatballs and garlic bread were excellent, but the sauce didn¢t stick to the pasta. I could¢ve eaten more except I was wearing my tight shorts while my laundry was washing in the washer of eternity. It took almost TWO HOURS for it to finish! I kinda wanted to wash my sleeping bag, too, but no way would it be done in time for bed.The hostel was $15, laundry $2, and sodas $1.50 each (I got three).Thankful for: A safe place for the night.