Day 8

Today I am glad I stayed in.  Rained most of the day and the fog so thick visibility is about 25 feet. There are no mountain views today. Hopefully this will clear out tonight and tomorrow will be sunny.  I am beginning to get cabin fever but these cabins have a small kitchen, table, futon, and 2 bedrooms, and most important a TV.  The store has frozen pizzas and a small supply of hiker foods.  The one thing I am missing is a Cracker Barrell or steak place, or even a Mc Donald's.  I should get to a town in a couple of days maybe.  Tomorrow I will have to hike a lot more miles than I have previously just to get to a campsite.  Since I have already hiked this part of the trail I intend to skip Wildcat Mountain.  It is very steep with switchbacks every 15 feet. Instead I plan to walk up the road from Tesnatee Gap to Hogpen Gap and try to make Low Gap Shelter by dark. That's the plan but sometimes the plans change. We will see. 

Day 7

Not hiking today.  Waiting on the weather to clear. Supposed to be another round of storms coming through tonight. So I will wait it out.  Today is much cooler and I shipped home the bear cannister stuffed full of extra food and clothes.  I thought it would weigh about 20 pounds, but it only weighed 7 lbs but it took up so much space in my pack and was really bulky.  It was a great camp stool though.  Food weight is another way to cut down. I have been carrying too much food thinking I would eat more. Even Baby Ruth's don't taste good after a day of hiking in the heat. Too sweet. When I start hiking again I will hike a section that I have hiked before. There was a mountain view I would like to get a picture of if the weather cooperates. Hopefully it will.  More to come later. 

Day 6

Today is a zero day.  Scattered showers expected.  Severe weather is expected for Tuesday and Wednesday so I will plan on staying put till Thursday morning.  Call me a whimp but I have no desire to hike in storms that I know are coming.  I am still recovering from dehydration and feel 100% better. I will send home every item that has not been used so far.  There is no sense in carting dead weight in my pack. I have met some interesting people.  A father and son from South Carolina hiking to Franklin NC.  The son is an insulin dependent diabetic.  A group of first time hikers.  Three hikers from New York.  One from Ohio.  One hiker who's parents grew up in Lincoln and another who's grandmother was from Sylacauga.  It just shows that we really do live in a small world. This is the closest I have come to a bear. 

I decided to stick with my tent and not buy a hammock.  I know I can stay dry in my tent in case I do get caught in the rain.  I bought a new sleeping pad to replace the one that will not stay inflated.  I did find out that the reason for the bear cannister rule was one bear that had figured out how to get the food bags from the bear hangs, but the local people also think he may be dead by now.  I also have a picture of one of the rodents occupying the shelter on top of the mountain but I can't post it at this time   More to come later. 

Day 5

New score Blood Mountain 2 one going up and one coming down.  Water at last nights shelter tasted terrible. I drank only a half liter gagging with each swallow.  I am trusting that the aquamera drops cleaned the harmful stuff up.  So, I tackled the mountain with fowl tasting water. This was the first time the water has had a chemical taste from the drops. Instead I poured the water on me to help cool me off and would only rinse and spit when I need water thus limiting the amount I drank.

Me from the top of the mountain awesome view. It seemed like 10000 steps up and 1000 switchbacks.  Completely exhausted by the time I reached the top.  Going down was worse  with rock scrambles. I really got excited when I began to hear cars on the highway and could see Mountain Crossing. Got to Blood Mountain cabins and got the last vacancy.  Walked in the door right before the rain started. Because these cabins have 2 bedrooms I would be willing for someone to share if they need to get out of the weather.  So far I am alone but I think storms are moving in for tomorrow and I will take a zero day tomorrow.  I will wait on the weather to see what Tuesday holds.  At least I have downed a gallon of water and gotten a shower, and eaten half a pizza.  Feet were really hurting today, but so far no blisters yet.  Maybe tonight I can sleep.  My air matress has a slow leak so in the middle of the night I am on the ground which means I cannot go back to sleep when that occurs.  I will be shipping a lot of things home tomorrow   Mostly the bear cannister.  With the food I don't think I'll eat. Some other items also maybe my tent so I can try a hammock. Although there are tent sites they are not level. With a hammock all you need is 2 trees. I saw a lot of these in use at Lance Creek. It would also lighten my load about 5 lbs.  more later  

Day 4

If I was keeping score it would be Mountains 4 Me 0.  Today was the worst yet. Back aches , shoulders hurt bad, stomach aches, feet ache, knees are hurting. On a scale of 10 my pain is 14.  I am carrying way to much weight on me and my pack.  Even though I thought I was drinking enough water the heat today caused me to sweat it all out   I felt like I was going to pass out at least 2 times.  Took 2 long rests so I could get enough strength to keep going.  Finally made it to Woods Hole Shelter.  I am the only one here so I will pitch my tent in the shelter.  The bear cannister was required between Jarrard Gap and Neel Gap so it has done some good. I will send it home at Mountain Crossing tomorrow.  If I can get rehydrated and a good nights sleep I will tackle Blood Mountain in the mourning   I only covered 4 miles today after getting a late start.  My washed clothes needed to dry. 

I also thought I would so the resting log that was one of many put there for me. 

I only needed 100 of them to make it through the day.  I will try to make it to Blood Mountain Cabins tomorrow and then take a zero day there. More to come later. 

Day 3

Today I thought it would be an easy 4.3 miles today but uphill to preaching rock was treacherous then I continued up another steep mountain and finally got to Lance Creek.  Met some nice people camping here. All first timers.  One thing for sure every time I'm tired and need to rest it is almost like God placed a large rock or large tree just for me to sit and rest a while.  Ok maybe not placed there exactly for me but there is always a place to sit and rest. More to come later. 

Day 2

Camped last night at Justus Creek.  Only made 4 miles but climbed sassafras mountain and Justus mountain. Today I ate lunch at Gooch Mountain shelter, then finally made it to Woodys gap at 7:00.  Would have had to hike another mile to get to a campsite. Instead I opted for a hostel in Suches at Wolfpin gap country store, where they pick you up at Woody gap.  So tonight I will be in a bunk. Then start back at woody gap in the morning. 

Starting back

Well I am starting back at horse gap.  My wife dropped me off at the state park where we spent last night.  Passed thru Atlanta yesterday and ate lunch with my brother and his wife and son.  When we got here last night the lodge was closed while they were filming a movie, so we stayed in a cabin and had to drive 20 miles to get something to eat.  This morning I took a shuttle to this location. And ready to hike on. Will update later.  Time to walk. 

Watch out for these 2

These hairy vines should be avoided or you will be in for an itchy time.  These are the ones that got me. 

Good news is the itching has almost stopped and the no new blisters have formed today.  Of course I have taken 2 rounds of 1/2 dose Prednesone and used the whole tube of Benedryl cream.  I will get a new tube before returning to the AT. 

On a more exciting note, my wife and I will head to north GA, Amicalola State Park, on Tuesday, April 22.  We plan to stop in for a quick visit with my brother, Lewis and his wife, Deon on the way   On Wednesday, April 23, I will rejoin the trail at Horse Gap.  This time I will have a Bear Vault so I can take my time and not have to avoid camping between Jarrod Gap and Neels Gap.  I plan to stay in Blood Mountain Shelter one night.

I have decided to leave the alcohol stove at home and keep my JetBoil.  To me the difference in cooking time is worth the additional weight.  Also other factors that affect the alcohol stove are wind, and the amount of fuel you need to use for different cooking times.  If you need to cook longer you can not just add more alcohol while you are cooking.  With the Jetboil the flame is adjustable, so as long as you have fuel in your canisters you can vary the heat you are cooking with.  The weight of the alcohol and the weight of the cannister fuel seems very comparable, even though I have not actually weighed them.  More to come later. 

Watch Out for These

On Saturday, I decided to remove two dead trees that could have fallen and blocked my driveway.  The intention was to take them down so my wife would not have to deal with them if they fell when I get back on the trail.  Although the trees were rotting the vines attached to the trees were alive and well.  End result - POISON OAK OR IVY.  Almost every summer I get poison ivy when I use a weedeater, but this time there were no leaves to identify the vines.  Since I have a lot of wild muscadine vines, I thought that was what they were and I went to work pulling vines.  Apparently these were not muscadine vines.  Itching started on Sunday afternoon on my arm, but by 1:00 am Monday morning after eating my midnight snack I could feel  my lips getting tight and beginning to swell and it looked like I had hives.  Thinking it was a reaction to what I had just eaten, poison ivy or poison oak never entered my mind, especially since I had no blisters at this time.  After a trip to the doctor, I now know the vines were poisonous.  Since Saturday was about 80 degrees I must have wiped the sweat off my head transferring the poison to my ears, neck, and face.  At least I got treatment started early with a shot, Prednesone, and Benadryl cream to relieve the itching.  The whole point of this writing is to provide information to any reader that may prevent him, myself included, from going through the itching and blisters I now have.  Below are pictures of these poisonous plants to help with identification before coming in contact with them.  The best rule is "leaves of three let it be".  This is true of poison ivy and poison oak. Of course there are other non-poisonous plants with three leaves, but close inspection shows that the tips of the leaves on poison ivy will form a triangle and the leaves are not symmetrical, meaning the central vein is not centered, one side larger than the other.   Poison oak has the same identifying marks, but the leaves tend to mimic the other plants around it.  The leaves may look like an oak or may be rounded.  Poison sumac characteristically has either 9 or 11 leaves on a single stalk.  These plants grow just about everywhere in the southeastern states and are one of the things to be avoided on any trail hike especially on the AT or Pinhoti.  Remember the rule - leaves of three, let it be.

Ready to Start Back

Around my house plans keep changing.  My last post was posted when I was visiting two of my grandchildren in Virginia where they had about 8 inches of snow.  Last week was a trip to Georgia to see my youngest grandchild.  It looks like I will get back on the trail the week after Easter since kids will be coming to visit that week.  Once I start back I will have a couple of weeks to hike before I have to make another trip to Virginia for a week.  My wife will pick me up at whatever town I can get to and then drop me back at the same location on the return trip so I can hike on.  In the mean-time I am trying out different meals looking for the things I like to eat.  Some things I have tried, I have ruled out.  It may come down to a jar of peanut butter, along with a few other meals.  Also, I have planted my garden just in case I have to end my hike before reaching Maine.  My wife may end up tending to it if I stay on the trail.  Warmer weather has me excited again about continuing my hike, but also I am aware of the miles I will need to hike each day in order to complete the AT by the end of September.  I have decided not to worry about the miles and just enjoy the hike no matter how far I get.  Being retired, I have no deadline to make so I can take my time and not feel rushed.  More to come later.