Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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April 5
It's been a wild day so far. It's almost 1:30 but I feel like I've had 3 days packed into today.

I started out this morning from Blood Mountain after a pretty good night's sleep, which was unusual. Even though the shelter was cold & damp, I was toasty in my bag & the tarp rigged over the one window kept out gale winds, Althought Andrew & Bob both snore, neither one could sleep very well, which ironically, was my gain. We were all up at 7 & on the trail by 8 - Bob & I pulled into Walasi about 9:30. It was completely socked in on top of the mountain & a bit of a trick getting down. Much of the first part was over rocks where the blazes were just painted on the rock & it was hard sometimes to know which way the trail was going. But we made it down in good time.

Then the craziness started. I picked up my mail drop (sent to myself a week ago) & then I had Dana take a look at how my pack was fitting. Within a few moments, I learned he was the designer of Dana packs - WOW! He showed me a few things that should definitely help the pack to ride better. After that I pulled everything out of the pack & had a guy look at it to see if I can lose some weight. I'm at 36 pounds now & as hard as we tried, we couldn't get rid of more than a few ounces. Then I repacked my food bag with my supplies & sat down with the owner, Jeff, to take a look at my boots. As I had already figured out, my pair is a bit too small & it's causing my toes to smash into the fronts all the time My little toes are the rawest & it looks like lose some those toenails.

So I've got a new pair on my feet & boxed up the old pair, along with a few extra things from my pack, my journal pages & the first roll of film to send back home. I really hope this pair works better! I'm surprised that my old pair has caused me such pain as the first 70 miles or so of break-in were great. Ah well. I'm just glad this outfitter is here, early on the trail.

After all that adjusting, I hopped the shuttle here to Goose Creek Cabins & managed to secure a bed, shower & clean laundry for $27.50. Although I supposedly have a "modern" trailer, I'm quite convinced the only difference between this & "rustic" accommodations is the TV we have - & the washer & dryer. I guess I would gladly have taken the rustic ones for $25 but when I learned that gettting my laundry done would be $5 extra, I did the math & chose this one instead. Quite frankly, it's everything I could want - a bed to sleep in & a chance to get clean - but if I weren't a hiker, I'd probably be disappointed.

At 6:30 tonight, there's a shuttle in to a nearby restaurant (for $2) so I'm looking forward to eating something I haven't cooked form a ziploc bag. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to use the phone & call Tony as well.


April 6 Low Gap Shelter mile 41.3

What a beautiful hiking day it was ! I caught the early shuttle from Goose Creek this morning back to the trail, but before I started walking, I had to make another visit inside Walasi-Yi. The stated purpose this time was to buy a knee wrap, since the mice ate my last one. I tried to pull it out last night & discovered the little critters had had a feast on it. I don't know why they like it - it's just a plasticy mess , but maybe they thought it would be good for their digestion or something.

So I found my knee wrap and then I stopped the owner who helped fit my boots yesterday to ask him about my sore heel. I mentioned at the restaurant last night that I have this sensation of stepping on a stone constantly - and suddenly I was hearing lots of stories about bone spurs. It was quite freaky. So I asked the guy today what he thought of it and he suggested my arches may be falling from the hiking and the last boots - and therefore the tendon is being stretched too far. So we put in some Superfeet insoles and they felt immediately better. I had to haul out the VISA card yet again before I could escape down the trail.

For the first half of the day, I was hiking in fog & mist again. Another hiker came by me and we both agreed it was the loveliest inside of a cirrus cloud we had ever seen. After lunch, it cleared up & then the views started to become wonderful. It was such a fine day to be out and I felt like I was in a groove. The last mile here was hard - and my feet are sore, but I'm glad to be here.

April 7 Blue Mountain Shelter mile 48.5

It's early afternoon & already I've pulled off the trail to set up camp for the night. I'm actually feeling kind of down right at the moment because I've had to stop so early in the day. It's an incredible day for hiking - the sun is finally out & the views are beautiful. Not only that, everyone I know or have been hiking with has come through and moved on, so I feel sort of left behind. There's nothing wrong with it, & I know this is how trail life goes - I've left behind just as many as have left me. But still it's a little hard. To top off the feeling, I just learned from 3 guys who I've been hiking with the last couple days that there's a Boy Scout breakfast for all thru-hikers tomorrow morning, but it's quite a hike for me. I'm going to look at my maps and see if somehow I can leave early enough to make it, but I already know there is a HUGE hill to climg in the next 3-4 miles.

Althought I've gotten here plenty early enough for a space in the shelter, I've decided to tent tonight. When I first arrived just after noon, a big group of Scouts and some other hikers were also here, eating lunch. Before long, it became entertainment to watch all the mice scurrying around on the rafters overhead. We all know that mice who are that brave in the daytime will be all over a person at night. No thanks for me! I'll take my chances on rain tonight (although I hear it isn't supposed to) & hope for a beautiful sunrise vista form my tent in the morning or maybe from the trail, if I'm up early enough.

Well, the rest of my body is glad that I stopped. My knees are still sore and it feels like I have some splints on my right leg. The new insoles have taken away the tendon pain but my heels chafe agaisnt them right now, so the uphill sections are hard to do. At least I have one part happy, no matter what terrain I'm on! My feet like downhill and my knees like uphill!

Spring has definitely arrived in Georgia! Although most of the trees are barren, there are beautiful white wildflowers blooming along the trail and a lot of greenery shooting up as well. And the bugs are out too! Gnats are swarming me as I write and I'm thinking of taking refuge in the tent for a bit.

Well, it seems I was prematurely down there. It's suppertime now & I've run into about 5-6 other folks that I know here in this "tent city". We've been getting caught up and finding out where other folks are at. I'm also having a fun time listening to this major redneck espouse trail wisdon - he's either hiked the whole trail or quite a lot of it 2 years ago and boy - does he have advice for everyone! It is interesting - I'm sure some of it is true.

April 8 Tray Mountain Shelter mile 56.2
Had to climb 2 big hills today - Rocky Mountain first thing this morning and Tray Mountain after that. The first one wasn't bad at all - had plenty of energy & just just paced myself well. The last one was longer & perhaps a bit steeper - plus I made the mistake of passing up the spring halfway here, so I ran out of water just when I reached the peak & couldn't stay to enjoy the view. Boy, what a view too! I could look south & see Blood Mountain which I climbed earlier this week, & also north of the Smokies, Which I'll be climbing next week. It was so beautiful.

I saw tree deer this morning, too. Finally some wild life! Til now I've only seen mice, a salamander and a huge snake skin - probably a black snake. I hear grouse & woodpeckers all day long and owls during the night, but I've never actually seen them. Last night I was out of my tent for the first time & it sounded like an owl convention going on at about 1 this morning. I don't know what kind they were, except that they were not screech owls!

I got my earliest start ever this morning - my alarm was set for 6 and I packed everything up by moon light & hit the trail just as the first light was breaking about 7. It was a full moon last night & it was really cool to watch the moon setting just as the sun began to rise. I hiked the 8 miles here in about 5 hours, including a 20 mintue stop for foot doctoring. I got my first blister yesterday, which I drained & trimmed last night, then covered in moleskin & duct tape today. After a couple hours of hiking, I stopped to change socks, to help keep it dry & all the tape was sweated off my feet, so I had to re-do it all. Even then, the shoe still rubs a little & causes a little pain. I'm such a wimp!

This shelter tonight has another lovely Georgia privy which we missed at the last couple shelters. I love the way they build them here - 3 sided, jsut like the shelters. This one only faces the trees, but usually they're set up with a lovely view. The other benefit is that you can always see if it's occupied, because the 3 sides also don't go all the way to the ground.

It's becoming tent city here again tonight - I guess no one is interested in dealing with the mice. And we all think it's not going to rain. At first I started to set up on a spot closest to the shelter, just in case a thunderstorm hits .....I could dash into the shelter and stay dry. But then I found this one with fewer rocks and a nicer view so I;m taking my chances. My tent is so small that I have my doubts about how comfortable it would be to weather a storm in there, but I suppose eventually I'll have to find out. I did seam seal it pretty thoroughly beore I left, so I think I should be OK, unless it's an unending downpour like earlier this week.