Date: 2015-02-20
From: unicoi gap

To: winding stair gap
Miles today: 56.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day 8 - 2/14 - Got ride out to Tray Gap and slacked back to Unicoi. Got ride back to Hiawassee with hikers Robby and Brandi.They are very knowledgeable and I hope they get their opportunity to thru hike someday. Did laundry and watched weather. Channel that was supposed to be TWC is now SEC so we had to watch local out of Atlanta. Forecast kept changing.Ate at Daniel's again and resupplied at dollar General.Day 9 - 2/15 - Got ride to Tray Gap with same guy. Says movies like Burt Reynolds' Deliverance and series like Walking Dead have been filmed in this part of north Georgia. We got out of truck and into windy cold. Monster day. Went seventeen miles to Plumorchard shelter. Took me 12 hours. Saw no other hikers besides Longhorn. Made it in using headlamp and three tents were in shelter. Set up mine and went to bed without eating.Day 10 - 2/16 - Goal was Standing Indian shelter but terrain, sleet and exhaustion meant Muskrat was all I could do. Not enough recovery after Sunday miles. Longhorn and I got tent set up and J and Ab (they were at previous shelter) did the same. Day 11 - 2/17 - J and Ab were hoping to catch a ride off trail so Ab kindly gave Longhorn food he didn't need. Freezing rain and snow made hiking very difficult. Trees and branches all over trail. Went over, under, around, and through it all. FroggToggs are shredded. Trail crews will be very busy! Got in to Standing Indian shelter early and into tents. Will try to post pics of winter wonderland this weekend on blog (http://zipperthruhike.blogspot.com/). Tried reading but didn't feel much like it. Made shopping list for when we're in Franklin.Day 12 - 2/18 - Windy and cold hike to Carter gap shelter. Saw only Longhorn all day. Thick ice on trees. 2" in places. Very cold windy night. Wind chills had to be well below zero.Day 13 - 2/19 - More misery. Fuel barely working. Almost impossible to keep water bottles thawed. More dangerous hiking in ice and snow. We wanted to take bypass around Albert mountain but were not sure and couldn't afford to get lost. So, up and over we went. Throwing poles up past rocks and grabbing roots, trees, and more rocks to get up. Throw in ice and snow and we were lucky to avoid slips and falls. View was great but we were cold and hustled down. Made Long Branch shelter. One of the newer on trail. We saw no other hikers Was nice winds died down but temps plunged. Probably below zero.Day 14 - 2/20 - Packed up early and left with frozen water bottles. Skipped breakfast. A few miles in snow got deeper. Drifted over a foot in many places. Slipped and slid our way to Wallace gap only to find a steep climb out of there. Very steep and snowy. When we finally made Winding Stair gap we were able to get a ride almost immediately. Guy is from Canada and said he couldn't believe he was seeing two guys come out of the woods on a day like this. Said it got below zero at his place last night so we had to be colder up at 4,500 feet! Said area had lost power in storms. He was heading to town for supplies to fix broken pipes. Said he'll have a heck of a story to tell his girlfriend. Took us right to microtel. Great hiker rates and well located. Put pack, tent, and boots in tub to thaw while we went next door to shoney's for first meal of day. Excellent!Notes:We're about 110 miles into hike. Pretty tough going so far.Not seeing much wildlife this time of year. A few deer, birds, and mice has been about it. We have heard some owls and coyote at night.Tomorrow will be our first Zero.More notes:Yes Sam, it is strange to be so far away - figuratively and literally - from the championship swim meets. Will miss hearing your great calls that give the meets a special kind of energy.Cracker, I have a link to gear in an earlier post. It was not what I'd recommend for the weather we had. We'll continue with it but will avoid the low temperature hiking.Randy and Connie, we may take you up on the offer. Will give you a call when we get to Fontana.Thanks for all the positive comments. We appreciate the encouragement.Bob C, you joining us for Pennsylvania or New York?DJA, you up for Maine?