Date: 2011-04-23
From: Camp South of Blue Mountain Shelter

To: Helen, GA - Unicoi Gap
Miles today: 3.1
Weather: few clouds

Day 6.The sun is shining!!! It rained and rained and rained last night. I actually have a little puddle in my tent and the toe of my sleeping bag go a little wet, but I'm not freaked out.The guys got it a lot worse since they have tarps under their little tents that they had sticking way out so they could use them as a "porch." I taught them a lot.I was glad it as raining as I was able to blame a lot of noises I thought I was hearing (could have sworn I was hearing licking at the firepit).I had filled my water last night so I laid all my wet gear out over various trees to dry while I made breakfast. I can already say oatmeal is going to get old fast, and I still have yet to figure out how much fuel to use and how much water to heat. I am going through fuel pretty quickly. A lot of the time the stove goes out before the water gets hot, and I have to restart it from scratch. Then I seem to be using too much fuel as the water comes to a boil long before it burns out. I don't have any way to snuff my stove out in order to try to conserve fuel, so I have to let it just burn out! I am going to ask David to fashion me a stove snuffer. I am hoping a small soup can bottom, cut to about 1 1/2" will work. I can snuff the flame and then use it to pour the alcohol back too. I have attempted to pour it directly from the stove into my bottle, but it dribbles out all over the place. I got going out of camp long before the guys were ready. The trail was, once again, the 2 ft wide along the side of a mountain type trail. I stopped at a water spot to wash a bit of hiker funk off and reset my feet. The back of my right foot had a bunch of blisters, I don't know where those came from. Also, the other night I had an itch on the top of my foot and scratched not knowing there was a blister and scratched it totally open! So, now my left foot has 2 conjoined blisters on the side of the ball of the foot and my right has the mirror image of that, one between my big toe and second, one little one on the top of the big toe, a gaping open wound on the bridge of my foot,, and four blisters stacked nicely along the back of my heel. Also BOTH feet get hot spots, but no blisters so far along the outside. I have about 6 layers of moleskin on the two original epic blisters, my big toe and down the sides of my feet are covered with duct tape and I used my one blister pack on the back of my heel. I can only put a bandaid on the top of my foot as it is open and seeping. I couldn't redress my feet last night cause everything was soaked. Also, I sent my big knife back at Neels Gap so it is very hard to cut moleskin. At Neels I was able to use scissors. I decided I needed to stop at Helen to pop my blisters in a controlled environment and pick up supplies. I only have 2 bandaids left, 3 alcohol swabs and my antibacterial stuff is empty. The guide book said there was a lot of touristish stuff there, so I decided to treat myself for Easter. Last hear I spent Easter in the woods While I was redoing my feet I saw THE TINIEST salamander ever! I swear it was smaller than the word "salamander"!!The guy from Western MA and another bearded (ok they are all bearded at this point, but this was a good full beard) guy I've never seen before passed by while I was there. I figured out a good way to help with the funk. I take my bandana and wet it, then (like laundry in the river) I put Dr. Bonners on and squish it around, but don't rinse it out. So now everytime I went my bandana it has some soapiness to it and I can "wash up" a bit. You just can not understand the funk unless you have it. I never thought I would be able to smell myself much less smell so horrific. I'm sure my "Divaness" is not helping.I ran into "Moosette" and "Honey Badger" at Blue Mountain Shelter. They both hike exactly at my pace so it was nice. We had fun. There were a couple of trail runners that passed us while were out there. I don't get that. When I say the trail is 2 feet wide, carved into the side of the mountain, I mean it! And these guys are RUNNING it. Not jogging, not walking quickly, RUNNING!I got my first food craving. Spaghetti with sauce. I think I will as mom to dehydrate some for me!We got to the trail head and the road seemed soooo big and wide and scary! I had my solar charger in its little clear bag to catch rays and got out my guide book, plugged in the phone and tried calling the shuttle. Busy. There was a poster for Karen's Taxi. I called it and they said $30 total. By now "Lucky" had shown up and he said he might come too but he only had $10 till the 1st. Brock just went over and stuck out his thumb. A big semi pulled up for a rest and I ran over to ask which direction Helen was (and hope he might give us a ride). Oh. By now the girls had decided they too would come to town. Honey has a twisted ankle and is low on fuel and although Moosette has a HARD STOP of Oct!! since she is here on a Visa, she realized its more about the journey. She will never be in Georgia again may as well experience some of it. The trucker did offer a ride but to Hiawassee as that is the direction he was going. I said, "Thank you, but I have to walk to Hiawassee "I called another taxi and they said $40. So I called Karen's back (Brock is still across the street with his thumb out and Lucky has continued on). Just after I hung up with Karen's, Mallet, Hatchet, and the other guy showed up having come from town. Dennis (the guy that gave him a ride) said "Hop in!" So we all (including Brock) threw our packs in and head off to town! The guys had said to go to the Days Inn, dinner at the HayLoft, and Breakfast at the Huddle House. We got to the Days Inn (a limo is parked out front) unloaded, and .... my trekking poles had been left at the trail head! UGGH! Murphy!We got into the room (only $40 total for the 3 of us!) and Honey said she would go do laundry since she still had one fairly clean top and bottom she could wear. She got to shower first of course and while she was in the shower I went off to get more shampoo/conditioner and a couple of sheets for Moosette and me to wear so all of our laundry could get washed. I came back to the room, opened the door and the STENCH of hiker funk practically knocked me back! From that moment forward our room door was left open unless we were sleeping or out. A bathroom is a glorious thing. Hot running water, a toilet that doesn't have dirt in it and has a roof and a door, and OMG a sink with hot water and soap! Oh! and towels!!!Moosette wanted a bath so I showered next. Washed my hair 3 times and lathered up everything else so much I did actually rub my skin off. LOL...well it was coming off anyway from my sunburn. After my shower I tried calling the local "outfitters" but it is only a fly fishing place. Although Steve at the shop said he would be glad to take me to the trail head when he got off of work at 5:30. Moosette said she would go with me. Honey went to the HayLoft to wait for us. Steven was an ADORABLE young fly fishing instructor. Unfortunately my poles weren't at the trail head when we got there, but the rid was fun and Steven gave us some good tips on where to go for dinner. he said he might call us tomorrow and take us fly fishing! We went and met Honey at the HayLoft and she had been chatting at the bar with a gentleman. We we were seated at our table, I told the waitress (Ashley) to please tell the gentleman at the bar that we requested his presence. Felix was a Delta pilot in his 50's who was so very impressed by our endeavor. He is a regular at the restaurant and kept telling everyone our story. We ordered an appetizer and while we were waiting, Felix's dinner came. Shortly there after our waitress said the app we wanted was out and asked what we wanted instead. I said "Whatever we can get the fastest cause I'm about to steal Felix's food!" Felix offered me half of his sandwich. I said "No no no" and DID mean it. (I had only had a handful of GORP and half a granola since breakfast) He kept insisting "No really I'm not going it that half" ... my mouth started watering. I still declined. He held p the half of the sandwich to me. My stomach did something it's never done before. I can't begin to describe the hunger! But I still said "no no!" He held the sandwich over the table at me and reflexively as I was still protesting my hands reached out and grabbed that sandwich and put it into my still protesting mouth! I shared that half, one bite to me, one bite to Moose. Then Moose and I shared an app of Tai Chili Crawfish. Then I had a massive cheeseburger. OMG! It was that perfect juicy burger with crisp lettuce and tomato and lots of cheese. The juice had gone into the soft bun like a sponge and was dripping down my hand and onto the plate. I don't even remember eating the fries. When I was done with the phenomenon that was hot food, I finished off a large salad and then Moosette and I shared a Key Lime Pie and a Triple Chocolate Mousse Pie. I had one beer with dinner and Felix bought all rounds for us. I was halfway through my second beer when exhaustion struck. Felix said he had some tubing poles at home that he would bring to the hotel in the morning for me. He was the nicest guy and he was showing us all off as his AT hiking friends. He had the bartender come out to meet us because he had done SOBO a few years ago. The girls were having fun and a live band was playing, but I had to leave to get some sleep! Before I left I gave Felix one of the painted rocks that Jeanne had made for me to hand out. I explained to him that when he has a good day and experiences "trail magic" to hold it in his hand and put that good energy into it. Then when he is having a tough day, he can pull that energy out of it. He practically cried he was so honored to have received this token.I left them all and came back to the hotel. I popped my blisters after I had taken my shower then just but bandaids on everything. I took all my bandaids off to sleep and let them breath for the night and passed out! I woke up only to let the girls in when they came back. Otherwise that was the best night sleep I have had since the I last slept in my own bed!