Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
May 23
Woody Gap to Neels Gap.........................................................................................10 miles
The pain started in my legs. I don't really remember the first time I felt it. It was in my calves, and it never went away. That's when we discovered "vitamin A" (Advil). Two each night, sometimes more. Again we beat Don and Taz out of camp but they soon passed us. We'd then play catch up to them at the water hole, then they would pass us again.
We did the 2000 ft. ascent up Blood Mountain, named for some Indian battle, or was it named for what it did to our feet? The stone shelter on top was quaint. We climbed up on the rock outcrop to relax, enjoy the view and take pictures. Had dinner up there, then decided to continue down to Neels Gap (Walasi-Yi Inn). Really steep 3 mile descent to Neels Gap, and again, Don and Taz got there first. When Vicki and I arrived Don had already left to make a beer run. This is the area where Don lives. He was leaving the trail here and had parked his car nearby several days before. We cleaned up (1st shower since we started) got some laundry in the washer and waited for Don to return.
He finally pulled up around dusk with a 12 pack. He had driven almost 80 miles trying to find some beer. Now that's a real trail angel. We had a great time with Don, Brian, Taz, and a couple of other hikers. You know how it is when everyone feels comfortable with each other, and everyone is so relaxed and having fun, that everything anyone says is hilarious. Well, that was the mood around the table that night. It was one of the most enjoyable times we had all year. What a great group. Don offered to come back in the morning and take Taz, Vicki and I into town to a grocery store and then to eat pizza. It is amazing how much we looked forward to a meal that didn't come out of an aluminum pouch.
Later that night Vicki and I did some serious weight reduction of our packs. We weren't packing that much weight, but we were packing more than we wanted. We planned to send home everything that hadn't been used up until then, plus somethings that we had used but thought we could do without. We sent home tin cups, camp chairs, one of the two patch kits for the thermarest, candle lantern and candles, and even the guide books from the AT headquarters. We lost over 11 lbs. This really made a difference.
We spent the night at the hostel, in separate bunks-pretty stuffy but inside, out of the weather. Met Jessie and Robin, a couple of college students, dred locks and all.
This page hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page