6/21 (zero day in Hiawassee)
It feels bittersweet to take a zero day in Hiawassee, because it feels so great to have a day off, but I'm missing out on 'hike naked day.' June 21st is summer solstice and to celebrate, hikers have made it officially 'hike naked day.' Just kiddin, I probably wouldn't have done it, but it is a real thing. In 2009, I was hiking with some thru-hikers in the NJ, NY area of the trail and those crazies did it, pretty much all day. And at the end of the day, one of the girls who was hiking naked said it was weird because everyones eyes were unnaturally looking away from her nether-region. And finally she said she had enough, and screamed, "JUST LOOK, PLEASE!!!"
Anyway, I ate breakfast at this cute little family owned restuarant with the most polite people and happiest waittresses. I spent most of the rest of the day chilling in my room with air condition and watching the History Channel's Swamp People and Mountain Men.
The market across the street had a great salad bar, so I loaded up with vegetables and fruits in an attempt to make this year's zero days restorative rather than destructive. The following was last year's zero day agenda- buy a bottle of wine and a block of cheese, consume as fast as possible, smoke some cigarettes and then fall sleep.
On a quick side note, I ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant again, and this lady that ate there brought in her own bag of Tostitos chips. That was hilarious to me. She was like, hiding them by her side and eating out of them sneakily. She was also a total bitch to her waittress. Boo this woman.
6/22 (11:00-5:00 11.8 miles Muskrat Creek Shelter)
GPS location
Tom, the retired principal, was also in Hiawassee yesterday and he decided to pay $15 to this shuttle service to get him back to the trail. I was thinking about going halvsies with him, but one, he left way too early in the morning for me and two, I think I'm going to pretty much refuse to pay for shuttles to and from the trail. Hitch hiking seems to work pretty well.
So I choose to hitch. I started walking out of town at 10 AM. I walked probably somewhere between 2-3 miles (in the blazing sun) of the 11 miles back to the trail and finally a dude picked me up. And this was probably my second coolest, weirdest, scariest hitch stories (back to back. The South. smh). Anway, this dude picked me up. His car was a total wreck. Crap every where and smashed windshield, but he seemed nice. Well he wound up telling me that he had recently got out of the hospital where he spent 3 weeks, because his ex-wife coaxed him into coming over and then she arranged some mountain hillibilly (his words) to jump out and stab him. He said he got the knife deep into his stomach and sliced from rib to rib. The knife got stuck into his rib cage. This was probably his saving grace or else the guy probably would have continued to stab him to death. He lifted up his shirt while he was driving to show me the damage. A horrid sight. The worst part for him was that his daughter was in the car and saw everything. Poor child. The worse part for me was I was now thinking this guy might not be right in the head and want to deal some pain to someone else. But it turned out ok and I got back on the trail at 11:00.
I felt great, rested. I walked the 12 miles with basically no breaks, well no long breaks. Sometimes I would sit down for a minute or two to rest the feet, but I made it the whole way without any long breaks or eating any food. Although, I felt very rusty. I wasn't reading the guiede properly and I missed some spots for water that I wanted to stop at. I guess it doesn't take long to get out of the swing of things.
There were 3 section hikers at the shelter when I got there. At first I wasn't happy to see them because they're usually loud, take up a lot of space and have all kinds of nice stuff that I wish I could carry, but is not sensible when you're doing long distances. However, they wound up being great guys, but they did have all kinds of things hikers shouldn't be carrying- chairs, radio, speakers, saws, kettles. For dinner they cooked steaks and mash potatoes. But they started a fire and cut wood, so that was nice. Another dude, a college student, came in late to camp, and we wound up having 6 dudes by the camp fire talking and sharing stories and stuff. it was nice.
6/23 (12:00-6:00 12.5 miles Carter Gap Shelter)
GPS location
I got a really late start today. I slept in pretty good. One of the guys had tobacco and he offerred me some. I gave in and had some. It made me sleepy.
I felt strong again. I feel like I'm getting my 'trail' legs, unfortunately, my feet are getting pretty sore. Looks like they'll be my weak link once again.
6/24 (10:20-7:30 15.9 miles Winding Stair Gap)
GPS location
It was 16 miles to winding stair gap from where we camped last night, so the plan was to hike 15 miles so that I could wake up and only have 1 mile to get to the gap. At this gap was a main road that would lead to the town of Franklin, which was my next resupply point. I wasn't sure whether I'd just go in for supplies and head back out to the trail, or spend one night in a motel or maybe even spend two nights in a motel to have another zero day.
There was this awesome fire tower today that was about a mile high from sea level. It had a great 360 view of the awesome mountain range around here. Also because it was Sunday, there were a lot of locals hanging around. They had such a thick southern accent and the stuff they were saying was so stereotypical southern, it was hilarious. I wish I could have remembered some of things they were saying, but it was great.
Tom has been trying to keep up with me since Joel and Ben left, and he has been doing a great job at it. He cannot hike as fast as I can, but he makes up for up by hiking longer (starts earlier and finishes later). I think its taking a toll on him, because he's getting very tired and run down. I get the sense that he doesn't want to be alone out there, and jerk me, isn't helping. I do like being around him at campsites and break spots to eat meals. He is an awesome guy and must have been an awesome principal, but I do not want to 'hike' with someone.
Tom really didn't want to push on today. There was a shelter that was 12 miles from last night's camp and he really wanted to stop there, but I metioned the 15 mile plan and he got down with it. Then as we got closer, I said I was going to go the whole way. Also, one of the locals at the firetower said there was an 8 AM free shuttle bus from that gap to the town of Franklin. I liked the sound of that, so I wanted to get as close to the road as possible so I could make the 8 AM shuttle. Well I still felt strong hiking, so I decided I was going to get all the way to the road to see if there was a bus stop or shuttle schedule to confirm and tent somewhere near the road. Well I got to the road at about 7:30 and Tom made it there a bit after 8. He was exhausted and I was craving beer, so it didn't take long for us to decide to hitch into town and split a motel room. So we got this awesome hitch from a 1960 something land rover from this cool family, got a room at the budget inn and headed to the local bar. It was a great night.
Back to the decision of hiking all the way to the road- it was a play it by ear decision. It all depended on how I felt. If I started to get tired, I was just gonna tent there and wake up earlier to make the 8 AM shuttle. The day ended with a decent little climb and I was uncertain of how I would feel during and after. And Tom is always around and always asks my plans, so he can meet up with me. I told him that I wasn't certain of where I'd camp because of what I just mentioned above, and he asked, "well what if you camp somewhere and I can't see you?" I said, "If I camp some where I think you wont be able to see me, I'll put my hiking pole on the trail, so you'll know." He also kept throwing in hints that he wanted to stop at the top of the mountain to camp, hoping I'd agree and join him. And he also asked me to wait when I got to the top of the mountain for him to catch up, so he could see how I was feeling so he'd know what I was thinking as far as where I'd camp for the night. There was no way I was doing that. I almost feel bad, but I don't. I came out here alone. He came out here alone. Anyway, as I kept hiking, I kept feeling good so I knew I was going to make it to the road. But it was funny because all along the way there were all these great little camp sites that I knew Tom had been wishing I stopped at. It was classic! and when we got a little tipsy at the bar, I got it out of him about how every time he passed a camp site without seeing my hiking pole, he was cursing me out. haha.
It feels bittersweet to take a zero day in Hiawassee, because it feels so great to have a day off, but I'm missing out on 'hike naked day.' June 21st is summer solstice and to celebrate, hikers have made it officially 'hike naked day.' Just kiddin, I probably wouldn't have done it, but it is a real thing. In 2009, I was hiking with some thru-hikers in the NJ, NY area of the trail and those crazies did it, pretty much all day. And at the end of the day, one of the girls who was hiking naked said it was weird because everyones eyes were unnaturally looking away from her nether-region. And finally she said she had enough, and screamed, "JUST LOOK, PLEASE!!!"
Anyway, I ate breakfast at this cute little family owned restuarant with the most polite people and happiest waittresses. I spent most of the rest of the day chilling in my room with air condition and watching the History Channel's Swamp People and Mountain Men.
The market across the street had a great salad bar, so I loaded up with vegetables and fruits in an attempt to make this year's zero days restorative rather than destructive. The following was last year's zero day agenda- buy a bottle of wine and a block of cheese, consume as fast as possible, smoke some cigarettes and then fall sleep.
On a quick side note, I ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant again, and this lady that ate there brought in her own bag of Tostitos chips. That was hilarious to me. She was like, hiding them by her side and eating out of them sneakily. She was also a total bitch to her waittress. Boo this woman.
6/22 (11:00-5:00 11.8 miles Muskrat Creek Shelter)
GPS location
Tom, the retired principal, was also in Hiawassee yesterday and he decided to pay $15 to this shuttle service to get him back to the trail. I was thinking about going halvsies with him, but one, he left way too early in the morning for me and two, I think I'm going to pretty much refuse to pay for shuttles to and from the trail. Hitch hiking seems to work pretty well.
So I choose to hitch. I started walking out of town at 10 AM. I walked probably somewhere between 2-3 miles (in the blazing sun) of the 11 miles back to the trail and finally a dude picked me up. And this was probably my second coolest, weirdest, scariest hitch stories (back to back. The South. smh). Anway, this dude picked me up. His car was a total wreck. Crap every where and smashed windshield, but he seemed nice. Well he wound up telling me that he had recently got out of the hospital where he spent 3 weeks, because his ex-wife coaxed him into coming over and then she arranged some mountain hillibilly (his words) to jump out and stab him. He said he got the knife deep into his stomach and sliced from rib to rib. The knife got stuck into his rib cage. This was probably his saving grace or else the guy probably would have continued to stab him to death. He lifted up his shirt while he was driving to show me the damage. A horrid sight. The worst part for him was that his daughter was in the car and saw everything. Poor child. The worse part for me was I was now thinking this guy might not be right in the head and want to deal some pain to someone else. But it turned out ok and I got back on the trail at 11:00.
I felt great, rested. I walked the 12 miles with basically no breaks, well no long breaks. Sometimes I would sit down for a minute or two to rest the feet, but I made it the whole way without any long breaks or eating any food. Although, I felt very rusty. I wasn't reading the guiede properly and I missed some spots for water that I wanted to stop at. I guess it doesn't take long to get out of the swing of things.
There were 3 section hikers at the shelter when I got there. At first I wasn't happy to see them because they're usually loud, take up a lot of space and have all kinds of nice stuff that I wish I could carry, but is not sensible when you're doing long distances. However, they wound up being great guys, but they did have all kinds of things hikers shouldn't be carrying- chairs, radio, speakers, saws, kettles. For dinner they cooked steaks and mash potatoes. But they started a fire and cut wood, so that was nice. Another dude, a college student, came in late to camp, and we wound up having 6 dudes by the camp fire talking and sharing stories and stuff. it was nice.
6/23 (12:00-6:00 12.5 miles Carter Gap Shelter)
GPS location
I got a really late start today. I slept in pretty good. One of the guys had tobacco and he offerred me some. I gave in and had some. It made me sleepy.
I felt strong again. I feel like I'm getting my 'trail' legs, unfortunately, my feet are getting pretty sore. Looks like they'll be my weak link once again.
6/24 (10:20-7:30 15.9 miles Winding Stair Gap)
GPS location
It was 16 miles to winding stair gap from where we camped last night, so the plan was to hike 15 miles so that I could wake up and only have 1 mile to get to the gap. At this gap was a main road that would lead to the town of Franklin, which was my next resupply point. I wasn't sure whether I'd just go in for supplies and head back out to the trail, or spend one night in a motel or maybe even spend two nights in a motel to have another zero day.
There was this awesome fire tower today that was about a mile high from sea level. It had a great 360 view of the awesome mountain range around here. Also because it was Sunday, there were a lot of locals hanging around. They had such a thick southern accent and the stuff they were saying was so stereotypical southern, it was hilarious. I wish I could have remembered some of things they were saying, but it was great.
Tom has been trying to keep up with me since Joel and Ben left, and he has been doing a great job at it. He cannot hike as fast as I can, but he makes up for up by hiking longer (starts earlier and finishes later). I think its taking a toll on him, because he's getting very tired and run down. I get the sense that he doesn't want to be alone out there, and jerk me, isn't helping. I do like being around him at campsites and break spots to eat meals. He is an awesome guy and must have been an awesome principal, but I do not want to 'hike' with someone.
Tom really didn't want to push on today. There was a shelter that was 12 miles from last night's camp and he really wanted to stop there, but I metioned the 15 mile plan and he got down with it. Then as we got closer, I said I was going to go the whole way. Also, one of the locals at the firetower said there was an 8 AM free shuttle bus from that gap to the town of Franklin. I liked the sound of that, so I wanted to get as close to the road as possible so I could make the 8 AM shuttle. Well I still felt strong hiking, so I decided I was going to get all the way to the road to see if there was a bus stop or shuttle schedule to confirm and tent somewhere near the road. Well I got to the road at about 7:30 and Tom made it there a bit after 8. He was exhausted and I was craving beer, so it didn't take long for us to decide to hitch into town and split a motel room. So we got this awesome hitch from a 1960 something land rover from this cool family, got a room at the budget inn and headed to the local bar. It was a great night.
Back to the decision of hiking all the way to the road- it was a play it by ear decision. It all depended on how I felt. If I started to get tired, I was just gonna tent there and wake up earlier to make the 8 AM shuttle. The day ended with a decent little climb and I was uncertain of how I would feel during and after. And Tom is always around and always asks my plans, so he can meet up with me. I told him that I wasn't certain of where I'd camp because of what I just mentioned above, and he asked, "well what if you camp somewhere and I can't see you?" I said, "If I camp some where I think you wont be able to see me, I'll put my hiking pole on the trail, so you'll know." He also kept throwing in hints that he wanted to stop at the top of the mountain to camp, hoping I'd agree and join him. And he also asked me to wait when I got to the top of the mountain for him to catch up, so he could see how I was feeling so he'd know what I was thinking as far as where I'd camp for the night. There was no way I was doing that. I almost feel bad, but I don't. I came out here alone. He came out here alone. Anyway, as I kept hiking, I kept feeling good so I knew I was going to make it to the road. But it was funny because all along the way there were all these great little camp sites that I knew Tom had been wishing I stopped at. It was classic! and when we got a little tipsy at the bar, I got it out of him about how every time he passed a camp site without seeing my hiking pole, he was cursing me out. haha.
Stop Hitchhiking! You're in the south!! Didn't you ever see Deliverance?!
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