Date: 2018-02-15
From: Low Gap Shelter 

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 9.7

I was joined at the shelter last night by three other NOBO¢s: Mainer, Ghost, and Big Load. Pop quiz: Based on these trail names, who do you think is struggling physically right now?  If you guessed C) Big Load, you are correct. Big Load is a 23 year old former college rugby player who is quite possibly carrying well north of 50 pounds on his back. He is fighting debilitating blisters (sound familiar?) But unlike yours truly, Big Load¢s blisters appear to be less from the wrong footwear, and more from the physical pounding they are taking from transporting a big guy carrying a really heavy backpack. All three of these guys were hysterical and it was nice to finally spend some time with other hikers. Today¢s hike started out very tame with a steady mostly uphill climb gaining 1,600 feet of elevation over the first 5 miles on what appeared to be an old logging road. Then things got ugly. One internet source I saw ranked North Georgia the fifth hardest section on the AT. This must be where the fun begins. The trail turned rocky as it approached Blue Mountain. I¢m sure it wasn¢t Pennsylvania rocky, but pretty rocky nonetheless. My pace, which had been about 2.4 miles per hour for the first several miles, slowed to a crawl. I repeatedly contended with stretches where the trail consisted of only boulders some of which moved under my feet.  At 11:00 I met a SOBO and her dog who began at Katahdin on October 1st. She told me they were finishing tomorrow. This meant that she was hiking 46 miles in a day and a half. After hiking over 2,100 miles, she made the comment that Georgia was hard and that the multiple steep ups and downs will wear you out. In light of that I don¢t feel so bad being worn out as I start this section. My plan for the day was to stay at Blue Mountain Shelter. Big Load and Ghost arrived about the same time I did. There were also two day hikers from Georgia, Jay and Leprechaun, at the shelter when I got there.  I immediately removed my boots and put on my sandals. I took my phone out of airplane mode and received a text from Peaches. I wanted to be able to call her later, but service wasn¢t great here. Big Load was staying at the shelter and Ghost decided to keep on hiking. I approached the day hikers to ask if they could give me a ride to Hiawassee and they said sure. So after about 15-20 minutes of sandals, I put the boots back on. Luckily I hadn¢t removed my KT tape yet. The eye opener for me was that my feet that had been starting to get sore over the last couple of miles now felt really good. So I continued on into the gap 800 feet below on a steep toe crushing 2.5 miles of trail. I¢m now at the Budget Inn in Hiawassee Georgia. I had planned to come here tomorrow morning and stay tomorrow night. Because I got here ahead of schedule and hiked my longest day so far and in boots that are still not broken in, I¢ve decided to stay tomorrow night also to rest before taking on the remainder of north Georgia. I have no active blisters right now, just some soreness late in the day which I¢m hoping will fade away as the boots are broken in or as I start doing more miles like today. This first section of my restart was critical. I was hoping to hold it together for 7.3 miles today, and I ended up going 9.7 without any problems. Today was the first time I started to feel confident that the bigger miles will come. I¢m going to continue to keep my mileage conservative for a while, but I¢m planning a 12+ sometime next week if everything continues to go well. Zin Master ¢The journey is the reward.¢