[at-l] N. Georgia Hike - October 13

October 13
I did not sleep quite as well last night as I had before. The combination of a mouse that seemed to
be chewing constantly in the loft of the shelter, snores from my shelter mates, and some rather
peculiar dreams just were not conducive to a good night's slumber.

I started waking up around 07:00, but I did not start doing anything until more like 07:35. I
suppose the shelter chit-chat and listening to Roy's air mattress (not a Therm-a-rest, but it had
lasted him for 3,000 miles) de-laminate that took place before then counts as doing something. Of
course, at the time we did not know that rustling sound was Roy¹s mattress loosing it. Roy and I
both thought it was either a wierd rain though it was dry out or some odd new sound coming from the
Dryloft sleeping bags Ron and John have.  It was a bit harder for everyone to get up because it was
a bit colder this morning than the previous day. I would guess the temperature at sun-up was around
37 degrees. 

I slowly got myself ready as the sun rose over the mountains. That means I got water boiling for
coffee, pulled out some pop tarts, started water fitlering, oh so slowly, for the day, and so on. Of
course, I had to talk with others while doing all this so I was not in any great hurry.  I left camp
around 09:20. I was the last of our group to depart.  Ryan left a few minutes before I did and so I
said goodbye to him then. Ryan  had to get moving so he could reach Neels Gap on the fourteenth so
he could catch his flight to Switzerland. I believe he had  a great time hiking with us. I hope he
did.

By then the temperature had risen to the low fifties and the skies were perfectly clear. I reached
Hightower gap just after 10:00. I found Sunshine (Lacy, 12) , her Dad, and their friend (James)
there waiting for Sunshine's Mom to come pick her up. She was cutting her trip short since she was
feeling a bit ill and her pack was making her feel uncomfortable (maybe the trip was always planned
to end then). She tried hard and I think she enjoyed herself but if you are not feeling great your
hike certainly suffers and that is not a good thing. I chatted with them for a while and when the
Mom showed up they offered me a Coke which I accepted with thanks. I hope Sunshine continues to try
hiking.

The trail was not too bad during this section. It wasn't really interesting, but it was nice to just
be out in the warming fall weather. I felt good and was having fun. When I got to the next gap
(Horseshoe?) I found Dorothy and Don there just finishing a break. I was going have a snack and they
waited while I did that.  They had decided to take the fire road that curves around Mt.  Sassafras
instead of climbing up and over. The distances were comparable but the road avoided the 500 or so
feet up and somewhat less coming down the far side to Copper Gap. Dorothy and Don are out for a few
nights and hope to be at Blood Mtn. tomorrow where the night sky views are reputed to be quite fine
indeed.  

I took the road walk with them. It was a nice change of pace and I enjoyed talking with them both.
Don had spent some time as a surveyor so knew what went into making the topo maps we use. We
wandered around the mountain in about 25-30 minutes and at Copper Gap John and Ron hailed me from
there comffortable resting position just off the road. They had only arrived 10 minutes ago. I
supppose they were not as far ahead of me as I had thought they were (part of the reason I took the
road in the first place ws to catch up). We had lunch at Copper Gap which really is a decent little
rest area although it doesn't have any water nearby.

The rest was so good that we did not leave until 13:40. As we were leaving, and just after Duane had
given us some of his excess water since he would be reaching a source before we did, Ron realized
that this spot was in fact the very one where he and John had cached 3 gallons of water 3 days ago.

We took USFS 42 which turned out to be hillier than we thought it would be. It also had fewer views
than we had hoped for, but it was easier than the hike over the mountain that seperated Copper and
Gooch Gap.  It was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.  Along the way we did see some wildlife.
A Garter snake was crossing the road and was doing it slowly enough that we had time to take
pictures. Once it got to the brush though it vanished: very effective camoflauge. 

We actually did not walk the whole road, some 6.1 miles, to the gap. Two guys in a pickup truck
stopped to ask us for directions to some cemetary down by a gap just after Stover Creek Shelter
(Three Forks I think) and they in turn gave us a lift the last fraction of a mile to Gooch Gap. 

Karen (Pog) was waiting for us. I think she had only just arrived and seeing us pile out of the
truck bed must have brought a grin to her face. It was 16:30 (maybe a bit ealier) and the world was
good.

We set up camp at Gooch Gap where there is a lovely area, a bit near the road (USFS 42 I suppose),
has a good spring just a few hundred yards away.   Karen brought all sorts of good food for us to
consume. We had cheese and crackers for snacks before our dinner which was a lovely jambalaya with
anduolee sausage and peel and eat shrimp.  It was great fun talking with Karen, who is a very active
AT-L list member, hiker, and trail angel,  about people we all knew to one degree or another.  As we
were finishing our meal Duane, a fellow from Sarasota who is out for a few days hiking the trail,
and Sean who is through hiking the trail in a rather unusual yo-yo fashion (Ma-middle; Ga-middle)
came down from the Gooch Gap Shelter. Duane had a bit of the jambalaya that was left and decided to
stay with us at the campsite. I guess he really did not want to stay in the shelter even though it
meant going back up to retrieve his gear in the dark so he could pitch a tent here. I suppose he has
a strong aversion to shelter mice even though we told him that if he slept in the middle he would be
alright. 

Even though we had a good group of socialable people we did not stay up much past 20:00. The moon
had risen and it was just time to go to sleep. 

©copyright 2000, Kenneth Knight
**  Kenneth Knight    Web Design, IT Consultant, Software Engineer  **
**       krk@speakeasy.org        http://www.speakeasy.org/~krk     **
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