Date: 2008-04-03
From: Neels Gap

To: Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

What's in a name? I was officially given my trail name today... well, my East COast Trail name. The one I Received at Anasazi was Standing Heart. The trail walker who gave me that one said it seemed like the most appropriate name for someone with such a strong heart. I was tempted to keep that one for this trip... it will always be my first trail name. What steered me away from that is that it defintiely sounds girly. I'd been warned by Saxy Lady (thru-hiker class of 2005) that I should avoid a female trail name. Apparently she developed a secret admirer of sorts who followed her around just from her name. That's prety easy to do becuase you sign in at all the registers in the shelters you stay at along the way. SO today I was donned with my official AT, East Coast trail name: Forest Gimp. I can be seen hobbling from miles away... and I dwell in the forest these days. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, apparently I have an impressive sort of hobble that is quite unique... I suppose because, so far (knock on wood), I've been able to maintain a pretty good pace for a hobbler. Barefoot Sage (aka BS) gave me the name. She's been handing them out like candy and doing a pretty good job with them. She also helped keep my hobbling to a minimum today because she was a masseuse who practiced myotherapy for a while. She did some work on me last night and I felt much better today, but I don't think anything is going to keep my knee and IT band free of pain. I've got a lot of hobbling ahead of me.   Yesterday was my first day back, and it was, by far, the hardest. Part of that probably had to do with the 15 hour train ride the night before. Yes, I had done it last week without feeling so tired, but this time I was seated next to a creeper which kept me up much of the night. More of it probably had to do with the weather. It wasn't so much the rain as it was the cold and wind. The temperature dropped all day and a good part of the hike was on a ridge. The problem with ridge hiking, for all you non hikers, is that, when the wind hits the side of a mountain, it will then blow up and over the mountain, making for some pretty bustery conditions. The fog that covered me all day was a little disorienting as well. It kept me from being able to orient myself to my surroundings, which was frustrating. Then I ran into some folks, a couple from Maine who could HIKE! They zipped down the trail and the woman has the same issue I do. She mentioned that a few other folks on the trail were suffering from the same thing. That actually helped lift my spirits. I figured, if other folks can do it, so can I. I stayed in the Low Gap shelter last night with an AWESOME group of folks. About 8 of us squeezed into the shelter, and everyone was lovely. I got there early, around 2:30 and got right into my sleeping bag and pretty much stayed in it until this morning, aside from cooking. Oh, and speaking of cooking, all you backpackers reading this need to go out and get a dehydrator. I had South sister Stroganoff last night with bulgar wheat from the Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin' cookbook and it was DELICIOUS. So taday, another rainy, chilly foggy day, I'm staying at the Hiawassee Inn in Hiawassee, GA and sharing a room with Bluebelle and Barefoot Sage (both lovely, solo, middle aged women who rock!). I also, unbelievably, caught up to Bones... aka Andrew. He's burnt to a crisp, but is well otherwise. He's the trail troubador, as he's brought along his ukelele and sings folks to sleep.Learning lots out here, but I have to be off... don't want to miss the shuttle to the AYCE (All you can eat) restaurant.Peace and much love,Forest Gimp