Date: 2004-04-29
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Helen, GA
Miles today: 0.0

Me!Start: Low Gap Shelter @ 0830Finish: Helendorf Inn - Helen, GAMiles: 9.4Weather: Warm and SunnyBreakfast: Strawberry CIB, Chocolate Chip PoptartsLunch: TrailmixDinner: Alpine Burger, French Fries, 2 Coors Light...4 Smirnoff Ices and 1/4 fifth of Captain Morgan...another Coors LightTrail Conditions: Flat and easy going until Chattahoochee Gap..trail got very rocky and steep. Steep descent into Unicoi GapPeople: Nightmare & Clueless, Sticks, Turtleman, Frenchy, Tater, David & Windsor, JP, Jim, RedneckAnimals: Catepillar, Grey Birds, hawk, various insectsAfter a reinvigorating nights sleep aside the picnic table I scampered out of my bivy and hurrily packed up. Some ominous looking clouds were overhead but they didn't produce rain and burned off by noon. I made great time hiking covering 7 miles in 3 1/2 hours. I hung out at Blue Mountain Shelter for about an hour, before deciding to go into Helen with Nightmare & Clueless. Sticks was already in town for the day to get a maildrop. Nightmare & CluelessOn the way to Blue Mountain I crossed paths with a hiker named "Frenchy." He was quite a character. As he offered me a cigarette, and lit one up himself, he advised he started in Harpers Ferry on March 4 and pushed south. Then he told me about getting drunk in Hiawassee and asked if I had any weed. Something tells me his story might be a bit shady. Another hiker I ran into told me Frenchy hadn't paid for his stay at the Blueberry Patch Hostel.After hitting Unicoi Gap a 2000 Thru-Hiker named Tater was hanging out with trail magic. So I sipped a Mountain Lighting pop and we shot the breeze. Deciding to go into Helen, Nigtmare & Clueless and I attempted our first hitch of the trail. After a bunch of cars passed us by, a day hiker named David, with his cool dog Windsor, gave us a ride into town. Thanks dude!Nightmare & Clueless got a room at the Econolodge and I took advantage of their shower and aired out my gear. We then went to the Southside Bar & Gril, the towns local watering hole as it turns out. Sticks showed up so the four of us ate dinner. I know I am a hiker now because after two Coors I was feeling buzzed. I had planned on hitching back to the trail, but Sticks offered me a stay in his motel room. After dinner we walked across town, dropped my gear off, bought some booze and the four of us drank it up at the Econolodge. Feeling saucy we went back to the Southside and chilled with the locals, who were also inebriated. I would like to take the opportunity to thank JP who gave us his pack of Camels to smoke (I typically never smoke, EVER, but I was feeling hedonistic) and Jim who told us goofy stories about his family lineage in Georgia. A guy who would only identify himself as "Redneck" told me a great quote "shit runs in different flavors." Hmmm..... Showing the Bear whose BossAll in all yesterday was an absolute blast. Its cool how after several days four total strangers have become friends. I am enjoying each day and am very fortunate. My foot has been feeling good, slow and steady will remain the game plan.One Year ReflectionI slept quite well out next to the picnic table that night. The table itself was a bit crooked, so the ground worked better. I awoke several times during the night and saw the lights silhouetting Blackhawk Helicopters buzzing through the mountains in the distance. The Army Rangers train extensively in this area, in mountain warfare tactics. I had been keeping my fingers crossed that I would see them on a night exercise or walk into one of their simulated ambushes that they do on hikers. It would have been cool to say that I not only saw the Army Rangers, but got my ass kicked by them too. Don't worry, I question my state of mind sometimes too.Some low level clouds hung over the mountains in the morning making everything damp at elevation. I was concerned it would rain, but it never produced, and the sun quickly burned them off.I distinctly remember my foot feeling very good that day, and it was a huge morale booster. The terrain was steep and the rockiest I had ever seen. To hike at a moderately fast pace over it was very uplifting.Along the way I passed "Frenchy," who as I would later find out had a sketchy reputation along the trail. There was something about a hiker saying he trudged 30 miles a day, and smoked while doing so, that made me question his story. This assumption was half correct, as I would later hike with Chafe, and the Blues Brothers - who smoked while they walked, and still hoofed nearly 4 miles an hour. Anyways, I chatted with Frenchy, he tried to hit me up for some weed, told me a bunch of stories of how he got drunk in town, and yada yada. We finally parted ways. I later learned he had not paid his stay at several hostels.I rested at length at Blue Mountain Shelter. The day had really heated up. I ran in to Sticks, Nightmare & Clueless, Slimjim, and Turtleman. Slimjim mostly kept to himself. He was on an extended vaction from his work in Vermont as a project manager for the state's department of transportation. Turtleman on the other hand, was a real talker and laid right into his life story about he had been divorced, was really overweight, and it had taken him 8-9 days to get to where he was. Blah, blah, blah.I decided to go into town with Nightmare & Clueless and Sticks and eat a dinner, then head back out on the trail that night. I ended up in town, had a great time, and opted to stay the night.At Unicoi Gap I got my first sampling of trail magic, and hitched my first ride. Tater, a past thru-hiker was slinging out some sodas. They hit the spot. Tater wasn't able to give us a ride though, as he was doing food duty. So the three of us positioned ourselves along the road, stuck out our thumbs, and watched the cars drive on by...and keep driving by.I had never hitched a ride in my life before. All things I had ever been taught is that it is stupid, dangerous, etc... In all reality, hitchhiking is an incredible amount of fun, and you meet some cool and interesting people when partaking in that activity.A dayhiker appeared out of the woods and offered us a ride into town. His name was David and was with his dog Windsor. I still talk with David to this day. In fact, I would end up repaying him for his good deed of giving me a ride later on down the trail, as we would cross paths when we least expected it. Trail Karma is very real, and what goes around comes around.Helen is just a misplaced theme town in the mountains. It's decked out like a Bavarian village. The whole town is really one big tourist trap, and exudes no taste of southern culture, aside from the rural poverty once you remove yourself from the main shopping district.Sticks, Nightmare & Clueless, and I all met up at the Southside and had some grub. I split the cost of a room with Sticks. On the hike across town to his motel I took it upon myself to kick a bear (rather a wood carved statue of one) in the nuts. Ben and I had decided that kicking a bear in the nuts would be our best recourse in the event of a bear attack. And so it was, I got a picture of me doing so.Later that night the 4 of us got inebriated, chatted it up with the locals at the Southside...which were a distinct breed of their own...and later meandered around town drunk. In front of the Huddle House I spotted some perfectly good bushes, and in our drunken state called out "Bush Dive." Nightmare and Sticks charged full force throwing themselves into a perfectly good hedge. I am sure that bush is still caved in to this day. Although we had fun doing that, it is something I regret (even though no one else saw us) as it reflects poorly on the hiking community and myself. But I am over it.After another adventurous day I called it a night. It is odd how many "firsts" I was having in my life up to this point. Each being so opposite to mainstream life, yet so ordinary out on the trail.