[at-l] Trip report - long

[KarenS62@aol.com]

I guess since Cosmo had the guts to post his trip report for the trip that wasn't, I can post my trip report from the weekend. 

Dee and I met Friday night at the Blueberry Patch where Gary had generously offered us the use of his cabin for the night. We went into Haiwassee for dinner and decided to try out The Front Porch - a new Italian place that opened right after this spring's thru-hiker season. We had a good chuckle over the menu line that said "eat one 18" pizza and get one free". We figure that will get changed by the first of April 2001 when they realize they have had all their profits eaten by hikers! We were treated to some soothing organ music throughout dinner - the hostess was nice enough to seat us about 12 inches from the organ. Little did we know that "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" was going to be the theme song for Sunday.

Saturday morning was cool with a nice breeze - quite the change from the 100+ temps in the city during the previous week. We picked a few juicy blueberries for breakfast and headed up the hill to Dick's Creek Gap. Soon we were on the way north. Shortly, I had an altercation with a bee and got stung on the finger - dang! That hurt! The swelling started immediately, so I downed a Benadryl - not very conducive to energetic hiking. We passed a few hikers - one man completing a section from Fontana to Dick's Creek. Turns out he's from New Hampshire so he and Dee had 'old home week' on the Georgia trail.  He did share the news of no water at Bly Gap, which caused us to reconsider our plans to have dinner there. By the time we got to Plum Orchard Shelter, I was practically asleep. The decision was made to take a mid-day break, cook and early dinner, then hike to Bly after the heat of the day. After a 2-hour nap and dinner, we were feeling energetic - a quick fill up of about four liters of water between us and off we went to find that famous tree. The energy lasted about ten minutes and I dragged my feet for the rest of the hike. Dee played the cheerleader and distracted me by talking to the birds and identifying them when they responded. Very fun and very cool.  It was just approaching dusk when we came around the corner to Bly Gap and saw that tree we had seen the previous night in an old AT calendar, although it was missing the snow cover. I have now completed my second state - wonder where I need to move next to complete the third? 

The katydids were deafening.  I fell right to sleep but they kept Dee awake for a while. We woke to a foggy, cool morning. After picture time in the tree, we loaded our packs and hit the trail south. At some point during the night, someone had brought a whole bunch of those rocks down from PA and made the knobs and mountains a heck of a lot higher.  I made a joke about ascending As Knob but I was later told it was "sick" so I won't repeat it. We passed five hikers, all male. Apparently no other women are silly enough to hike in Georgia in August! It was cool but damp for the first half of the walk, with a nice breeze when we stopped. Lots of birds in some areas, none in others. We saw one small white-tailed deer that followed us for quite a ways. We would go a hundred feet and the deer would go a hundred feet; we would stop, it would stop and then we would all look at each other. I am not sure who was having more fun watching whom?

After a short break at Plum Orchard and a refill of water, we headed towards the car. In retrospect, we both got somewhat dehydrated in an effort to conserve water Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We shouldn't have arrived at Plum Orchard with water to spare. What should have been an easy 4 ½ mile hike was tortuous (for me at least). Dee tolerated it much better (she coulda run circles around me) but I am sure my attitude was a bit tortuous at times. But, she didn't complain. We just got silly, and sang songs (she's got a good one about the trail that never ends) and talked and talked. Then the rain started. It sprinkled, then it showered and then it was a downpour. Perfect singing weather - the rain drowned out our voices! And on we hiked. Eventually we reached the road crossing and the car. A quick trip back to the Blueberry Patch where Gary met us with cold sodas and an invitation to pick as many ripe blueberries as we wanted.  We changed into drier clothes, picked a bunch of blueberries (some even made it into the Nalgene to bring home) and said our goodbyes.  All in all, I would say it was a good hike. I was miserable for a large portion of it, but even then, my last thought before closing my eyes Saturday and Sunday nights was "It was a good hike". I am not sure Dee feels the same way, but I am glad she was there and it was fun to share the milestone with a friend.

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