Date: 2010-03-27
From: Blue Ridge Gap to Rock Gap over 5 days 

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Miles today: 34.4

Emilie dropped us off at Blue Ridge Gap. We actually had to walk up a fairly difficult service road first to get to the trail. Our packs were heavy because of the resupply in Hiawassee. We hiked 10 miles to Deep Gap. We camped at the campground. It was a long day. Our moods were not our cheery selves, but rather down. It's hard for people who are not long distance hikers to understand the emotional ups and downs that you go through. You get to know the people you are with really well. Sometimes, things come out that you wouldn't normally even think about. You deal with it and move on. This is the place we're at. The upside to the day is we crossed from Georgia into North Carolina at 76.4 miles.3/28/10 We awoke to a rainy, very cold morning. We broke camp and set out. No hot breakfast today. We hiked up to Standing Indian Mountain at 5498 feet. We were greeted by freezing rain and high winds. I have a Marmot Precip rainjacket. It failed miserably. By the time we got to Beech Gap I was dangerously close to hypothermia. Cabana Boy and Dutch Tape and I quickly got my tent set up. I got in changed out of all my wet cold clothes and put on my wool clothes and every dry piece of clothing I had with me. I got into my sleeping bag. This was by 2pm. Cabana Boy made me some hot tea. I didn't stop shivering for about 4 hours. I eventually did eat something and settled in for the night. they made sure I was ok all night. It's so nice to know I have people looking out for me. Typically, you don't know if you are hypothermic until you are.We had 2 hail storms and thunder and lightening. Scary. I am very aggravated about my rainjacket. This means I have to spend more money and buy a new one. This definately isn't in the budget. also, my pack cover ripped. A new one of those as well.3/29/10 We got up to blue skies. This is such a welcome sight. We hiked 10 miles today to Big Spring Shelter. The things we saw in terms of moss and rocks and streams were really pretty. right before Mt. Albert we came across trail magic. Fishing Fred served us up some grilled cheese sandwiches. Man was this good!!! It gave us the pick up we needed before Mt. Albert and into the shelter. The shelter was one of the better ones so far. My gear was still wet. The temps got down into the 20's. So, actually everything I owned became frozen. Sleeping was extremely uncomfortable. More later. Still trying to dry out.City Slicker3/30/10 We woke to a misty morning. You could tell it was going to be sunny and nice for the day. We left Big Spring Shelter late because we weren't going to do very many miles today. We were hiking along and all of a sudden Dutch Tape and I hear Cabana Boy hootin and hollerin. He had bumped into Twisted Hair and Cheesemeyer. He met them in NH during their hike last year. They knew we would be coming through their area and took a guess at where we would be. They guessed correctly. They offered to pick us up at Rock Gap and bring us into Franklin to The Budget Inn. The Budget Inn is owned by Ron Havens. We got to the hotel early. Cabana Boy finished hiking into Winding Stair Gap. We happily did laundry,took showers, and dried out our gear. Ron takes the hikers anywhere they need to go. I mean anywhere. He is very accomodating in making sure all your needs are met. This is with no extra charge outside of the room fee. We did all our chores then went out to dinner with some other hikers. After dinner I went to my room. I turned the tv on to get a look at the forcast. It looks like clear skies for the next 5 days or so. 3/31/10 Dutch Tape and I went to hike the 3.7 miles to Winding Stair Gap this morning. At 1230 Twisted Hair and Cabana Boy picked us up. We met Cheesemeyer at a mexican rest Mi Casa. They are such wonderful people. All of our personalities melded well. We laughed our butts off. My sides are still hurting. After we left the restaurant we went for icecream, of course. We laughed some more. They invited us to stay at their house tonight. They live outside of Franklin. Twisted Hair is making vegetarian lasagna and salad. Can you imagine the generosity of these two great people? They hardly know us, but want to help us out. Evidentally they really like my Gloucester accent. They think it's funny. The hospitality down here has been overwhelming. I would like to send out a huge thank you to them for feeding us and putting us up and not to forget drive us around. I think they might hike with us tomorrow.Well it's time to go out on their deck for some more hiker sociallizing and gazing at these wonderful mountains. I think Twisted hair is making waffles and icecream for dessert. Yum Yum! All this eating and losing weight. Calories burned appr. for 2 weeks 58,000.Oh, how could I forget Dutch Tape and I ran into River and Fable this morning. Hugs and emotion all over the place. I love these two. It turns out, they had to bring Joey home. He is the golden ret. Joey was in rough shape. They were affraid they were going to lose him. He is home now and recouperating. They had to back track a little. We are hoping to catch up with them tomorrow.Signing offCity SlickerP.S. tomorrow is April Fool's. I am scheming already!