Date: 2016-02-28
From: Neel Gap

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: broken clouds

Days 5 through 8 - Neel Gap to Whitley Gap Shelter to Poplar Orchard Campground to Blue Mtn ShelterTook a 3 day break from writing so tonight I am playing catch up. After our first night in Neel Gap we decided to stay a second night in Chipmunk Cabin. The day was spent airing out our packs/tents/clothing, etc. We watched tv and I spent a lot of time on my phone attempting to update my blog for Trail Journals. Around 3pm we headed up to the outfitter to purchase a couple gear items, send unused gear home, and hang out with the workers. George (Georgiana) owns the place then there is Matt "Pretzel," Silent Bob and a guy named Jason. They were all super nice and helpful. Pretzel patched my tent for free, George helped me pick out my new rain coat (I'm in love...Marmot Gore-Tex perfection) and Jason helped me send home my package of unused gear. I slipped two stickers in there for Truitt! Every place I stay I am collecting stickers for Truitt and patches for me. Still need some more string before I sew on my Neel Gap "Mountain Crossings" patch.Afterward, we headed back to Chipmunk bc we heard there was going to be some trail magic right by us in Raccoon cabin. We went over and we were greeted by a cooler stocked with beer and soda on the front porch and the smell of chili and hot dogs inside. The owners of a hiker hostel in Erwin, TN (66ft off the trail) were putting on the magic. Their names are Uncle Johnny and Charlotte. Amazing people and so interested in each of our stories. They are from Alabama but have been running the hostel in Erwin for many years. Uncle Johnny said that the inside of his farmhouse is full of wormy chestnut. He told us of the plight that killed hundreds of thousands of chestnuts that were as impressive as the Sequoias out west. How wonderful it would be to have hiked beside them. Anyway, eventually about 30 ppl were piled in this tiny cabin all talking and eating and happy. Pretzel told me his love story. He met his girlfriend while hiking the PCT. Sinatra, Spaceman, and Farmer Joe arrived. It was a party but I stuck with having just one beer and a Pepsi. After about 2 hours of that I walked back to Chipmunk, made another pizza and worked on posting my blog some more. Paul, Ria. And I had began a game of Settlers of Catan (Paul packed a travel size in his pack). Ria and I had never played before so Paul patiently taught us how to play step by step...you can tell he has three younger sisters. Went to bed around 12am. The next morning we took our time gathering everything back in our packs (it's amazing how much crap you can fit in such a small bag that you carry on your back). We headed up to the outfitters around 11:45am. There were tons of ppl and camping vendors were setting up their product tents for the Mountain Crossings thru-hiker season kick-off. Festivities and free food started at 1pm but we were planning on getting out of there. It was a sad day for us bc Echo and Paul were not joining us Echo's knee was too painful for her to hike so they decided to take another zero and see what happens from there. We set off intending to camp at Whitley Gap Shelter. It was a beautiful day with many steep inclines but doable. My right knee was bothering me on every downhill and Ria confessed that her left heel was starting to feel pain on the uphills. Whitley Gap Shelter is a mile and a half off the AT and not a flat 1.5 at that. We got there around 4:30pm and it was starting to get dark fast. It was empty except for myself, Ria, and Turtle. While we were eating we saw Spaceman rolling down the hill to the shelter. From there it was a good night. Spaceman has a huge gallon bag of flaming hot Cheetos which he shared...so grateful so tasty. I could've eaten the whole bag but I resisted. Beautiful sunset and beautiful sunrise. Ria and I headed it without Turtle and Spaceman bc they were taking a little more time to get going. Ran into Farmer Joe and Sinatra on top but kept going. We thought Turtle would eventually catch up but he never did. We did slow uphill and slow downhill bc of our pains. We ran into an ATC RidgeRunner named Bill who had just finished cleaning up Low Gap Shelter and was attempting to carry 6lbs of hiker trash (he was not happy about it). We made it to Low Gap Shelter and spread out in the sunshine. It was still early so we filtered water, washed our feet, and relaxed. Eventually BowTie showed up (from Knoxville) and The Kid (18 year old from PA). Bowtie said he planned to camp 1.5 further up the trail and we decided to join him a bit later. Eventually Turtle, Spaceman, Sinatra, etc showed up as we were leaving. We hiked the 1.5 and set up our tents in Poplar Orchard Campsite. Great location. Free-to-go was already set up, along with Bowtie. A group of 3 guys showed up after awhile. One wearing a kilt (Wee Gillis from NC), one from the Netherlands (Wolf Peak), and one from Germany (Raza aka Sasha). They each set up their tents before Turtle and Spaceman showed up and it was a full house. FREE-to-go made a camp fire and I cooked my ramen with my pot directly on the coals which worked great. Another beautiful sunset. Wind began to LITERALLY howl that night. Slept well but wind was crazy. Woke up, made oatmeal a shot going at 9:15am. Bowtie and free-to-go had already left by 7am. Also woke up with a text from Paul saying he had booked it to Low Gap Shelter (1.5 away) bc Echo went to Urgent Care and is staying in a hotel for a couple days for her knee. Sad for echo but we were excited to have Paul so close to us! We set off at a slow pace. After about a mile there was Paul right behind us! We were overjoyed! Turtle had gone ahead so we became 3. The uphill today was very long but extremely gradual so easy. Fantastic weather too at 65 degrees and sunny. Unfortunately, Ria had a hard day today. Her Achilles is really hurting her and she was coming down hard on herself. She is so resilient and she got through it! We find ourselves tackling new lows ever day. One day, I'm crying on the last 100 yds to the shelter, another day, Ria is fighting through feeling defeated from her heel. It's all part of the trail. Paul began singing and read 2 pages from a book called The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and it just made everything so much better. I'm telling you, this guy has helped Ria and I get through some tough times. I'll finish today's tale tomorrow bc I am TIRED!