Date: 2006-04-21
To: Hail Storm to Feather Bed
Miles today: 0.0

By BuoyWednesday morning I dropped the Gang off at Unicoi Gap. Their job was to hike the 2 day stretch to Dicks Creek Gap. My Job was to do the same thing the other way around. We had 2 very different experiences. I enjoy my days of hiking alone. I either listen to my Ipod or to the birds singing. Well often my hikes are very similar to my trips to the corner store in San Francisco. I have a dinner on the stove and the only thing I am missing is a lemon. I am not more than 2 minutes away from Good Life Grocery and it will take me 15 minutes each way to get there. This is because I always will run into 2 or 3 neighbors and have short chats with each of them. By the time I come home the flies sit on the fish I just wanted to prepare. In the woods I have just 9 miles to walk which should not take me more than 5 hours. It always takes me at least 6 hours because of all the Southbound hikers I run into. This is not a complaint. I love it. Every 20 minutes I stop and talk to either a new Hiker I never have seen before or an ¢old¢ friend I ran into the day/s before. The first day I run into people they hardly smile and walk past me. The next day when I run into the same people again they usually stop and wonder if I have a twin brother because they could swear they saw me 20 miles south and 24 hours ago. On the third day they already anticipating me and greet me like an old friend. The Appalchian trail becomes a very long and narrow neighborhood. Oh and than there are the hikers who walk 25 miles a day. They run by me like marines and I never see them again. Wednesday my day started by going to a local gas station, filling up the car getting some groceries and than finding the Dicks Creek Gap trailhead. All of the sudden the sky became very dark. Almost black. In a matter of seconds I was in the middle of an intense thunderstorm. While the hail bounced of the car I thought of the gang and the fact that at exactly that moment they should be on the ridge of Rocky Mountain. I sat out the storm in the car and wondered all day how they did. They all did as expected. Louise and Pappy just sat down under the tarp and waited for the whole thing to pass by. Righty did not like the whole thing but kept walking. Lefty liked the whole thing and also kept walking. The storm came so fast that they had not enough time to pull out all that expensive rain protection before getting soaking wet. We all met up at Sasafrass Gap and had a beautiful muddy wet dark long night with lots of Hyenas singing for us. In the morning we found ourselves in dense fog. While the rest of he gang went to Addis Gap for a full size breakfast prepared by a trail angel "The Preacher Dude" I started my 10 remaining miles to Dicks Creek Gap. Not much happened but I must admit that I really have a disturbed relationship with Rocky Mountain. It was just a 900 foot climb but it was a climb at the end of the day. And the mountain tricked me. Twice when I thought I was done the AT made a sharp 90 degree turn and I saw more mountain to climb. I cursed loud at the mountain. Another benefit of walking alone. Just the birds were the witness of my fury. I was pooped when I reached the summit. I had some food and water. Than I talked to Maja in San Francsico who had left me a message. It was fun to talk to a friend on the mountain and it also gave me an excuse for a longer break. After the conversation I again looked at the view. All these mountains who just a few minutes ago seemed to be my personal enemies became my friends again. I was on top looking down on all of them and the view was again just amazing. What difference a break can make. Back in Hiawasse I met up with the rest of the team. We all went to raid the local ¢All you can eat¢ joint. I cobbled up 3000 Calories in 20 minutes. From Thursday to Friday night we stayed at the Blueberry patch farm / hostel. Gary and his wife the 2 Hosts open up their house to Through Hikers for a modest donation. They clean your cloth prepare a great Blueberry Pancake breakfast in the morning and give you a ride back to the trailhead. We sat exchanged stories with fellow through hikers and loved the hot shower. At night the next storm came. I cramped myself into the last tiny bunk bed and would never ever have considered to ride this storm out in the tent. These tents were wet and muddy from our last night and I rather would have skipped sleeping all together than trying to use them. Not so our 2 action hero¢s Lefty and Righty. They wanted to practice sleeping in the tent during a major thunderstorm and so they did. The next morning I had a hard time removing Righties sleeping back from the tent. It was water soaked cold and real heavy. Lefty did slightly better but also probably did not have much fun that night.Today we decided to take a day off. Kelley, Susan and I went to look for a new place to stay. Kelley stopped at a Trout Farm with a humongous CLOSED sign in front of it. Kelley got out of the car and walked up to a lady looking at us from the distance. What part of ¢Closed¢ does Kelley not get did Susan and I think. Well we are very happy Kelley did what she did. We are now staying at the cloud 9. We are soooo happy here. We have this beautiful house all for ourselves. Amazing big living room with vaulted ceilings. Big kitchen, three bedrooms, game room and our own porch. The property is run by Laura and her husband. Its really cloud 9. They took attention to every little detail. It feels like home. Jillie made some new friends here. We taped her playing with Lauras sweet dogs. Laura has her own stocked trout farm. She caught a 6 pound trout cleaned and seasoned it for us. We found it in our fridge as a welcoming gift. I prepared it for all of us and we had a fabulous dinner with fish, potatoes, vegetables and red wine. We just hung out here all day long, watch TV, read books and talked. I am now sitting on the porch in the swing chair listening to the crickets while I write this journal entry.What a life.