Date: 2019-03-25
From: Justus Creek

To: Neel Gap, Your Home in the Woods B&B
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Met more characters and climbed over Blood Mountain in the rain today. Weary, wet and hungry, we found a little respite from the trail...I'm slow to wake up, sunlight struggling to reach our little valley at Justus Creek. Frog is already packing up and takes off while I'm making oatmeal. Alex sleeps in a bit. When he joins me at the fire/breakfast circle I suggest a trail name for him: "Sinatra", because this time he wants to hike the trail "My Way!" He thinks it's a keeper. Much better than Lightweight, or his other trail name, from when his girlfriend got a black eye walking into a branch: "Wifebeater"!I hike up to Gooch Mountain shelter. Only three people left: Katie, a ridgerunner and AT/PCT hiker, Polar Bear, a middle-aged guy who carries a stuffed bear holding a Coca-Cola, and Chopsticks, a cross-eyed kid who thrued in 2016. Katie is talking about a sugar glider who entertained/terrorized the 16 shelter occupants by flying around and attacking their packs for much of the evening. Apparently they were also entertained by a burly hiker who became very disconcerted when a mouse fell on him.Chopsticks is zeroing today. The hammock he says he's hiked 8000 miles with is still rigged up. He heard it's going to rain, so he's staying put. Now, experienced hikers are not exactly put off by routine rain showers, so he sets off my alarm bells. I learn from his shelter mates later at Neel Gap he was a bit creepy if harmless during their stay. I climb over Ramrock mountain, taking advantage of cell service to post yesterday's entry. Ironheart comes by, hiking a small section with his fellow heart attack survivor Triple A. Ironheart did half the trail in 2017, but the opposite half I did. He snaps my picture for his blog and tips me to the best hostels between here and Damascus. At Woody Gap a major highway passes through. While I dump my trash, mostly collected from the first night's campsite, two older guys drive up in a truck to take in the view. One looks like Uncle Jesse from Dukes of Hazzard. They pepper me with questions when I say I'm hiking to Virginia to finish the trail, then look at a kiosk showing the whole AT and say "Damn, boy, you must've already done a thousand miles!" Well, more like 1700. Duly impressed, they laugh and wish me good luck.It showers off and on from 10am. By mid-afternoon it's a steady soaking rain. Hikers are stopping at Lance Creek or Jarrards Gap to avoid climbing Blood Mountain, Georgia's tallest, in the rain. I plod on. Mist drifts into the valleys and obscures the view. But my rain hood acts like blinders anyway.The climb up is not bad. Sassafras was harder. Maybe my lungs are adapting, or the rain helps. At the summit is a stone shelter. Inside ten people are crowded, some setting up for the night, and some gathered around a rastafarian-looking dude brewing something in a pot. "Hot cocoa?" he offers. I thought it was something else. The scene is a little surreal and I don't linger. Later I find out this rasta dude has been living off of the hiker box at Mountain Crossings and basically set up shop on Blood Mountain. Apparently came out to Springer really unprepared, burnt down his tent cooking in it, and got some donated equipment. The weird vibe I picked up was definitely warranted.The climb down Blood is wet and slippery, first over steep bedrock, then down boulders with slick mud in between. It reminds me of Maine. Which actually makes it fun. I only slip a few times but I'm a wet mess by the time I reach the road.I cross route 19 with Peter "Grisu" from Bern, Switzerland, who's out for a few weeks to test a thruhike when he retires in a few years. His grandkids named him after a little cartoon green dragon on Swiss television. I get a pizza at Mountain Crossings, but their bunkroom is already full. Peter is up for splitting a cabin nearby, but they are all full or overpriced. Finally I find Your Home in the Woods B&B in Guthook (an AT guide app).The proprietors Paul and Bonnie come and pick us up in their truck and drive us 15 minutes to the next valley where their home is perched on a hill. We shower and they give us scrubs to wear while they do our laundry. They even invite us to dine with them. And breakfast in the morning of course. For 45 bucks it's a better deal than any other place in Georgia. They've been operating for 17 years but started taking in hikers 3 years ago when they realized after meeting some that we aren't all Bear Grylls and don't necessarily want to tent every night. Some hiker guests stay 3, 4, even 8 nights and slackpack across Georgia.Another hiker here is Brantley, a surfer dude-type scuba instructor with sun-bleached hair from Florida who works on high-voltage transmission towers, dropping out of helicopters on to live wires. Apparently the pay is good and jobs are hard to fill. Go figure! He's taking a zero after staying at Mountain Crossings' bunkhouse last night (they kick you out after one night).I call my family after dinner and hear about their weekend scout trip and the Lego 2 movie. So good to hear everyone's voices. I really miss them. I wish Georgia was close enough to hike a few days and return home. This is the farthest section. At least I am walking north - towards home.