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[at-l] Rachel Dubois' journal entries (Mar 15-17)

I have yet to receive the journal entries for the March 11-14.
Brent is looking into their whereabouts, because they accidentally
left them and had to call back to have them mailed off.  Hopefully
they'll get here soon...

Enjoy!

- Andy

----------------

March 15 - Day 5

7.3 mi to White Oak Stamp - 38 mi cum

Brent left me today. I feel like I'm really starting my hike now. Milt 
was to pick Brent up at Walasi-Yi and shuttle him back to his car at 
Amicalola. We waited together until almost noon before I finally decided 
to head on. While waiting I met John Chalmers, an AT-L member who plans 
to start his northbound hike in May. I really hope Milt showed, and I'm 
sorry I didn't get to meet him. John offered to shuttle Brent as a backup. 

A great hiking day. Despite not leaving until noon, I got in 7+ miles 
before finding a nice campsite. I was in need of water and would have had 
to have done a pretty long side trip, but two separate couples who were 
out for dayhikes donated some refills, so Micah and I are making a dry camp. 

It was a sunny day with a brisk cold wind and temperatures in the 40s. 
Tonight's supposed to go down in the teens and I'm sure the wind will 
make it feel much colder. 

Bumped into John and Tony again. They were headed for some camping by 
Whitley Gap Shelter. I had met a large group of boyscouts who were also 
headed for that shelter, so I opted to push on. 

My legs felt good today, in spite of the extra weight of my tent now 
that Brent's gone. I even packed a gallon of water with me for the last 
mile or two. I bought a second knee brace at Walasi-Yi and Brent left me 
his walking stick, so now I've got two of those as well. Whatever it was 
that quieted my knees, I'll take it. 

Oh yeah, I met Animal Crackers this morning at Walasi-Yi. She's from 
Connecticut and it looks like she's hiking with two other guys. 


Sunday, March 16 - Day 6

10.5 mi to Blue Mtn Shelter - 48.5 mi cum

I fell asleep last night listening to the Prarie Home Companion on NPR 
and awoke to the strident calls of two barred owls repeatedly questioning 
for each other "Who cooks for you?" In between I had to run out of my 
tent no less than 3 times to answer my own call from nature. Wouldn't 
you know it was the coldest night yet with temps around 20. Before turning 
in, I dressed Micah out in my expedition weight crew. Between that and 
his pad, he did fine. 

I awoke at 5 and tried to spot Hale-Bopp on the eastern horizon, but had 
no luck. I think the comet was obscured by trees. 

We were on the trail by 7:15, my earliest day yet. We startled a grouse 
within the first few miles. It was a beautiful morning that turned into 
a gorgeous day. After passing the Low Gap Shelter, the trail was a real 
joy. It looked like it had been an old road. I even met two runners who 
were out for a 15 mile run in the mountains. Needless to say, I was VERY 
impressed. 

From Chattahoochee Gap to the Blue Mountain Shelter, the trail was much 
more strenuous and extremely rocky and narrow at some points. I thought 
I'd been having a great day with my legs and feet, but at this point I 
started getting a pain in my right shin and was forced to call it quits 
for the day when I reached Blue Mountain Shelter at noon. 

Meant 2 Be, a 23yr old from Ohio, was taking a layover at the shelter. 
Stringer, from Manhattan, NY, stopped by briefly for lunch. Later on, 
Jaded and Chameleon showed up, then Animal Cracker and Tenderfoot, Puget 
Pounder (formerly John from Seattle) and Never Ready (formerly Tony of 
Atlanta), and finally New Leaf and Goat (the mother and son team) 
straggled in. Two other hikers also showed up, so there's a total of 12 of 
us in the shelter or tenting nearby. 

Sunday, March 17 - Day 7

7.7 mi to Tray Mtn Shelter - 56.2 mi cum

Well, it's a week today! Psychologically I'm doing great, physically I'm 
doing alright. It seems like once I hit 6 miles, my knees and shins really 
start hurting. I don't want to push it too much, so I'll just settle for 
low mileage for the nxt few days and see if things get better. 

I hit the shelter by 11:15 and decided to do some laundry today, of both 
me and my clothes. They're calling for rain tomorrow and Wednesday, so 
I wanted to take advantage of today's sunshine for drying things out. 

The views from this shelter and the 360-degree view from the top of Tray 
Mtn were spectacular. Definitely the best so far. I was hoping for a 
nice sunset but the heavy cloud cover has already rolled in. 

Jaded, Chameleon, 180-degrees, Puget Pounder, and Never Ready are here. 
I think some of the others that were at Blue Mtn last night decided to head 
into Helen when they hit the road crossing at Unicoi Gap. Some new faces - 
Hops, Dancin' Fool from Maine, Smokin' Joe from Mass, Rip, and a few 
others. There are at least 13 of us here so far. Never Ready's wife even 
showed up to spend the night with him.


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