Women

After the traildame morning meeting about today’s hike and car pooling etc… Kelly and I were the first ones on the trail. We only had 5.4 miles to do but had a big climb that morning, a 954 foot ascent in a mile. We started around 8:45am and took out time. We climbed and climbed, and climbed. I thought it would never end! Then all of the sudden Kelly turned around and said, “you see what I see.” I looked up, past her and saw the blue sky peeking over the ridge. I said, “if that’s what I think it is, we are high fiving when we get up there.” And that’s just what we did! We were FINALLY at the top of Kelly’s knob. I dropped my pack and as usual, as soon as I saw the view, I forgot about the climb. It was spectacular. Kelly was pointing out a lake and told me that you could see NC and SC from our GA mountain top. I thought it was the coolest thing. We took lots of photos and a quick water break b/c it was just the first mile of the day, we knew we still had a while to go. We climbed down into Deep gap and decided to by pass the shelter and take a nice break at the bottom before the next big climb. Well, we’re chillin’, when all of the sudden this old dude in JEANS comes running down the trail. I mean running like he’s trying to get away from the cops running. He doesn’t say anything to us. OK… strange. And why would someone be out in the middle of nowhere, running in jeans? Everyone knows you don’t wear cotton on the trail right? ha! I just found it weird.

Well, we spent the next 2 miles climbing up and down 4 mountains. I counted each climb up. DAMN! I can honestly understand why lots of thru-hikers complain about all the PUDS (pointless ups and downs) in Georgia. My goodness, I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, just up, down, up, down, no view, up, down, up, down. By then, we were getting pretty fatigued from all the ups and downs, that we decided to take a lunch break. I knew from looking at Kelly’s map that after the fourth climb, the rest of the trail should of been all down hill.

Well guess what? The map was wrong. Every time Kelly and I would make it to a gap, we would start climbing again, it got to be a cruel joke that we both laughed at and sort of cried at. THANK GOODNESS I had another person to share the insanity with. Haha! By the way, Kelly was a great hiker, she doesn’t give herself enough credit. She set the pace and led the entire way. All the while telling me she’s a slow hiker. Don’t believe it! She’s a strong hiker and I’d hiker with her again any time. So to get our minds off the climbs, we started thinking about cold icy diet cokes and that helped a little. This was a tough day for me. I hadn’t expected all those extra climbs and coupled with the fact that I hadn’t hiked since early October just made it tough.

We finally push up the last little hill and see the Dicks Creek Gap road up ahead. YEAH! we made it. and it was only 1pm! We hop in Kelly’s car and head into Hiawassee for a diet coke! I was so excited to roll into Haiwassee, only because I’ve read about this little town so many times on trailjournals. I tell Kelly how excited I am to finally check out Haiwassee and then she points out the famous Blueberry Patch Hostel! It looked just like I would imagine it to look like. A blue little hostel. We finally found a little store and head right over to the soda fridges. I pull out a diet coke then spot one of those huge 1 liter diet coke bottles. So I do the right thing and put back my little coke bottle and exchange it for the 1 liter jug. haha! Yea, I got greedy, but that cold coke was sooooooo good. We got up to pay and notice slices of pizza for sale, so my greedy self grabbed one of those too 🙂 I paid the clerk and tell her this place is like a little oasis. She smiles and I wonder if she gets that alot. I mean, it is a trail town. We decided to wait to eat our slice back at the trail head picnic tables, but we took big swigs from our liters of diet coke all the way back. hahha! As we get back to Dicks Creek Gap to wait for Joan and Maggie, we spot Sunny sitting in her car. We invite her to join us at the picnic table.

Sunny used to be a serious hiker/climber/outdoors woman til she got into a really bad car wreck. She still hikes, but not as much distance as she used to do. She and a couple of hikers took the bail out, 1 mile trail back to the car this morning. Seems as if a couple of the girls decided not to finish the hike today. So Sunny went with them to help out carry gear and car pool. Then she came over to the trail head at the end of our section hike to pick up the rest us that finished. As we were talking, I find out that Sunny is really into ultralight backpacking and start to pick her brain for some gear recommendations. She asks if I want to SEE anyof her gear and I excitedly tell her “YEAH!”. She comes back with a huge duffel bag full of gear. I checked out her Patagucci (Patagonia) down jacket that weighs almost nothing. I check out her snow peak stove set that made me double think my Jetboil, and you know I love my Jetboil. But the snow peak was so small, compact, and light. I picked up her western mountaineering 20 degree down bag and almost ran off with it. That bag is soooo light Icouldn’t believe it. Then she showed me my next gear purchase! hahaa! Her Granite Gear Vapor Ki backpack. Man that pack was sweet. She let me try it on and I loved where all the straps fell. I’ve been wanting to get a lighter weight pack, but still wanted one with an internal frame. This one is perfect. I love the outside pockets that were made out of stretchy wetsuit material, I loved the cushioning on the hip and shoulder straps. It just looked and felt great on. I’m going to be saving up my pennies for this purchase!

After ohhing and ahhing over all of Sunny’s gear, Joan and Maggie finally show up. We load up into Kelly’s car and head back out to the cabins. I say my goodbyes to everyone and at 3:30pm, I’m pulling out of Helen GA and headed home. Another wonderful trip with the Trail dames. The weather was perfect, the views were great, the company was wonderful, and even though the trail kicked my butt, I got to be outdoors. I couldn’t of asked for a better weekend. Til next time… GET OUTDOORS!!!

We split up to pick some nice camp spots. I choose a couple of nice trees, set up my tarp, hang my hammock, and sit in it a while to relax my feet. About an hour later, in walks Sundai and Diana! They looked pretty worn out so Joan and I help them set up their tents. I realize that their backpacks weigh a ton and that’s why they were so wiped out. Around 4pm, Laura and Lynn walk in, followed by Maggie. The Dames are starting to trickle in. While everone is setting up their tents, Diana decides to pick up some logs/sticks for a campfire and Joan and I go off to hang a couple of ropes for bear bagging. She’s never done it before and it’s one of my least favorite camp chores to do, so… yeah. I take advantage of the situation and tell Joan she should practice. hhahah! Seriously, after she weighted down one end of the rope with some twigs, she had 2 bear bag ropes up in less then 10 minutes. It was so cute to see how excited she was to get it over the tree limb. We high fived after each successful toss and she had the biggest ear to ear grin. When we got back to the campsite Diana had a nice little fire going. I helped her stack the logs around to keep the fire going and to create some really good coals. By 5:pm, I was getting a bit worried about SHOE and her group. SHOE, as the leader of the trip, held up the rear and made sure everyone made it safely to camp. It was almost completely dark when they finally pulled into camp. By this time, everyone else was pretty much set up and starting to make dinner. She went off to get water, while Joan and I put up another bear bag rope. This time I threw one up and it was pretty sloppy. Instead of redoing it like we should of, we let our stomachs take over. So off we went to make some dinner. I was starving! As everyone was making/eating dinner (SHOE and Kelly filtered water)guess who night hikes with her headlamp on into camp. Mud Butt! YAY! She is in such a cheery mood, it’s hard not to smile when you hear her. The best part, she brought in everything you need to make S’Mores!!! Whoo hoo! I walk over to hug and say hello. While she is busy setting up her camp, I go and bear bag my food.

As we are enjoying the S’mores 🙂 and chit chatting around the campfire, Jen and her family hike in. Jen works at Mountain Crossings Outfitters and attempted to thru hike last year. After they set up, they start making dinner. Talk about a yummy dinner. SHOE and I looked at one another and she says, “we are doing that next time we’re in the Smoky’s” and believe me, we are SO doing that. Jen had marinated some steak, skewered it, and cooked it on the campfire. After a while, the fire started to die out and most of us called it a night. I didn’t realize how warm the fire had kept me until I started walking back to my hammock. I checked my thermometer and it said it was around 35-40 degrees. Chilly night! I slipped on my down vest, jumped into my warm hammock, and drifted off to sleep. I slept sooo good that night. The next morning I woke up around 6:30am and just laid in my warm hammock til I heard some of the others moving around. Stay tuned for tomorrows adventure. Til then, GET OUTDOORS!