Date: 2018-03-28
From: Lance Creek

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 8.5

We woke up in a haze as the fog rolled into our camping area. The people who joined us to camp left about 5:30 in the morning to make a reservation at hawk cabins in Neels gap. The things you do for some home comforts. Patrick and I slept in until 7:30. Patrick tried to get the bear bag out of the tree and the cord got stuck on his stuff sack. I thought our food was going to be stuck in that cursed tree. After 10 minutes of swinging the bags around the tree, we were able to get our food down.We made our way to blood mountain, the highest peak in Georgia. On the way there we met up with Cricket and Mudfoot. I learned that Cricket had traveled to Chile to teach gardening to children. I taught English in Chile back in 2011. We talked about all the different regions in Chile and how they are very different. Especially Chiloe island with all its lore about monsters living on the island. It made me miss Chile and all the great people there.  We followed Cricket and Mudfoot all the way up blood mountain. The wind was really picking up as we walked through fast moving clouds. The trail was littered with wet rocks and mud that made the ascent slippery. Laural trees were covering the mountain side with lica covering their branches. The climb only took about 30 minutes but that was the steepest climb yet on the AT. When we got to the top the view was blinded by thick clouds. Trees eerily appeared in the distance as if they were floating. At the top was the blood mountain shelter, it was sturdy shelter made of brick. About 15 thru hikers were eating their lunch in it. At this point Cricket had been referring to Patrick as Chops and me as Chile. We had been given trail names! Patrick wasn't overly excited about his name. You always have a choice to keep a trail name.  The descent off of blood mountain was just as tricky. There were steep we rock slopes and large bolders we have to scamble over. The mud was liquid and made the descent more difficult.  Eventually the clouds cleared from the forest, the air got warmer, and we were closing in on Neels Gap.  When we arrived at Neels Gap, we were greeted with a large tree with boots hanging from the branches at an outfitter store.  20 percent of thru hikers quit at Neels Gap. They will throw their boots in the tree as a symbolic way of quitting. The outfitters had some good resupply options.  They also had whole red baron pizzas for sale. Patrick and I both bought one and finished the whole thing. It was soo good.  At the picnic tables outside we met Napoleon. We had heard about him from other hikers. He had thru hiked the AT, PCT, and CDT before. Now he was attempting to yoyo the AT. Which is 4,400 miles of hiking. He was spewing knowledge about ultralight hiking techniques, philosophy on life, and cracking jokes non stop. He was from Baton Rouge and was in the Superdome in New Orleans when Katrina hit. He said during that time he lost faith in humanity because of all the awful things that happened there. Hiking the trail and meeting generous people along the way restored his faith.  We ended up staying at the hostel at the outfitters. They had a shower and bunk beds, that's all I needed. It felt amazing to get 5 days of grime and dirt off. The hostel had a pretty good common area. Everyone was cracking more jokes about Overkill and his 100 pound cart. At 7 pm some employees fired up the grill and made hot dogs for all of us! I ended up eating 4 of them. The hiker hunger is kicking in!Towards hiker midnight (9 pm) I remet Helen. I originally saw her with her partner on the approach trail at black gap shelter. The day after it downpoured. She had mentioned that she had not been getting much sleep on the trail over the last 5 days since she had been freezing in her sleeping bag. I mentioned that she could do crunches before going to bed to warm herself up. She really wanted wine to help her fall asleep and was thinking about hitching a ride into town in the morning to grab some. Another hiker heard her story, went into his pack, and pulled out a box a wine for her. He had been carrying it for the last 4 days but wasn't going to drink it. This is just some of the magic that happens on the trail!Tonight I have a cozy warm bunk bed to sleep on. The hostel didn't provide any sheets or pillows, but I don't need them since I'm living out of a backpack.