Date: 2013-03-21
From: Lance Creek

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

Last night was cold, but I stayed warmer than the night before. I wore my top and bottom thermals, my long-sleeve shirt, down jacket, hat, and gloves to bed. I¢m not sure of the actual low temp, but we all agree last night was colder than the night before. As a precaution, I slept with my Sawyer Squeeze ceramic filter in my pocket all night. I¢ve heard that if the filter freezes, it¢s ruined. I also had three two-liter Platypus bladders of H2O in my tent. Two of them were on the back side, and one was near the door. The one near my door was slightly frozen, but the two in the back were fine. My tent, despite having a mesh bottom and an entirely mesh front door, still managed to retain some heat. There was either light snowfall or a heavy frost because the entire forest floor was snow-covered. It was a cold start to the day, but we were all motivated by the thought of reaching the luxuries of Neel¢s Gap.I awoke as early as possible after daybreak and wasted no time in breaking camp. I even decided to skip breakfast because I wanted to hit the trail. Of our group of four, I left first, followed by Morris the Cat, Stupid, and CookIN. It was truly freezing, as within 25 minutes of breaking camp, both of my water tubes had frozen. It was also very windy and the perfect recipe for hypothermia. I hiked in both of my thermals, rain pants, long-sleeve shirt, rain jacket, and hat and gloves and just managed to stay warm. The cool temps also meant I hardly needed any H2O, despite carrying nearly five liters.Ryan caught up to me by Henry Gap, and I didn¢t see him again until Neel¢s Gap. Morris and Stupid passed me after Henry Gap, as did Lindsay. I almost stopped at Woods Hole Shelter to get out of the wind and get some unfrozen H2O from my pack. However, a youth group was exiting, and they said the shelter was a ways down the spur trail, so I decided to forego it.I continued up Blood Mountain and caught Gray Loon. The youth group and I hop-scotched up Blood Mountain, but I just managed to beat them to the top. The climb wasn¢t too difficult, but the wind was fierce enough that you just soldiered on. At the shelter were Morris and Stupid trying to cook their lunch. Lindsay and Ryan were nowhere to be found. I dropped my pack and immediately got some H2O from my pack. Since I had consumed so little, I decided to give most of it away. Morris and Stupid took some and so did Phys Ed when he showed up. The youth group stayed for just a few minutes for photos and then left. I read and signed the shelter log. I looked for the people I met at the hostel and was pleased to find one of them. Burrito and Salsa had been there the day before. Either the rest of the group didn¢t sign the log or they now have trail names that I didn¢t recognize.Morris and Stupid had trouble boiling H2O with their alcohol stove, so I offered them my last ounce of fuel since I could resupply at the bottom. When I rehoisted my pack, it felt so much better! Gray Loon, Phys Ed, and I started down together after taking the obligatory photos in front of the shelter. The trail down was initially steep and rocky but offered tremendous views. Phys Ed broke away, and I got a bit ahead of Gray Loon. Since I was in high spirits, I decided to listen to the radio. I believe I was listening to pop station 96.1 out of ATL, which had an incredibly repetitive playlist. Although pop music isn¢t my thing, I even decided to sing along to Carly Rae Jepsen¢s ¢Call Me Maybe.¢ Yeah, it was that corny!After a while, the terrain, while downhill all the way to Neel¢s, was less steep. Once at Neel¢s Gap, I ran into the marine couple, and I asked where they stayed. They pointed me in the direction of Blood Mountain Cabins, and I took off. Once at their office, I saw Ryan and Lindsay. They each had a cabin, and I patiently waited in line. Thankfully, they had a cabin and at the special thru-hiker rate of $60. I claimed a bed in the cabin and went back up to Neel¢s Gap to find Morris, Stupid, and CookIN. No one was there, so I perused the store and bought a hot dog and soda. Then I ran into Stupid and told him we had a cabin. Later, Morris showed up, and I gave him the good news. Whilst waiting for CookIn, I met Owf and her dog. She and I looked in the hostel and raided the hiker box. She was looking for a place to stay, and I recommended the cabins.Later, CookIN showed up, and he was tired. I pointed him towards the cabin and then went there myself. I bought a pizza from the store and used their Wi-Fi. Once everyone was at the cabin, we gathered ALL of our dirty laundry, and I took it to the office, where they did our laundry for free! We all then went to Mountain Crossings to shop, and I resupplied. There, I saw Sparks, the guy that brought beer to Hawk Mountain, and I thanked him again. He said he hiked the AT two years ago and is starting the PCT in a couple of weeks. Amazing!I bought food for five days, which totaled $34. Back down the hill, I cooked my pizza, then went to the office to wait for laundry. Once I had the laundry, I took a long shower and started journaling. We¢re all now warm and clean in our cabin and writing away. They¢re all going to take a zero day (zero miles) tomorrow and spend another night. At the moment, I am inclined to continue on, unless the weather forecast changes my mind. Now I need to make some phone calls and charge all my electronics. It was an eventful day, but we¢re all in high spirits.