Date: 2006-04-04
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Cheese Factory
Miles today: 13.0

Well today had its variety. Started from Low GapShelter This morning. My first night in the shelterwent fine. Some snorers, but ear plugs solved that. Nomice in the shelter, but Charity had something chew ahole in her food bag while it was hung on the bearcables. The goal for the day was to get to the CheeseFactory site. There is nothing left there showing anysign of a building anymore, but it is a good tentsite. It was going to be a 13 mile day. The longestday for me so far. The morning hike was going well,butI soon came to realize that my new pack was havinga problem. What I initially thought to be my failureto properly adjust the shoulder strap turned out to bea defect. The shoulder strap kept slipping off of theshoulder pad and cutting into my shoulder. So when Igot to Unicoi Gap I called Winton Porter at theMountan Crossings at Walasi-Yi Center at Nel Gap. Thisis where I had purchased the pac and some otherequipment just 2 days before. I explained the problemwith the pack and he said bring it back and he wouldtake care of it. He told me what route to take by roadand so I caught my first ride from hitch hiking in mylife. Fist guy was named Paul. I nice guy from aroundAtlanta up in the area to visit his dad. He took me toa road crossing Georgia Hwy 180. When he dropped me itlooked I was going to be stranded here for along time.It was a very lightly used road to say the least. Istood there for about 20 minutes and only two carswent by with no interest in giving me a ride. Thenfinally a car stopped, and it turned out to be 2 thruhikers who were going to start their hike fromAmicalola Falls State Park tomorrow. Thre names wereRocky and Swamp Fox. Thre were very interesting andhelpful. They had met each other last year on thetrail and now were going to do the trail together.They were going right to Nels Gap where I was headed!along the way Rocky told me all about the trail andwhat to expect. She liked to cook and told my aboutfinding lamps, and putting them in your meals forflavor. They also told me about all the great hostelsto try to stay in and what towns are good. And abouttrail magic happening when you least expect it andneed it the most. Like them giving me a ride on thiscountry road which turned out to be a very prettydrive in a valley between the mountains. Spring wasvery eveident here. Red Buds, Dogwoods, Flox, Greenpasture grass. It was all very pretty. We got to Nels Gap and Winton took very good care ofme. He said that was the 2nd pack that had had thatproblem and he would not sell anymore until theproblem is fixed. We decided on a replacment pack andwe fitted and loaded it up. Just as we were weighingit we noticed it was a small and I needed a medium. Hehad no others in the store so he called themanufacturer and arranged for them to overnight shipthe proper pack to him. I am then to call him Fridayand tell him where I am, and he will bring me theproper size pack. In the mean time I can use thesmaller pack in order to get back on the trail. And heoffered to let me stay in the cabin for fre, but Iwanted to get back to on trail so he called a shuttleservice to take me back to Unicoi Gap at his expense.And to top it off, my new pack is at least $25.00 morethan my origianl one and he just made it an eventrade. Now that is customer service. I will alwaysrecomend The Great Outfitters at Mountain Crossings atWalasi-Yi at Nels Gap. Thank you Winton.So my shuttle shows up to take me back to the trail.He is a man in his mid 60s by the name of FredWodward. He runs A.T. Shuttles. He is a life longresidnet of these mountains and knows them like no oneelse. He apparently is in pretty good shape. He toldme he planned to go for a 30 mile bike ride next weekaround the area. This is road biking. VEry impressivewhen you see the mountains they have to climb. He gaveme all sorts of advise on diet and the trail, andwhere the good water sources were. Another great ride.When he dropped me at Unicoi Gap. it was 6:17 PM. Iknew I had a hard climb and 4 miles to get where Iwanted to go to meet up with Duane and Jim tonight. SoI pushed hard for an hour and 45 minutes and got therejust before dark. Jim was about the raise his food bagwhen I showed up. Hot and tired. I needed to fixdinner and set up my tent. He surprised me with stillwarm hotdogs! He told me that a very nice lady hadstopped by and gave them trail magic in the form ofhotdogs and buns. Man tha was great. I ate two,visited with Jim and Duane for a few minutes and wentto bed. It was very windy and low of around 30. A longbut very good day. Nice people are all over Georgia. Clay