attroll

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.