[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] Trip Report- long ( GA/NC)

Trip Report of the "FlaBoys"- Neels Gap-Ga to Deep Gap , N.C.
June 11-19th

6/11

woke up at 7 am, even on vacation, habits are hard to break. Got the kids up
and the dog in the travelling crate. Dog aka Lightning , wasn't too happy
about this- she wined and cried all the way to FLL airport.Flight was on time,
and Wes -our shuttler met us at the gate in Atlanta. He dropped us off at
Goose Creek cabins. A few section hikers were there. Watched the Detroit-
Washington hockey game on the satellite, but got tired so missed the overtime.

6/12

8am wakeup,Keith dropped us off at Neels gap where we walked thru the famous
arch, the only place the AT goes thru a building. Morning walk wasn't too
horrible, considering how little we had trained. We did pretty well> stopped
at a pretty rock cropping for lunch> Afternoon, lots of ups- nice views-
reminded me of that famous AT idiom- "what ever goes up, must go up!" Met a
nice young couple from U Ga- kids really who told us to do the road walk and
skip the climb at Wildcat MT, if we were tired- which we were at days end.
Found a lovely spring , campsite site and turned in- tired but happy.

6/13

woke up at about 7 am to a light pitter patter on the fly, which then became a
real rain storm. Glad that we had put the fly on before going to sleep, so
just rolled over and went back to sleep, sure wish I could do that at home.
Rain let up at 8:30 am, so we got moving then. Mostly easy walking, with a few
huffers and puffers. The downhills are the pits- I feel it my knees and big
toes. Met a 95 thru hiker Spireo 1 mile from Low Gap Shelter and spent the
nite there with him> short day, relaxed afternoon. Nice site with babbling
brook right here. Got tent up in shelter-pretty warm nite.Tired but happy.

6/14

6 am wakeup. On trail by 7:30 am. Got caught in rain on top of some mountain>
interesting how quickly the temperature can drop with the rain. Matt put his
Gortex on, I walked in my short sleeve shirt- wasn't worth the effort to put
my jacket on. The sun came out and warmed  us up. Walked 9.6 miles up and down
to Unicoi gap. When it started to rain again, kind of got fed up, pulled the
old " startek" out, called Mulls Motel in Hiawassee- arranged them to pick us
up, and stayed there overnite- great showers- nice people- dog liked sleeping
in a real bed also!
 



6/15

11am shuttle back to Dicks gap. Skipped the climb of tray mountain. Figured it
would be too much of a push to continue from Unicoi Gap. Walked to Plumorchard
shelter- only 4.5 miles, but a hard day. Lots of ups  and downs> My left heel
hurts, but only when I put weight on it! My wind isn't too bad> Got to
shelter with a large group of teens from a Church- totally obnoxious.
Lightning put her paw thru the screen door, because we didn't get her booties
on quickly enough> we fixed it with duct tape after much yelling at screaming
at the dog, and many threats of death and doom for her for any repeat similar
behavior. She curled up and went to sleep.. We tented, they still kept us up
late- hardly a wilderness experience! They woke us up at 6am with a cockle
doodle doo…

6/16

On trail by 7:20 am..Up all day on trail on way to Bly Gap. About 1.3 miles
from Bly, the heavens opened up, while we were on the absolute top of the
mountain, and the thunder and lightning started. It was real close, we
scampered down a bit off the crest, huddled in our gore tex under some thick
rhododendrum bushes, Lightning tried to dig herself into the ground, and
stayed there for 15 minutes, while the G-ds took their wrath out on us,
Eventually it settled down to a regular monsoon, so we walked the last 1.3
miles to Bly Gap- stopped for the mandatory picture at the Ga/NC border. At
Bly gap there was a 2 minute lull in the rain. We got the tent and fly up in
about 50 seconds , threw everything including the wet  dog inside, who
promptly wrapped herself under the down comforter- maybe she's not so stupid
after all, and we all went to sleep in the pouring rain. Anyways pretty
quickly we were all pretty, warm dry and snug in our little cocoon. A little
seepage thru the fly of our meteor light cd- but it was pretty good in the
rain.After it kind of let up, we tried to make soup in the partially open
vestibule, but our peak 1- did its very best to try to burn the tent down, so
we rolled up the vestibule part, and made soup just outside the tent with us
inside. Dog much prefers our food to hers- who could blame her? We smell bad-
I mean real bad> even the dog smells bad and she's the cleanest of the three
of us.The aroma of my wet socks after just 5 days is quite amazing!  Tomorrow
might be 10.7 miles- we'll see.

6/17

The climb up Bly Gap was a killer. 1.1 mile straight up at a 60- 70 degree
incline. Very hard climb- glad to have dog pulling me up & up & up.Then thru
lots of rhododendrum tunnels- dark and green. Into Muskrat shelter for lunch-
nice design, even had a privy . Last 4  miles after lunch easy with lots of
downhills, and cold streams to cool my bandana off in> Up and over Yellow
Mountain, decided to skip last 3.7 miles of alternate trail and called shuttle
at Deep Gap to take us to Rainbow Springs- hot shower and bed, more appealing
than walking  in dark to Rainbow- tired, happy and smelly- I'm ready for my
October trip, dog is also- son is iffy now- we'll see.  Jim
* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List | For info http://www.hack.net/lists *

==============================================================================