Date: 2004-04-19
From: Neels Gap

To: Evolution of a Trail Name
Miles today: 10.6

Another lousy sleep. In the hostel, I was hot while trying to snooze in my down sleeping bag.I spent the morning waiting for the rural postal carrier to arrive with my ATM card. Guess what? The carrier arrived but not the card. I made arrangements with the owner of the Center to have it shipped up the trail to Hiawassee, Georgia, a community near the trail.While hanging around the Center, Chris gave me a trail name. This name comes after a previous attempt by someone else to give me a trail name. Here is what happened: Two nights ago, I was sitting around a campfire with Chris, John, Team Jack, and Jovo. We were talking about past experiences with mosquitoes and other such bugs. I shared a story about an incident in Canada when I was camping in the worse horse fly conditions I had ever encountered. I had removed my clothes and went for a dip in a remote lake. Upon my return to the shore, I was attacked by a swarm of little winged critters. One of them, a horsefly with the wingspan the size of a quarter, landed on the tip of a certain part of my anatomy. Horrified, I hit the fly--and only the fly--with a swipe of my backhand; it was a clean whack. When I related this story around the campfire, everyone had a good chuckle. Then Jovo announced that henceforth, my trail name would be "Clean Whack." There was no way I wanted that expression for a name, and immediately nixed the idea. So what is the new and acceptable trail name which Chris has given to me? It is "Paparazzi."Using a 35 mm rangefinder camera, I have been taking portraits of people I meet. But unlike a real paparazzi, I first ask for permission. After taking a portrait, I remove from my backpack a dry magic marker and my ¢ID board," which is a white surface taped to a small board. I write on this board the name of the person in the photo, the location, and the date. Then I snap a photo of this board. This procedure is a tad cumbersome, but it ensures that every other negative contains information about who is in the photo and where. Then I wipe the board clean with a bandana, clearing the words. I figure this board will also come handy when thumbing rides into towns for resupplying. A town name can be written on the board and held in view of passing motorists.At the Center, I shipped home some excess clothes and hit the trail at 2:00 PM. My destination was Low Gap Shelter, a distance of ten miles. This would be pushing things for such a late start, but I was frustrated by all of the time wasted at Neels Gap.The ascent out of Neels Gap was difficult, but I soon hit a stride. For the first time on this hike, I sensed a slight spring in my steps; this was encouraging.Along the trail I briefly met up with Joe Piss Cutter. He was doing okay.Late in the afternoon, I met a section hiker named Eric. He is a school teacher from Tennessee who is taking some time off to hike a section of the AT. At this point in the day, he was getting tired and so was I. We were encountering some difficult ascents at the gaps in the mountains.During this stretch, we met up with Chris, who was relaxing at a rural road crossing. He said that he had been lounging around the spot for one hour. I asked him why he was taking such a long break.He replied, "I'm waiting for the pizza man.""What are you talking about?" I replied with an incredulous look.He explained that before he departed from Neels Gap, a man who claimed to be an ex-thru hiker had promised to drive to this crossing and treat Chris and some other hikers to pizzas. Apparently, the guy had reneged on his promise. Chris, Eric and I ascended the slope of the gap. We were all growing quite exhausted, particularly Eric. We were also low on water. We decided to make a campsite at the next water source we came across.Eventually, we hiked to a sign pointing to a side trail which led to a shelter {at Whitley Gap} and water. But there was a kicker. To reach the spot would require us to hike one mile off the trail, and the water source was an additional 1\3 of a mile beyond that. Our other option was to hike further along the AT and hope to find some water at random. We stood around and contemplated this dilemma. We finally made our choice based in part on a fantasy. We realized that by continuing north on the AT, we would cross the same road, but at a different spot, from where the pizza man had stiffed Chris. Maybe the pizza man had intended to deliver the goods at this other crossing? Using that "logic," we took a pass on the wayward shelter and hiked further on the AT. When we reached the next road crossing, the place was deserted.We ended up hiking four miles to Low Gap Shelter, where Chris and I erected our shelters as the dark of the night enveloped the forest. Camping near us was Olivia and a woman whose trail name is Nitro. Eric, who was utterly exhausted, opted to crash out in the shelter. While eating supper at the picnic table in front of the shelter, people were making up some nasty trail names for the so called Pizza Man. Actually, it was all being done with a sense of humor.   Despite the continued problem with obtaining my ATM card, and the late start on the trail, I felt pleased that for the first time, I felt a spring in my steps.