Date: 2007-03-14
From: Justus Creek

To: Woody Gap/Dahlonega
Miles today: 6.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Man I slept like a brick last night. I over dressed because I don't think itever got into the 40's...but I didn't care. I think I woke up once at 4:40 a.m.needeing to water the leaves..but I was too tired so I just waited till morning. When I woke at 7:45 it was still 53 degrees....hard to believe we are eventuallygoing to see snow someday. I think a bird was hopping around on my tarp,because that is what woke me up this morning.I just heard others talking that it rained for an hour about 2:00 a.m., but Inever knew it. That explains why all the leaves a.k.a. my toilet paper for #1,were wet this morning, wasn't sure if I had grabbed a previously used pile!.LOL I stayed dry as a bone with the rain.I am feeling pretty stiff and sore this morning. Mainly my hips, calves, andquads...ok..let's just say every muscle in my legs! We took our time getting out of camp and talked to two women..names Hummer andThe Scorpian Queen (she killed a scorpian at the shelter the nite before). Theyhad an adorable dog named Buddy. We strolled out of camp at 11:30 a.m. and were headed to Gooch Mt. Shelter tosign the register. We got there at 12:30 and man, this was a nice shelter andthe stuff people dumped off there (to shed weight) was hilarios. Deodorant(trust me..it's useless out here), cotton clothing, a tupperware bowl of butterthat was half melted that we first thought was apple sauce, and a huge bungychord were a few things we saw.We saw that Whoa signed in and said he saw a bear at Justus Creek thatmorning....um....WE were at Justus Creek! It was after reading this that Nicoleand I disclosed to one another that we both heard something rustling around ourrespective tent/hammock the night before around 10:45 p.m., and we were about500 ft from each other. We know Army Rangers were in the area, but for thestory's sake, it sounds cooler to say it was a bear! LOL....we really don'tknow, but we bear bagged our food, so all was well.So we left the shelter and were headed to Gooch Gap for water, and arrived at1:40 p.m. Man...this was a primo spot for lunch. It was beautiful..a nice coldcreek, we filled our waters, and sat on this little footbridge where we soakedour aching feet while eating. Sun was out and it was a perfect moment in time. Shoes/socks off breaks are a BIG help and soaking in cold water helps even more! We finally got out of there at 2:45.Next was going over 3 climbs going up from Liss Gap where we saw 2 baby snakes(got pics of them..standby for pics), a dead bird and some absolutelystunning views of the mountains we had just hiked thru. It was getting windyand the temps were dropping a little, but once we got off the top of themountain it was fine. We shared the view with Kay and Chris, from PA.We finally reached the Chatahoochee Rec./Woody Gap sign at 6:00 p.m. We foundthe spring, which was cool because the water was literally coming out of MotherEarth. Then we had a dilema..we were exhausted and would need to hike furtherup the trail to get away from the major road crossing, but we wanted to at leaststop and make dinner.About that time, we saw Kay and Chris, and our friend Sailor showed up too...weall decided to take a dinner break at the camp site, which Josh from the hikerhostel said is heavily used by thru hikers and has always been safe. Chris came up with the best idea...getting PIZZA for dinner. The Companionshowed a shuttle service, so we called and it would cost $20 for a ride to townfor pizza, and back. Chris tried calling another service first, but theyweren't able to help, and the lady on the phone said her husband had actuallyjust walked in with their dinner.....pizza. Just before Chris and Kay left onthe shuttle, the first lady we called showed up and gave us the last half oftheir pizza...our first Trail Magic!! It was 4 pieces, so we were still gamefor ordering more (no hiker appetite yet though). So while Kay and Chris went for our dinner, I built my first campfire of thetrip, with help from Nicole and Sailor. Finally food arrived with COKE even, and we were having a great time. And theneverything changed.Nicole and I walked to the bathroom, it was dark now, and on our way back to ourbreak site, a car pulls up....we both instantly had a bad feeling. One guy gotout and walked to the bathroom, and we said hi as not to startle him.   I toldNicole to folow me, and I took us down a side trail to the spring....away fromwhere we all actually were eating dinner. I turned off my headlamp and walked back to see what these guys were up to, andthey pulled out, turned around, and backed in, then turned the car off. We knewthis was not good. I ran back to Nicole and told her we had trouble. Weclimbed up a steep embankment to the AT to avoid having them see us. We toldeveryone what we saw. Chris joked that I was being paranoid, but you just can'tbeat a woman's intuition. Right about then, we hear this loud banging. I ran up to the ridge with nolight, so they wouldn't know I was there, and I saw a guy breaking into somevehicles that had been parked there overnight.Man did I get a shot of adrenalin...I ran back down and told everyone we reallyhad trouble and needed to get out of there. We decided as a group to stay quietand still, because we knew these guys saw Nicole and I, but they did not knowwhere we were. We heard a loud vehicle start and drive away...then the cardrove away. We decided to call 911 and report this, so Chris got reception (another reasonto carry a cell phone!), but the dispatcher was unsure of our location, so I gotout my map and was able to give good directions (another reason to carry maps!)Before the police got there, the thiefs came back again and tried stealinganother car..the alarm kept going off.Finally the police showed up and we all felt relieved. We had armed ourselvesbest we could and set up watches in the directions that someone might approachus..just in case.So long story short...they caught the guys, recovered the stolen vehicle,whichbelonged to a soldier who was on leave.We had to wait for an inspector to show up, and we told them we wanted a rideinto town because it was almost midnight, and we were all too exhausted to hikefurther, but we sure weren't staying there!Nicole and I rode in the back of a police car..which made us laugh. We all hadto go to the police station in Dahlonega to write statements...now it was 1:00a.m. and we were all just so tired. It was nice, however to wash my hands andface in the bathroom! So now it was 2:00 a.m. and it took 3 cop cars to get 5 exhausted and smellyhikers plus all their gear to the Super 8. The poor lady at the desk washorrified to see 3 cop cars pull up, but we finally got 2 rooms. Nicole and Ishared a room with Sailor, a great 63 year old retired sailor who we all love todeath. Showers felt great, but putting stinky clothes back on wasn't fun....wereally didn't care, as it was 3:00 a.m. when we finally turned the lights out.The police officer told us the guy driving the stolen vehicle tried to run intothe woods once they tried to pull him over several miles closer to town. Theysaid he was probably on Meth, but they got him, and that they had been after himfor 14 years, the guy had already served 5 years for stealing $175,000 in ATVequipment. I'm glad all things worked out, and the Inspector thanked us all. Wejokingly started calling ourselves the "AT Patrol".For anyone reading this that now thinks the AT is dangerous...THIS story is notthe AT, it was a fluke that the 5 of us happen to be at this place, and thisgoes along with what everyone always says, that crime on the AT is almost alwayscommited at major road crossings by non-hikers or rowdy locals, and the hikerswe have met thus far have all been incredible people.Now our only dilema is how to get back to the trail tomorrow, but we're worryingabout it then.~Michele