Day 4/5: 3/8/14
Yesterday sucked SO much. Yet at the same time I
wouldn't trade it for the world. I passed out about 20 mins after I set up my
tent. Finished hiking yesterday @ 7pm. 10 miles up one of the highest mountains
in Georgia. Blood mtn; named due to skirmishes between Native American tribes.
Made it to Neel's Gap last night and used my tent for the
first time. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Day 4 started out leaving the
hostel. Rode back up the mtn with Fresh Ground who was refilling his water at
the store. He was in the middle of making banana pancakes and bacon. It's hard
to turn down food when he's practically forcing it down your throat. As I was
about to leave *SNAP*. FFFFFFUUUUUUU. My hip strap and clip broke off. For the
record your backpack rides your hips, not shoulders. The hip strap is the most
important thing if you don't want to hate life and don't want aching, destroyed
shoulders. 10 miles before was doable, but now? 40 lbs on just your shoulders
is murder. One can't climb the 3 mtns to get to the next stop. Not without
repairing it.
Luckily for me a guy by the name of Craftsman hands me a
buckle, "yeah I took this off my suitcase cause it seemed like a good
idea." I end up using the ends of my straps to tie the makeshift buckle
on. I couldn't just sinch (sp?!) to pull it tight. I had to physically tie the
buckle on. Seeing as it wasn't made to do that, it kept getting loose every
about 20 steps. So every so often I have to stop and untie the buckles. retie
them, and continue on. Amazingly every so often I'd round a corner to see
Craftsman and Rabbit just chillin on a log with boots off. I felt like a
caboose to a tiny train. Later that day after the 2nd or 3rd boots off break.
Another 5 mi and the 4 of us are hollering off the top of
Blood Mtn. We totally effing did it. I hope to never see that effing endless
mtn again. Down the other side was the welcome sight of Neel's Gap, the first
major resupply place. 31 miles from Springer Mtn. Pitched my tent and conked
out after eating a snickers bar. Snickers = new favorite candy bar.
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Day 5 comes around for me later that night. I wake up in the
middle of the night to see the entrance flap to my tent 3/4 above my head. I at
first wonder why someone put an entrance on the ceiling. Then I hear it. A
howling wind that completely filled my ears. I realize that I listened to the
store owner where he said "nah, you don't need to stake down; even cowboy
camp." (cowboy camp = no tent, just sleeping bag). Screw that guy and
screw 60 mph winds.
Honestly, I'm not sure the wind dropped below 20 mph that
night. I then realized there was no way I couldn't stake it down. Didn't know
if I could even put stakes in. I had nothing to pound them in if it wasn't the softest mud. The
tent ended up flipping like that twice more. The only way I could stop it
flipping (eventually) was to pull my pack inside my tent and use it as a weight
against the onslaught of wind. My pack started that night between my fly sheet
and tent, on the ground. I was so glad I decided to put my flysheet up. Without
it I probably would have frozen solid. Woke up and haphazardly packed my tent
up. 4 of us (me, rabbit, craftsman, and flipper) decided to take a zero day in
Neel's Gap. We split the cost of the cabin; $60 total $15 each. Shower, bed,
laundry, bought a new pack since yesterday, I'm ready to hit the trail.
PS:
changing my trail name to MagicMan. Same concept but rolls off the tongue
easier, other 3 agreed.
PPS:
dunno how many pictures I've been taking anymore. (Editor: Thanks Sam... That'll make things easier :D)
- Sam
