Date: 2009-03-24
From: Slaughter Creek Tentsites, GA 

To: Neels Gap Hiker Hostel, GA 
Miles today: 3.2
Weather: broken clouds

I got up early today to get hiking as I wanted to get to Neels Gap in time to get a bunk in the hostel. There were hikers at Blood Mountain Shelter, Slaughter Creek Tentsite and Woods Hole Shelter all staged to get into Neels Gap today and only 12 bunks at the hostel. There are also cabins, but they are off the trail and the people staying there will either have to wait for a ride or walk an extra 1.5 miles to get back to the trail. So anyway, I woke at 6 and started packing up at 6:30 in the dark. I was all packed and ready to go at 7:30 when I felt it was light enough to hike. It was warmer this morning and it made getting out of the sleeping bag easier. It was foggy this morning as I made my trek over Blood Mountain, so I didn't have the grand views; but it all had a beauty of its own. I don't know if I can describe this very well, but I'll try. When it is that foggy my view is limited to what is right around me. It forces me to see things I wouldn't normally focus on. The little things really stand out. Anything that has color seems very brilliant. When I got to the top of Blood Mountain, it was windy and drizzling a little bit. I stopped and watched the wind blow the fog across the top of the Mountain, I could see the wind and the rain drops were playing a melody as they hit the leaves of the bushes and the rock of mountain. Awesome! I continued to hike down off of Blood and felt so uplifted when down walked Joe. The awe was etched on his face as well. What a great time we had sharing our own experience on top! I'm glad that I was able to share that with someone who enjoyed the experience as much as I did! I wasn't sure that I'd see Joe again as he was not spending the night at the hostel and is planning to start walking 20 mile days, so we wished each other luck and each headed down to Neels Gap at our own pace. I made it to Neels Gap and went in to reserve a space, get my mail drop and find out where the shower was located. It cost less than $20 for a bed, shower, and laundry. Great deal! They had Krispy Kreme donuts at the counter, but I passed on that deal. I took my shower first thing. Lovely! The washing machine was funny. To fill the machine with water during the wash and rinse cycle, I had to take a garden hose hooked to the wall and fill it with that. The water was so dirty as you can imagine. After I was clean and I once again had fresh smelling clothes, I headed outside where they were serving grilled hamburgers. Yummy! Mountain Crossings is also an outfitters that provides a shakedown of hikers backpacks. Based on some advice from Stud I had already made a list of stuff to send home, but decided to have them perform a shakedown with me. Chris and I went through every piece of equipment item by item. She agreed with every item that I wanted to send home, but more importantly she showed me a better packing method to get everything in the pack and also showed me some things about my pack I didn't know. I was able to reduce my pack weight by seven pounds, but some of that was water weight. I was carrying as much water as I carry when hiking in Texas; however, the water sources are so plentiful that everyone else is carrying half as much as me. Silly me. I got to talk to Mark the Fabulous twice during the day. Once right after I took a shower and longer that evening. It was great talking to him. I miss him. For dinner a local group brought in baked zita, garlic bread and cookies for a volunteer donation. Couldn't ask for anything more. Stud and Wolf Man made it in during the day and I was glad to see them, although we will be separated after today as Wolf Man is wanting to do shorter days. Bummer. Some of the other hikers at the hostel tonight are Yak, Peeper, Jumper Cables, Magma, Sunshine and Spark Plug. There were some others, but I haven't caught all there names. I know that Ramble On, Riff Raff and Dorothy stayed in the cabins.