Geocaching Maine - Blogs - attroll

27 March 2010

attroll — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 04:30:00 GMT

27 March 12010, Dick's Creek

Last night was extremely windy and when I got up in the middle of the night Rock Steady was busy trying to reset up hit tarp tent in the wind and I could tell he was not having fun doing it. When I got up in the morning his tarp was laying over the top of him flat on the ground.

This morning was not a fun morning to be packing up and hitting the trail. The wind was blowing at about 35 mph. I could not get my hammock tarp folded and rolled up very easily in the wind. To top that off the temps this morning were low. My fingers kept going numb and I had to keep putting them in my pockets to get them warmed up.

I ran into Tater who thru hiked in 2000 and was heading up to maintain his section of the trail. We chatted for a few minutes and his dog kept whining because she wanted to keep moving. I said my goodbyes and moved on down the trail.

Just as I reached the road Rock Steady caught up to me. I was surprise to see Snowman, Escargo, and Charlie waiting for a ride. They made the comment that I was really moving. I told them I was only doing 10 mile days. When the shuttle arrived Trooper jumped out and greeted me. I was hoping to spend a nero day with him but he was heading out. He said he was not going to be stopping in Franklin but was going to be passing through. He said he was going to be picking up a friend that was going to be hiking with him in Gatlinburg. It sounds like I may never see him again.

I met another Mainer today in Hiawasse who goes by the trail name Gut Hook. He is from Belfast.

I am in a room by myself tonight, I could not find anyone to share the room with and split the cost.

News got back to our group that Gipc Girl will be off the trail now for six weeks. She has a broken ankle. It looks like I will not see her again after Franklin. The group is starting to dwindle out now. Who knows who I will be hiking with out of Franklin, it looks like I will be in a whole new group of people.

I did the usual town visit stuff today, showered, did laundry, and ordered a pizza.

While talking to other hikers about the trail there one complaint over the last couple of days was how they hated hiking over Kelly Knob. I hiked over it first thing this morning and I did not find it that difficult but then it might be because I hiked it first thing in the morning. I think all the others hiked up it at the end of the day.

Tomorrow Mad Mike, Geo, Uncas and I will be heading out for Franklin. I will be leaving earlier then the other three because they are only planning on a 4.5 mile day and I am shooting for 11.8. It looks like I will be with a different group of hikers heading into Franklin. We will hook up again in Franklin I am sure.

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26 March 2010

attroll — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:51:00 GMT

26 March 2010, Sassafras Gap
Last night Gipc Girl got up quite a few times in the night to go into the bathroom. I had assumed that she was making a normal bathroom call and minded my own business. When morning came I asked her if she was alright and she told me she got up several times in the night to run her ankle under cold water. When she showed me her ankle I noticed the swelling had started going into her toes and she could not longer even get her boot on her foot. There was a trail angle in the area that I knew who was also staying at the motel. His name was Mala. I talked to Mala and he was willing to take Gipc Girl to Franklin to the foot and ankle clinic.

Uncas and I caught the first shuttle out of town back to Unicoi Gap this morning. When we arrived at Tray Gap we were very cols and were surprised to see two people there hosting trail magic. Their names were DR Dewrag and Jeff. The trail magic was great and very rewarding but the problem was it was so windy and cold that we had to put all out extra clothes on to try to stay warm. We apologized that we had to leave because we were so cold and had to keep moving. I would have loved to stay but it was extremely cold. I hope they were not offended.

Uncas and I had agreed to that if we split up we would wait for the other person at Tray Mountain Shelter. I arrived at the shelter first and made up my lunch and waited for Uncas who never came. I got tired of waiting and moved on.

The trail past Tray Mountain Shelter is in bad shape, there are a lot of blow downs and in real need of trail maintenance.

I arrived at Sassafras Gap to find Uncas all set up for the night. I was hoping to make it to Deep Gap Shelter for the night but since Uncas was already set up I stopped for the night. Another hiker by the name Rock Steady also came and set up camp for the night. Rock Steady has spent the last hour getting a fire going. I did not think he would get it going but he did.

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25 March 2010

attroll — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:31:00 GMT

25 March 2010, Unicoi Gap
Had to come into Hiawassee to take care of a few lose ends. One of which was issues going on with the WhiteBlaze server. WhiteBlaze is an Appalachian Trail web site that is owned by me. It seems as though mysteriously that the server started to get hacked as soon as I left Maine to head south for my thru hike. I have someone looking into this in depth for me.

I am sharing a room with Gipc Girl tonight. She is an older woman from Australia. It is common practices for hikers to share a room to save cost, it does not matter if is we the opposite sex because we all respect each other�s privacy.

She is over here on a six month passport. I was originally coming to town alone but while waiting for the shuttle to pick me up she came down off the mountain and said she had hurt her ankle on the decent.

Our first order of business when we arrived was to shower and get something to eat. We ate at the Corner Cafe and had breakfast, which was fantastic. Next we went to the supermarket to get five more days of food supplies. Then we proceeded to get our laundry dome.

Gipsc Girl picked up an ankle wrap at Rite Aid today and started soaking her ankle in ice. Her ankle was really swollen and it turned black and blue. We tried to talk her into going to the clinic but she would not go. She keeps insisting she is going to hike out of town with us tomorrow. By the looks of her ankle, I have my doubts. We will keep an eye on her though.

Our plan is to hike out of town tomorrow morning and get on the trail and get halfway between Unicoi Gap and Dick's Creek. Then come back into town again on Saturday for the night then out Sunday towards Franklin.

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24 March 2010

attroll — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:58:00 GMT

24 March 2010, Blue Mountain Shelter
I was one of the last ones to leave camp this morning. The weather today was great, perfect hiking weather. I had planned on going into the town of Helen tonight but when I arrived at Blue Mountain Shelter here I just wanted to sit around and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon. Yesterday was the first time I was able to use my hammock. I have set it up again tonight. There is another couple here that also has hammocks set up. They are Rachael and Anthony; Anthony will later pick up the trail name Stick Shift. Rachael is having some foot issues and is going to get off the trail at the road crossing tomorrow. She was telling me about the shuttle from the Hiawassee at scheduled intervals. That made up my made to go to Hiawassee rather than Helen.

Tonight was the first night we had a good campfire and some of us sat around talking into the night and having some good conversations. It was kind of comical listening to some of the younger guys trying to impress the women.

Tonight here so far we have Geo, Gipc Girl, Castaway, Rabid, Freeman, Charlie, Mad Mike, Snowman, Escargo, Hoogan Doogan, Dutchess, Not Bad, (these three are know and Charlie�s Angels) Lobsterman, Murf, Ass Kicker, Anthony, Rachael.

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23 March 2010

attroll — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:10:00 GMT

23 March 2010, Low Gap Shelter
Hopper dropped me off at Neels Gap this morning and she headed back to KY. The plan for her it to get whatever she has to get done in KY and meet me somewhere on the trail around Franklin.

When I left the Gap the weather was cold, windy and snowing. I put my rain coat on and quickly moved out. As I started climbing Levelland Mountain it started changing between snow and sleet. The temps also started dropping. Shortly after lunch the weather changed and the sun came out and it started warming up. The snow melted and by the time we reached Low Gap Shelter the snow was all gone and the ground was dry again.

About a mile or so before the shelter today someone walked up behind me and I did not hear them and they said �excuse me�. It scared the daylights out of me. When I turned around it was a young woman who said her name was Olive Oil. After she passed me she started skipping down the trail. It made me sick to see someone with so much energy.

I set my hammock up last night. I was a little nervous about sleeping in it until I fell asleep. We all have been hearing stories about the bear that likes to hang around at Blood Mountain Shelter and that has been sitting in the back of my mind. I don�t know what I would do if a bear came up to my hammock and nudged me with his nose in the middle of the night. I would probably have to do a good cleaning of my sleeping bag in the morning.

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22 March 2010

attroll — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:10:00 GMT

22 March 2010, Neels Gap
I convinced Hopper to stay one more day and slack pack me again. Hopper had to pick Ben (her dog) from the kennel though.

Hopper put me and another thru hiker named Dave who is from CT in at Woody Gap at 8:30. It was so peaceful and quite out in the woods with snow falling during the day.

Buddy (my troll on my pack) did not hike with me for the last two so now that means he is going to be known as a yellow blazer, that no good backpack free loading miniature troll.

Some time before Blood Mountain Shelter I came across an older guy with a fairly large tent. He was standing on the side of the trail with an axe in his hand holding it down to his side. He was definitely not a thru hiker. He gave me the creeps. I walked by him and was very careful and asked him if that was Blood Mountain up ahead, his reply was that he did not know. I picked up speed as soon as I got by.

When I got to Neels Gap today I ran into Lobsterman, Dave, Uncas, Gipc Girl, Trooper, Geo, and Mad Mike. I was so happy to run into them here because that means that when I get dropped off at Neels Gap tomorrow I be right back in with the same group I left off with. I will not have to pick up any miles to try to catch up with them now.

Joey now known as Ass Kicker was also given his trail name by me a couple of days ago after he left Hawk Mountain Shelter. He had his sneakers hanging from the bottom of his pack by their shoe laces and they kept kicking him in the butt. I told him we were going to name him Ass Kicker and the next thing I knew he had signed one of the registers using that name.

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21 March 2010

attroll — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:47:00 GMT

21 March 2010, Woody Gap
Hopper and I returned back from Atlanta last night just in time before they locked the hostel for the night. We arrived just as Josh and Leigh returned for the night.

The hiker hostel puts on a fantastic breakfast spread. It is well worth the stay just for breakfast. Hopper was slack packing me today so she dropped me off at Cooper Gap and picked me up at Woody Gap. She walked in after she parked her car at Woody Gap and met me at Gooch Mountain Shelter and proceeded to walk back to her car.

On the way back to the Hoppers car we ran into FatMan (Joe) who introduced himself as a Whiteblaze.net member. After we started talking I remembered exchanging emails with him in the past on WhiteBlaze. He invited us to his place for lunch, which is a side trail off the AT not too far from Gooch Gap. What a place he has. He lives in a log cabin to beat all log cabins. He cooked up a burger for me and had beer on tap. I had a few beers but had to call it quits on the beer after a few. I wanted to make it back to the trail without getting lost. If anyone runs into FatMan (Joe) in this area of the trail and he offers you lunch or a beer, do not turn him down, you will not regret it.

Tomorrow morning, Hopper is going to drop me off at the trail head and I will continue north. She will head back to KY. I will probably not see her again until sometime around the beginning of May.

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Day 2

attroll — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 08:08:00 GMT

20 Mach 2010, Cooper Gap
I made it to Gooch Gap today to where Survivor Dave was hosting trail magic for the thru hikers passing through. He had premade sandwiches, snacks of all sorts and sodas. I had made contact with Dave prior to starting my hike and made arrangements for him to take Hopper back to her car because she was only out for two days. Survivor Dave said he would help me out. Now the only issue was I also needed to go back with Hopper because she was going to take me to the REI in Atlanta.

We made it back to Hoppers car and into the Atlanta REI store where I got new boots and also purchased a hat with a visor and new filter replacement.

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Day 1

attroll — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:38:00 GMT

19 March 2010, Hawk Mountain Shelter
Over the past couple of weeks Josh was having some issues shuttling hikers to the Springer Mountain parking lot because over the last month Georgia had been getting record snow falls. With the melting of the snow it caused the forest service road to the parking lot to turn in to nothing but muddy ruts. He has been warning hikers that it might come to a point where he could not drive them up into the parking area; this would mean starting at the Approach trail. The Approach Trail 8.8 mile that precedes the Appalachian Trail (AT) and is not part of the AT, which means it is extra mileage that does not count towards the AT. There are also the much dreaded steps that climb up and over Amicalola Falls. There are over 250 wooden steps, I cannot remember the exact number but it is more miles and steps that I want to climb up just to get to the start of the AT.

The first day I only hiked 8.8 miles to Hawk Mountain Shelter. I could have not asked for better day weather wise. Today Hopper, Mad Mike, Geo, Gypsy Girl and I played leap frog throughout the day until we reached the shelter. The trails here are like highways compared to the trails in New England. At the shelter we ran into other prospective thru hikers, Lobsterman, Dave, Uncas, and Trooper. We counted about 18 people in and around the shelter tonight. After settling in for the night Hopper and I went down to the stream for filter some water. At this time I discovered that my water filter was plugged. Hopper let me use her filter to filter my water.

The trail marking got a little tricky for me around Three Forks. After passing through Three Forks I had a little trouble with the trails branching off from the AT and the Benton MacKaye Trail. The markings too far and in between or I was just missing them.

My left foot started bothering me and I noticed that my hiking boots (old boots) laces had no more room to tighten them. They had become too stretched out. When I pointed this out to Hopper she offered to bring me to REI in Atlanta tomorrow if we could get a ride back to her car. From there she would slack pack me to help me catch up to Mad Mike, Geo and the others. This would also give me time to break in the books before I went back on the trail with a full pack. The term slack packing refers to hiking without a full pack. Usually it is hiking without a pack or with a day pack with the bare minimum of what you need to get to the end of the day where you will get picked up and taken to town, hostel, motel or where ever you are staying or camping. Slack packing is easier on you because you�re not carrying your full pack with it weight and you can usually walk faster and cover more miles.

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The day before, trip down

attroll — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:55:00 GMT

18 March 2010
The ride on the Amtrak was long and very tiresome. There were three of us that were riding the train together, Made Mike, Geo and myself. Mad Mike was only hiking north from Georgia for 60 Days; Geo was only hiking for two weeks. We arrived at our final destination to be greeted by Josh of the Hiker Hostel. We all got our room arrangements. I called Hopper who had driven down in her car from Kentucky to hike with me for a few days. She showed up and we talked and talked about out hike together. I had previously met Hopper through the web and chatted online a few times. Our connection in how we met was unusual. I was selling the last copies of my 2009 guidebook Appalachian Pages at a discount price and my wife Donna was suppose to me mailing them for me. Donna had a habit of not mailing them as soon as I had them packaged up. I got frustrated and started mailing them myself. When I started mailing them the first ordered I mailed was Hoppers and I shipped her books in the wrong manner. Hopper emailed me and asked where her books were. I explained that I had shipped them wrong and she was patient enough to wait. That was where our friendship started and the start of our thru hike together.

After we were all settled in with our accommodations the four of us went out to dinner at a placed called the Oyster Bar in Dahlonega, GA. I tried raw oysters for the first time. They were not too bad but I could not imagine eating a bunch of them without getting sick.

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