Date: 2016-02-29
From: Hiawassee, GA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 2.4

The rest of Day 8 & 9 - Blue Mtn Shelter to Hiawassee, GA 3/1/2016Picking up where I left off yesterday. We made it to Blue Mountain Shelter around 2pm and it was gorgeous weather. Ria and j laid out our Gossamer Gear polycro tarps and got some sun. Turtle and Spaceman were already there, they decided to sleep in the shelter. Paul, Ria and I set up our tents. While doing this Dark Water and Rusty Bridges showed up and began setting up as well. Dark Water was around 50 and said he was from rural NH but had unwillingly lived in Louisville for 9 years. Rusty Bridges is 34 and such a nice guy from VA. Again, we were the only girls in at this shelter. Paul built a roaring fire under a beautiful night sky filled with stars. Before hanging out around the fire I finally pooped in the woods...even though there was a privy. Sorry for the overshare but this was a big deal for me. It was certainly an experience, very difficult to maneuver. Anyway, we had dinner with a fantastic view the entire time. One more hiker showed up before it got too dark. His name was Andrew from upstate NY. Had time off from his landscaping job and decided to hike until he was called back to work. Interesting guy, very interested in salamanders so we gave him the name Mud Puppy (which is the name of a salamander he found right before the shelter). He told us that he stayed at Springer Mtn shelter the night of the crazy snow storm (we were at Woods Hole) and there were two crazy hippies pressuring people to buy jewelry. Another guy in a tent was experiencing symptoms of hypothermia and had stripped down to shorts and a tshirt (bc his mind made him think he was burning up) and was running around the camp site trying to get warm. He had called 911 and EMT's had climbed the mountain to get him...wow!Great rest of the night, cold but no rain. Woke up this morning around 7am to watch the sunrise. Packed up and ate my last oatmeal. We had decided to resupply in Hiawassee, GA today so it was a short 2 miles to Unicoi Gap. We knew we would have to hitchhike and the guys wanted to split Ria and I up and use our female attraction but we refused. It worked out wonderfully. I stuck out my thumb in the gap parking lot and the 3rd car that passed stopped to pick us up. So perfect! Two women from Ashville, NC in an old van were dropping off Trail Magic (cooler of beer). Their names were Elle Woods and Wonder. They got married last January and they are beginning their AT thru-hike in 10 days. Turtle, Ria and I sat in the trunk with all the packs while Spaceman and Paul sat in the bucket seats and talked with the girls. They said we smelled like "ass crack" and we all died laughing. There comes a time where you smell so bad that you can't smell yourself. They drove us 12 miles west to Hiawassee and dropped us off at an outfitters. I bought some fuel and then Ria and I walked up the road to a grocery store called Ingles. It was weird having to walk through town in order to get where you need to go. We are all so used to zipping up the street in our own cars when really it's a short, pleasant 15 minute stroll. Ingles was the best, I definitely got way too much food. 2 older women struck up a conversation with Paul and ended up buying his $75 worth of food for him which is the best trail magic yet! If anyone deserves this, Paul does. We went to the deli and got lunch on top of everything else. Oh and before this I got a chocolate eclair long john and ate it while walking around Ingles with my huge, smelly pack in the cart. For lunch I got a huge serving of pulled pork BBQ, mac'n'cheese, green beans, Dr Pepper and a Nerd's Rope. Paul got an entire rotisserie chicken with 3 bananas, Ria for a huge salad, cornbread, olives and a mozzarella ball. We sat in the cafe section and began to devour everything in front of us.Then the logistical planning began...Tray Mtn straight out of Unicoi Gap, bow to hitch back to the gap, thunderstorms with temperatures dropping to low 20s after rain, and shelter a good 6 miles away with it being 3pm at the time of discussion. Spaceman and Turtle were elsewhere while this conversation was happening. Ria's Achilles pain slows our pace on the uphills (we don't want her to go normal pace and potentially hurt herself) which would keep us from getting to the shelter by dark. By that point we made the decision to stay in Hiawassee, Turtle and Spaceman were down too so we all split a room at the Holiday Inn for $25 a person. We also got to do LAUNDRY!!! So happy!!!We got beer from Ingles and we truly relaxed. I sewed my Mtn Crossings patch on my pack (which took about 2 hours) while Spaceman sewed a portion of an old tshirt that says "don't panic" on his pack. Love it. After laughing and watching SVU we went back to Ingles for dinner. I got a Boar's Head sub with chips and drink for $5. Great deal. We came back and ate in the room while watching Modern Family. We all got showers, yessss.In the morning, Ria and I plan on walking to the outfitters and post office around 8am bc I need a new food stuff sack and she needs to mail some letters. My current food bag was unable to hold the insane amount of food I bought so when I carried it by the handle it just ripped the buckle. UGH!!! Knee pain still there on downhills but stretches that the Ridgerunner taught meSeem to be helping. Head to Tray Mtn shelter tomorrow and should be a nice day!