Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -

4-3-01 - Gooch Gap Shelter
There's eight of us already here in the shelter and I have a feeling there are more on  the way. There's no sign on the shelter, but five looks like it would be comfortable.  But it's OK-we'll be warmer with all of us packed in here.  The rains started last night-or perhaps it was this morning. The thunder and lightning woke me up, and I felt sorry for all the people in their tents.  It really came pouring down and I'm sure many people discovered leaks in their tent at that point! The rain hasn't really let up all day - sometimes it came  down in torrents and other times just a sprinkle -  and a whole lot of degrees in between! Although there were tons of people camped out at Hawk Hawk Mountain last night, I don't  think even half of them arecoming this far.Many of them decided to stay there-which seemed like a fine idea several times today! The hike was hard, long, and wet-one of the most difficult I've ever done this is a piece of cake compared with what will come later, but for a now, it was tough.  I've lost count of the parts that hurt! I can't decide if my knees or feet hurt worse.  Of course, the help distract me from the back pain, So I'm glad for that small benefit.
Well, we've all finished supper now-and it's actually stopped raining for a while, too.  Two of the folks here have decided to set up tents as well, so there's  a little more room here now.  One of the guys who is now tenting is probably the least prepared hikers I've ever met.  All his gear was wet, because his rain gear is useless, plus his tent leaked last night and got all his other stuff wet.  So he comes up here wearing shorts a cotton T-shirt and regular running shoes with cotton socks.  He's also completely out of fuel for his stove and out of food, plus he didn't take any water from the spring on the approach trail, which is incredibly steep and a bear to re- hike.  To make a long story short, he ends up getting 2-3 days of food from one guy in here, gas and dry socks from the another and my spare shirt and Tevas (for the evening) plus water from someone else.  It's not a very smart way to hike, I'd say.  Right now there are a lot of hikers around to " yogi " from (get free stuff) but it won't always be that way.  I hope he can get himself better prepared before something unpleasant happens, like hypothermia or worse.Well, it's been a great day-I'm glad to be dry and warm, and even gladder that the rain has pause.  I hope 10.5 miles tomorrow will be easier than today.

4/4 - Blood Mountain Shelter

April 4 - Blood Mountain Shelter
Last night I got almost no sleep - the three guys on my right and two on the left all snored, and it was quite a symphony. I re-christened the guy next to me "chainsaw" because he was the worst. I was suprised he didn't have a few broken ribs due to all my elbow attempts to get him to roll on his side.
 I was the first one out of the shelter this morning - piched up my shirt and Tevas from Okie, who had tented a quarter mile down the trail - and then was on my way. After two hours of having the trail almost completely to myself, I stopped fora water refill - and three guys from the shelter cuaght up with me. Two were moving fast to make it into Neels Gap today (about 14 miles) but the third, Bob, was moving at about my pace. We basically hiked together all day. My original plan was to stop about 2 miles back at Woods Hole Shelter, butI noticed that it's water source was 0.3 miles away, and I really wanted to soak my knees in cold water tonight. Bob was planning to camp ahead near a stream, and after thinking about it, I decided that would be better. After another imle or so, we found the sopt, but the weather was lookin more and more like rain. I really didn't want to tent in the thunderstorms we've been having! So we stopped to soak our knees, along with a couple other hikers we met today, and then all four of us plugged away for another 1 1/2 miles to the top of Blood Mountain. It's the highest point in Georgia - and what a beautiful place! Although it's very hazy, the views are still phenomenal. We had to haul up all our water, becuase there's no water source here - and also the privy is gone. There was originally a beautiful cabin with a door and window shutters and even a fireplace. But unfortunately there is no real downed wood up here to burn and eventually they had to block up the fireplace because people were destroying the trees and they've even burnt the door and shutters. Hard to believe how stupid we people can be.

Well, we've hung a tarp over the window where the wind was coming from - and hopefully it doesn't switch during the night. It's still very damp inside with all the rain taht blew in yesterday. But with the four of us, it's cozy and we're having a very nice time getting to know each other.

Tomorrow it's only a couple miles into Neels Gap, where a day off awaits me! I'm looking forward to the rest, and getting cleaned up.