Date: 2007-03-18
To: Amicalola to Neels Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I planned this trip as a dress rehearsal for the start of my ¢big hikeI planned this trip as a dress rehearsal for the start of my¢big hike.¢ So Wednesday afternoon Ichecked in at AFWC and hiked up the first mile of the Approach to the AmicalolaLodge. My plan is that my wife and Iwill spend the night there before I leave, so for rehearsal purposes, I did thesame. I meet Bluebelle and Tree atdinner that night. http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=5006 Thursday morning I left Amicalola Lodge at 7:57 AM. I was running on high so I kept tellingmyself to slow down, but to no avail. Igot to Springer at 10:57 AM¢a record time for me. I got to Stover Creek shelter at noon. I had planned to spend the night there, but it was so early Ijust ate lunch. I met CIMARRON atStover Creek¢84 year old thru hiker.  http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=5561 I ended the day at 2:45 PM at Hawk Mtn Shelter. I was a bit worried because I have memorizedthe too far, too fast, too soon rule. It started raining as I set up my tent and rained lightly all nightlong. There was a big crowd at HawkMtn. that night. The shelter was fulland there were quite a few tents. Atleast two hikers stopped for a bit and decided it was too big of a crowd andmoved on. I didn¢t take count, but myguess is about 20 people were there. Friday morning I got away from Hawk Mtn. at 7:48 AM. Still raining. It rained all day. Istopped for lunch at Gooch Mtn Shelter a few minutes before noon. I thought about staying because I was wet,the wind was blowing, and it was in the low 40s. But I was cold sitting still. And it was too early to stop, and there was no doubt going to be an evenbigger crowd at Gooch Mtn Friday night. Hurdy Gurdy man was doing a zero there; Seattle Sailor and his partnersettled-in while I was eating (they had tented a mile and a half up the trailthe night before); and I am sure most of the crowd from Hawk Mtn. would bearriving soon. So I moved on. By 2:00 PM it was 41 degrees,raining/sleeting, and the wind was blowing hard enough it made it difficult tokeep a straight path on the trail. I stopped at the Dockery Campground sign at 4:30 PM whereaccording to Hikerbox.netthere are two stealth campsites. Sometime during the night I thought I saw some lights on my tent and heard somevoices. I don¢t know what time it wasbecause I was half asleep, but I assumed some extra hardy soul had hiked inafter dark. In the morning though, Icounted 6 tents in addition to mine. For such a large crowd they were amazingly stealthy. The wind howled all night Friday. My tent fly was flapping constantly. Occasionally the wind would even get under the tent body and itwould lift-up and shove me enough to wake me up. Saturday morning when I woke up, it was 28 degrees in mytent. My tent poles had frozen togetherand I had to hold the joints in my bare hands to warm them so that they couldbe broken down. Anyway, I packed up and left at 7:45 AM Saturdaymorning. Hiking up Blood Mountain itgot down to 26 degrees and the wind was still blowing strong. The side of my face that was facing the windwas burning from the cold wind. Mywater tube froze solid. Anyway bringingclosure to this story, I got to Neels Gap at 11:45 AM Saturday. I know I originally promised that if I got to Neels Gapearly I would hike past it and then backtrack on Sunday. Well I didn¢t. I was cold. Most of mygear was wet. I nice dinner out and awarm dry bed just sounded too good. And, I rationalized, if this was the real thing, I plan to stopped andspend the night with my wife in Neels Gap. So since this was a dress rehearsal that is what I should do. Ok, assessments: Clothing system worked perfectly. There wasn¢t one item I didn¢t use and didn¢t feel was essential. Tent and sleeping bag were just fine. Torso Length Pad was not adequate. I need a full-length pad. At least in winter. Food choices were pretty good, but I brought too much. And I would skip hot food for breakfast, itstoo much trouble when I want to get going. I like hiking. Ivery much enjoyed the people I met; I didn¢t meet one unpleasant person(although the guy who showed up at Hawk Mtn. with the unruly dog didn¢t seemvery popular with anyone¢he seemed to get the message though and movedon). I don¢t like camping¢at least notwhen it is wet and cold. If I have anyhope of every doing a thru hike, I am going to have to figure out a schedulethat maximizes motel/hotel stays¢every third night if possible. Either that or I am going to have to have adramatic attitude adjustment. As I told my wife, I haven¢t given up, but I have becomemuch more realistic. And my admirationfor those who have succeeded has increased immeasurably.