Still trying to catch up, but I'm getting closer!

While coming off of Blue Mountain into Unicoi Gap just north of Helen, I hit a patch of ice and tweaked my knee. It hurt, but wasn't a big deal, or so I thought. I didn't have too much trouble with it until the following evening. In camp at Deep Gap, I started limping real bad. I had had trouble on a few down hills that day, but just chalked it to being sore from hiking. At Deep Gap I took off the zip off part of the pants leg and saw that my knee was about the size of a grape fruit! I limped out the next day and made the decision to bail and wait until summer to finish the AT in Georgia.

On June 5th, a friend and I headed back to Dick's Creek Gap where I got off in April and headed out. The air temp was staying in the low 70's to upper 60's. Perfect for hiking!

We headed for Plum Orchard Gap Shelter, 4.5 north of Dick's Creek. It was an easy walk with one real big climb out of Cowart Gap.



We reached Plum Orchard and set up camp around 5 pm. We stayed with three others, a college student out for about a month, and a mother and daughter on a two week hike.

Slept good in the hammock, but I did get a little cold! I brought my summer setup, the one I would use at the farm or in the Okefenokee Swamp, not one suitable for the AT where we were over 3500 feet. It got down into the upper 40's at night. Kinda chilly coming from the 90's of south Georgia!! Lesson learned!!

Headed out the next morning, June 6th, for the NC/GA border at Bly Gap and the famous tree. The border actually sites just south of the gap, ~.1 mile or so. Crossing that point meant that I had hiked all the trail in GA! WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!! It took a year almost to the day for me to finish. Last June I had started out from Amicalola Falls to hike the trail to NC during the month of June. One year later, I made it!




About a tenth of a mile later, we reached Bly Gap. To my surprise, we were a little behind a trail crew... the gap had been mowed (with a sling blade, but still!!).


After a brief rest at the gap, we headed north to Muskrat Creek Shelter, that nights home away from home. Right off the bat, we had a climb up Courthouse Bald of around 1000 feet in about a mile. Switch back after switch back!


We made it to the shelter around 3pm and set up camp. It was in the low 60's, upper 50's and would drop in to the LOW 40's that night. I slept in the shelter (first time in over a year) on the floor. Not a good night's sleep, but at least I was warm. Meet two teachers from Texas who were on their way to Fontana Dam and then Gaitlinburg TN.

The next day we head back to Dick's Creek. The morning was cool and crisp and we headed out in a cloud. Great way to end a hike!

I thought about trying to play catch up and post everything I have done over the past year in one big blog. That would take all night, and Fall Break is over and I need my sleep. SO, I'll hit some highlights and pretend that everyone knows what I'm talking about.

Last blog occurred WAYYYY back in January of this year. At that time I had experienced my first real hang in super cold weather. Didn't work to well for me! Took and hour or so of hiking to feel my left leg completely (honest!). After coming of the mountain, I vowed that would never happen again and I began the trip down the road of down underquilts for my hammock. I ordered 9.3 ozs of down, and after roughly 6 hours of sewing and tinkering, I had an uq.

Fast forward again. Spring Break 2009. April, and its the tail end of thru-hiker season. I put in at Hogpen Gap and headed north on the AT.



Real easy walk until the snow started. It would snow almost continually for the next 48 hours, and leave around 3 inches on the ground in North Georgia and, I would find this out later, 8 inches in North Carolina!

I hooked up with a group of firemen out of Clearwater, FL. and informally walked with them over the next four days.



We stayed at Blue Mountain Shelter, Trey Mountain Shelter, and Deep Gap Shelter. It was probably the best hike that I have done. Meet lots of great people, including a medic from the Israeli Army who had just finished up hiking in Nepal and along the Himalayas (he was averaging 18 to 20 miles a day!).



I finished up a Dick's Creek Gap with a knee that I had hobbled and limped on for two days. I couldn't put any weight on it going down hill. It took almost two weeks before I could really walk on it without limping.

New Years Eve Party...

So I'm part of a group of hammock campers. One of them had the brilliant idea a few years ago to start a NYE get together on top of Springer Mountain in Georgia. Now for those of you that don't know, Springer is the southern start/terminous of the Appalachian Trial. So every year a group of people, both tenters (called ground dwellers) and hammockers get together and spend NYE on top of the mountain.

This was my first year in a hammock during winter. In case you didn't notice, this NYE was REALLY, REALLY cold! I took my hammock, clothes and whatnots up to the top of Springer to hang with these people and welcome in the new year. What I wound up doing was getting into my hammock and sleeping bag and ALL the clothes that I brought with me (6 layers on my chest, three on my legs and three pair of socks) and at 8:30 started praying for the acceleration of global warming, or at least localized global warming!!

No ones really sure what the final low was that night on the mountain, but this is known... at 8:30 thermometers were reading between 18 and 22 degress F dependent on location on the mountain and ridgeline exposure, at ~10:00 it was down to 8 degrees at the shelter (which was about 50 yards from me) and that the winds were sustained at 25 mph with gusts into the 40 mph range. All I know is it took an hour of hiking the next day to feel my left toes completely!

I spent New Years doing day hikes and bagging waterfalls. What a way to welcome in the new year!

(P.S.- I'll post pics once I get them loaded from the camera...its still frozen in my pack which is also frozen.)

Ok, to get everyone (all three people that read this!) caught up... Over fall break I put in at Neels Gap in North Georgia, just north of Dahlonega. I hiked from Neels Gap to Jarrard Gap...only to find NO WATER!

So I roughed it down the Jarrard Gap trail and went to Lake Winfred Scott Rec. Area! It was rough, I had to walk all the way across the road to get to the bathrooms. Someones got to suffer...

Notice the road in the background!

I left around 7:15 the next morning and covered good ground. I reached Preaching Rock at 11:30 and then Woody Gap at 12:00 where I ate lunch. It was a perfect day! Good wind that kept you cool, but warm enough that you could still wear shorts and a t-shirt. The view from Preaching Rock was increadible!

Preaching Rock Woody Gap Parking Lot

After lunch I headed on to Gooch Gap and then the Gooch Gap Shelter. Second best shelter that I have been to with Stover Creek still being the best!

I spent the night at the shelter and then I walked out to Suches and caught a ride to my car. Overall, a fun trip.