Date: 2007-03-20
From: Campsite before Rocky Knob, GA

To: Cheese Factory Site
Miles today: 6.7

Another warm nite. I woke at 5:15 a.m...again, don't ask me why. It was 49 degrees when I woke. It was a really windy nite. I could hear the wind comingacross the mountains..just rollig towards me like big ocean waves, and finallyit would reach me and sway my hammock. I guess building up the leaves reallyhelped a lot. I was almost hot.At 2:00 a.m., I woke to tiny sprinkles, and I had my clothes draped aross mysuspension lines, so I got up and put everything in my gear hammock\packcover....which is totally awesome by the way! It never rained...just a few sprinkles. The wind got progressively stronger allnite and is blowing in more frequent waves right now.Oh, I forgot to write about my bear bagging story last nite. Nicole found thisbranch that must have been 25 ft. up, and it was dark. I tied our ropestogether so we would have enough length, and Nicole found a stick for me to useon the end, for throwing. I totally missed the first few tries, hit the branchon another...and then for some reason, my throw became something from a horrormovie where someone else is controlling your body. I was aiming in front ofme...but somehow I ended up throwing the whole thing totally behind me. We werelaughing so hard, I think people could hear us from 5 miles away.   We laugh ALOT out here. Sometimes there just aren't any words..you can only cussso much and then it seems pointless! LOLI also forgot to mention that before we headed out of Neel's Gap, we weighed ourpacks on their NICE scale. We both had 5 days food and full waters. Mine onlyweighed 32 lbs, and I was stoked! That means that when I weighed it from homewith half the amount of food, my cheap fish hanging scale was way off. I had tobe under 30 lbs, and that is super exciting to me. For once, my pack weighedLESS than I thought! Nicole was at 34 lbs..so she was in the same boat. Prettycool. There are people out here with 50 or 60 lb packs, and that will prettymuch guarantee blisters, hard and miserable uphills, and painful knees ondownhills. Get your pack weight down future thru's....your body will thank you.I just flipped one side of my tarp over so I can watch the sunrise.   I see pinkish white with a touch of yellow. There are a few clouds, whichprovide a great contrast. The trees above me are swaying in the wind and I ambeing rocked gently back and forth too. Peace is everywhere.We got out of camp at 9:30 a.m., which is early for us. We decided we were tiredof gettng to our campsite at dusk, so we are going to try to get going a littlefaster in the a.m.Man, my legs felt like big blobs of lactic acid today. I was really low energy.We hiked the 1.3 miles up to Blue Mt. Shelter, and I ate a cliff bar, Nicolegave me some of those Cliff shots, and she was sweet enough to go get us water. I did not sleep well last nite, and I think that is why I feel so tired. While I was resting, a hiking club came in,a nd among them was a former thrunamed Bert Bavarian..a total character. Another lady, Kay, gave uschocolate....mmmmmmmmm!! Our friends Gadget, Kay, and Sugar Grits (Mindi) showed up and we shared ourchocolate with them.I downed 1 liter of water, and we were on our way to what would prove to be anexhausting day.Blue Mt. is a total rock nightmare. Slow slow going, because one lapse inplacement or concentration, and you are falling. Of course, going down wasbrutal....but they always are.We finally made it down to Unicoi Gap and decided to eat lunch. Many peoplecatch shuttles or hitch hike into town from here..it is a major road crosing. Don't think it didn't cross our minds...but we wanted to be out in the greatweather.It was 71 degrees today...I was sweating bullets, and the gnats were out fullforce. I must have inhaled 10 of them...but if they provided leg energy, Ididn't care. LOLSo Blue Mt. was 4025 ft tall, Unicoi Gap down to 2949 ft. and then it wasstraight back up again to 4017 feet on Rocky Mt.   I think they should switchnames of those mountains personally....ha haNicole and I were both dragging up Rocky Mt. It was a much hiker friendly Mt.,but it was up, up, up. We hiked for 1 hr and 40 min,. straight to get to thetop of that thing.We got there, and Jacob and Adam were there, so we talked to them a bit. Itstarted clouding up and we heard a rumble of thunder, so we figured it would bewise to get off the top. Now, down, down, down....which we have already covered = pain. We got to IndianGrave Gap at 5:15'ish and rested. It was only .9 miles to our destination, andit was up again.At 5:45, we rolled into the Cheese Factory Site, named this because a man usedto run a dairy near by, and made some great cheese...it is a nice campsite.Best of all....we show up and see a hug green tarp wnd are greeted by Slick Band Dorothy Trout....who hiked the AT last year..they are here doing trailmagic! Our first major majic!They made us the most incredible burgers...my first one was gone in under 3minutes! No joke...I had another plus some orange drink and gatorade. They hada killer fire going and then they both started playing the guitar and banjo andsinging! Pretty awesome!!! Super nice people, and very funny. I hear therewill be pancakes in the morning...hope so! I am not ravenous all of the timeyet, but am finding myself inhaling my meals and not realizing I was thathungry.Today was an emotioally challenging day. Rachael had her weekend, and waspretty sad, and I talked to her today. It is a bitter sweet situaton here, andas I predicted, homesickness is the greatest challenge. I hate that she is sadbecause of a choice I have made. I am exhausted as I write this. My body needs sleep. It is currently 55degrees...super nice. Here tonight with Gadget, Kay, Sailor, and Dances withSloths, and a boy scout troop. They are set up a ways off though. Well...nighty night. Still having a blast! ~Certain