Date: 2004-03-11
From: Blood Mt. Shelter

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: clear sky

How is it that the entire left side of my body hurts? The right side of my body can only take up the slack for so long. Its amazing how well graded and flat some of the sections of trail are down here in the south, although Georgia certainly does have its fair share of ups and downs. Two days ago, I arrived at Gooch Mt. Gap shelter early in the afternoon, and decided to rest up instead of pushing on, the first one of many good decisions I would make on the trip. Less than an hour later, at viscious thunderstorm rolled on through, but, unlike any other lightning storm I had been in, it started to snow! And damn was it cold! And it was at this moment that I realized that the weather on this trip will certainly be a force to reckon with.      Last night, I stayed on top of Blood Mt, my third night out, and already I was alone. The shelter was run down and especially scary looking, such that not even a ghost might inhabit such a dark and dank place. The sunset from the mountain was amazing, and the contrails of the planes headed to and from Atlanta glowed silver in the fading orange light, cross-stitching the twilight sky at speeds of seemingly impossible proportions to those who travel on foot.      After watching perhaps the last streak of orange light disappear from the now starry sky, I retreated to my sleeping bag for a peaceful nights rest. At over 4000 feet, it sure was cold on top of the mountain. I had not been in my sleeping bag five minutes when I heard something rather large advancing towards me in the darkened shelter. I tried to ignore this, to pretend that maybe my imagination was playing a trick on me, but as this unknown animal tried to climb over my face, I burst out of my sleeping bag and threw on my flashlight to discover a spotted skunk scurrying out into the darkness. Since I no longer wished to be disturbed, I set up my tent outside in the soft grass. From my high perch upon this mountain, I could see the lights of nearby towns illuminating the valley, as well as the stars illuminating the night in that it was nearly impossible to tell where one horizon ended, the valleys seemingly trying to create a mirror image of the heavens above.      On March 11th, 2004, I woke up early while it was still dark. As I packed up and ate breakfast, the gentle white light of the full moon yielded to the orange and yellow light of the sunset, of the new day, and I watched that orange ball of life crest the horizon, I decided that I should wake early, that my goal should be to capture each morning, to hike early, to hit the trail in the early morning light, when all is still silent, is still pure, when a new begining is created, and indeed, when anything is possible.      It was an easy descent down to Neels Gap from Blood Mt. Neels Gap is a significant place on the trail because it is the first place to resupply and re-outfit hikers, but it is also a place where nearly 30% of the dreamers that start off at Springer Mt. with aspirations of Maine, call it quits.      It was here that I got my first resupply package, filled with pop tarts, snickers, lipton dinners, and peanut butter crackers, foods which I will never again eat once I am done the trail. I had to pack with me food for eight days, but this load could not be too heavy either. I weighed my pack on the scale and added and took out food, trying to achieve an acceptable packweight. At 50 pounds, I called it quits, left the remaining packages of food, praying to god that I had packed enough for such a long stretch; I then saddled up my pack and headed up the trail, back into the hills.      The weather today was finally hot, and with a couple good climbs, it certainly made for an exhausting day. Since the trees are all lacking leaves, the full force of the suns rays is directed straight on those walking through the forest, and sunscreen was a must to prevent sunburn. Tonight was the first night where the shelter was crowded; tents were set up every which way, and my body was tired from carrying such a full food load. But I could not complain, I was happy.