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.