Date: 2011-04-25
From: Helen, GA - Unicoi Gap (Day 2)

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 5.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 8We didn't get on the trail today until 1:30.We went to the Post Office and I mailed some gifts and my turkey feather home. Then went to the hardware store for fuel, but they didn't have what the girls needed. Honey Badger decided to check in the pharmacy and they had a pretty decent hiking supply selection. Not only did they have all the fuels needed but they also had trekking poles! Alas, they were $20 a piece and I was not going to spend that just to get me the next 50 miles.When we got back to the room, Gary brought me the final bill and said last night was on him He was a sweetie.We walked through the tourist part of town and at the end of town by the Helen Country Cafe, we decided to stick out our thumbs!! The trail head is 9 miles outside of town and we deiced to give ourselves a half hour of standing the 80+ degree hight humidity weather before we would just call a cab. No sooner did I hang up with the cab company, then a nice couple stopped for us. I was able to cancel the cab this time!The couple was actually a minister and another office of the church and they had been eating at the cafe and saw us. They had another person with them at lunch, went and dropped her off and came back for us! I love trail magic! They asked us what they could pray for us in regards to the trip. I asked for them to just pray for safe passage.As we were saying good bye to them who comes walking up to me, but Turkey Gizzard! He has since been renamed to "Old School" because he has an old style external frame pack. He was with (I assume) his girlfriend, Chelsea. Very nice young woman. We let them go ahead of us since we assumed they would be going faster. We were right. We did run into them at a stream about a mile in, but then they went ahead again.The first 2 hours of our hike was a very steep up and it was HOT and HUMID! Then...things changed. We started hearing thunder and could see the weather coming towards us. We hiked the next 4 hours in TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS. I know I have said before that it was "POURING." No... THIS WAS POURING. HUGE drops of rain in SHEETS! Although I did put my rain jacket on and pack cover, I was soaked to the bone and my pack ended up getting wet. My feet got wet from my socks wicking the wetness down, but Moosette's boots got FILLED with water. She was just SLOSHING along. My poles got heavier and heavier the wetter they got and all of our hands were totally puckered and of course, it was more up. We were like wet rats, but we all kept a good attitude. It kind of got to be a joke, that everytime we thought "us" would end, it just kept going. It got to the point where the trail was just a river of water and there was no way to avoid stepping in the inches of water that has filled the pathway. At one of the camp sites we passed 3 tents all set up facing each other and a tarp covering them all. We could just barely see a stove being cooked on in the little "courtyard" between them all. It finally stopped raining but the up continued. We decided we needed to reset our thinking about up, and make it into an enjoyable thing. Each time we came to a "stairway" or a switchback that was more up we would celebrate.After we summited Tray Mountain (the second highest peak in Georgia) it was a slick rocky decline. Amazingly, it was Moosette who had hiking pol fail, not me. One of her Leki poles snapped on her and she fell. Luckily she was not hurt, much. Her ankle was a little tweaked, but that was all. It leveled out shortly after that, so I gave her my "poles" to help support her. She commented on the weight of them, as by now they were completely water-logged. We got to the shelter, and of course, it was full, but we had a place to cook dinner and set up our tents. I changed into dry clothes right away. It was really nice to have warm, dry clothes to change into. And of course my camp socks! I love my camp socks!!*Words you never thought you would say*"I'm hungry and all my food is in a tree!"The day ended up being ok. We all pulled through what could have been miserable. But I must say it started out being my hardest day yet. Not physically. My blisters are almost totally healed and I have yet to encounter a body ache. My sunburn doesn't hurt anymore but is just a blistering peeling mess. No it wasn't hard physically, but mentally, I was holding back tears most of the way. If I had been alone, I probably would have just had a breakdown. The comments on Facebook REALLY hurt me. That people think this is a joke is very very hard to bare. Not having the support from the people who should be the most supportive was like a punch to the gut. I might just stop Facebook altogether, because I can't see having to deal with that for 6 months.