Dicks Creek to Franklin

DAY 1
I crossed the State line! I walked from GA into NC on this 40 mile section of the AT. It was the coolest/tiring feeling. hahah! The walk up from Dicks Creek is no joke. I would say it was 75% all up hill. SHOE, Kellye, and I stopped for a lunch break about 4 1/2 miles into our day at Plum Orchard Shelter. I sat around a tree and met some interesting thru-hikers. Nemo, who was from Vancouver, Mike from Texas who hiked ridiculous miles a day, something like 15-20 a day. And an 82 yr old guy from Greece who was out fulfilling a dream. I later got to give him his trail name. ZEUS. He was so excited and so cute. I hope Zues makes it to Maine. It was inspiring to see him out there too. I hope when I'm 82, I'm still climbing up mountains. :)

After a long lunch, Kellye decided to turn back to go to her car. She wasn't feeling the hike today, so SHOE and I continued on. On our first day we did 9 miles, crossing the state line into Bly Gap. We found a great camp spot on the upper section of Bly gap and near the famous Bly Gap tree. I've seen this tree countless times in peoples AT hiking journals, but to see it in person was awesome. It made my day. On our hike up we met some high schoolers that were out for a weekend hike. They had one guy whom I called bungee boy, cause he kept losing his bungee cord from his pack onto the trail. Anyways, this poor guy, his name was Joe, but his friends called him Stewie. Well SHOE and I found him around mile 6, just sitting on the trail. His legs and feet hurt so bad and he was out of water. He followed us up near a spring and then stopped to rest. He had never hiked or backpacked before and was really feeling it. When we got to camp we told the other boys to send someone back to help him. 2 hours later Joe rolls into camp and I cheered him on. Poor guy, he meets me at the spring and I filter some cold mountain water for him. He guzzles down 2 liters of water and I refill it for him. I tell him to make sure he eats alot tonight, drinks some propel or gatorade, and gets lots of rest. I hope after a day like he had today, he still likes to backpack.

We met some other thru hikers, one who was an ultra lightweight guy and had dehydrated all his meals for the trail. He told us he went thru 40 lbs of whole milk for his food. That's a hella lota milk. haha! He was pretty cool to talk too. After getting water, doing camp chores, and eating dinner, SHOE and I chillaxed and checked out the thousands of stars that pop out. I proudly point out where the big dipper was and SHOE goes, "that's not the big dipper." I argued, "Yes it is." And that's when a thru hiker named Peaches walks by and says, "are you guys looking for the big dipper?" We said yes and I point it out. She said, "the big dipper is over there", and does a 180 on us. We turned around and I finally saw the big dipper. She says what we were looking at was Orion's belt. We laughed and thanked her for her expertise. That night I got a new trail name, but only one that SHOE is allowed to call me. I'm now secretly known as "Star-tard" hahaha! Sorry if it isn't PC, I think it's funny though. Oh, and SHOE's trail name that only I'm allowed to call her is WAP, as in White American Princess, due to the gigantic hairbrush she brought on the trail with her. hahahaha!

DAY 2
After an awesome night's sleep, we got up early and attempted to head out by 8:30am, but got trail blocked by an old timer named Sticker. He had hiked the trail like 6 times. Boy could he talk. Even told us his wife left him b/c he was couldn't stop hiking. After finally getting away, we started our climb into NC. Our destination was Standing Indian Mountain (about a mile past Standing Indian shelter). I had a rough day towards the end of the day and it was all my fault. I didn't eat enough today and my energy level suffered. The climb into NC is really no joke. WOW... it kicked our ass up and down the trail. It was steep, long, exhausting, and a smack in the face compared to what we had hiked. I have to say though, I was secretly proud that my state represented and had some crazy hard mountains to climb. We took a quick lunch break at Muskcreek shelter and I barely ate lunch while reading the shelter registry. After lunch, we continued on and the trail became nice and easy for about 5 miles. When we stopped to get some water, we ran into Katie, who I know from back home. She was out section hiking too so we chit chatted a bit before she took off. SHOE and I got back down to business and continued on. The next few miles started us going up again. And around mile 9 I started to really feel it. I was exhausted. I looked at SHOE and told her I was toast. I needed ot take a break, soon. The good thing was we were close to camp. The bad part was it was all up hill. Our campsite was on the top of Standing Indian Mountain. I slugged it up and barely made it into camp. I set up my hammock and laid there, exhausted. SHOE asked if I wanted to go get water with her and I told her no. I started thinking about why I was having such a bad day and then it hits me, I hardly ate anything today (a breakfast bar, hand full of trail mix, some pretzels and peanut butter). So my energy level was way down. I can't believe I did what I did with barely any food. I need to rethink my trail eating if I'm going to make it this trip. About a 1/2 an hour later, SHOE comes back and says there's no water. DAMN... I was thirsty too. I finally get out of my hammock and socialize with a group of high schoolers from Newnan, GA that were spending their last spring break together before they all go off to college. They had only hiked in 3 miles and were all giggles and smiles. I also met two thru-hikers from VA, one went to VMI, that were cousins. VMI had a little travel guitar and he was playing near the fire that the Newnan kids made. He started plucking his fingers all over it Flamenco style. So I asked if he was playing Spanish style music. He said he was and was surprised I knew what it was. As we were talking, a day hiker rolls in and says he has found water just 200 yards away. So I look over at SHOE and tell her it's my turn to check out the water source. I grab the filter, and bottles and follow the day hiker. He's a nice guy, out with his kids for a day hike. We go back down to the AT trail and then start climbing down the water trail. We descended for what seemed like forever. It had to of been at least 1/3 of a mile. The whole time I'm thinking, I've got to lug this heavy water back UP to the AT then back up to the campsite. But I really appreciate this guy taking the time to show me the spring. So while I set up the filter, I watch him just lap up water straight from the spring with no filter. Well, I do the same thing, I just let the water pour into the bottles and hope we don't get the runs on the trail. After what seemed like a mile hike up hill, I get back to the campsite just in time to make dinner. It's so windy that my little esbit stove has a hard time lighting. I finally get it lit and make dinner. We sit around watching the sun set right before our very eyes. This has got to be one of the prettiest camp spots I've ever stayed at. I mean we are right on top of a mountain with an amazing view of the valley and mountain ranges below and the sun is just setting over the mountains we just hiked over. After the sunset, everyone gathers around the fire and we just chit chat and eat dinner. The Newnan kids weren't dressed appropriately so they were freezing their asses off. SHOE and I had on our down jackets so we were ok, a bit chilly, but tolerable. They all go to bed, but not before the Newnan kids give us some trail magic. They offer us two ramen noodle packets and a homemade protein bar. How sweet were they! and just when I needed it the most. I'll definitely have enough food for the rest of my hike with these provisions. Thank you Newnan! After we pack up, SHOE and I start looking at all the millions of stars in the sky again. This time we point out the big dipper and Orion's belt and that's about all we knew. I should of brought the Star Chart that Boo bought me. Maybe next time. As we are laying in the grass, we both catch a glimpse of the biggest shooting star we have ever seen. It was amazing. Even though it was a physically tough day, I loved being out there in such a amazing camp spot. It finally got cold so we went to sleep.

DAY 3
The next morning we hiked down off the mountain after a warm breakfast of oatmeal and hot tea. I made sure to keep my snacks handy and to eat every couple of hours. I was not having another crappy hiking day. Our third day's. Rolling, easy terrain with a few climbs. Aaaahhh... I needed a good strong day to redeem myself :)

SHOE got a text from Kellye saying she was going to be at Mooney Gap with some sodas for us. So I hiked towards our trail magic with a smile and I started singing (in my head) "100 bottles of Sprite on the wall" to get me going. Along the way, we met another thru hiker named Marty. He seems like a nice guy and is hiking roughly the same mileage as us. We all stop for some water and it's my turn to filter, so I go down to the spring and chit chat with Marty for a bit. He's staying here tonight, while we hiked up another couple miles towards our sodas. We arrived at Mooney gap about 20 mins. early and decided to call Kellye to see how far away she was. She was close by and when she arrived, she not only had Sprites and diet cokes, but oranges, reeces peanut butter cups, York peppermint patties, and chairs! Yes, chairs to sit on and rest our tired feet! Funny how it's the little things you really miss out here. (Thank you so much Kellye!! It made my day alot easier!) So an 1 and 1/2 later, after we feasted on chocolates and carbonated drinks, SHOE and I decided to hike up another mile up to bear pen gap to get in good head start on tomorrows climb (Albert Mountain). We finally found a nice camp spot around 7:pm, quickly do our camp chores and make dinner. After we bear bagged our food, we called it a night and both retreated to our respective tent/hammock. I fell asleep almost immediately. Around 11:30pm I heard a couple of guys passing by our campsite. They were night hiking! Thank goodness you couldn't see us from the trail. I got out and make sure everything is fine, then I slinked into my hammock and fall back asleep, thinking, there is no way those guys are hiking over Albert Mountain at night. No way...

DAY 4

The next morning looked pretty gloomy. It was about an 80% chance of rain, so we quickly broke down camp, ate breakfast and got moving in order to make it up Alber Mt. before the rain started pelting us. I could do an entire blog entry on Albert Mt. WOW. It was probably the steepest climb we have had yet. I mean crazy steep. So steep and dangerous, we literally had to put away our trek poles so we could grab onto rocks and tree roots to help us climb it. Thank goodness it was only a mile long and took us only 22 minutes to climb. The top of Albert was all fogged in with no views so we didn't bother climbing the fire tower and just kept moving along. When we got to the shelter, about a mile from Albert Mt., we got water, ate a snack, then packed up. Well guess what, it started raining. We decided to wait it out for a 1/2 hour. In that half hour, we were joined by Marty, a father and son section hiking, and two ladies from NY that had been on the trail for over a month and were only up to this section, which normally takes thru hikers about 1-2 weeks to get too. Not sure if they will finish the trail, since they were complaining about getting off as soon as they could. Not everyone is cut out for the trail lifestyle, but I wished them the best of luck. The rain let up a bit and SHOE and I donned on our rain gear and headed out. As soon as we hit the trail, the skies just opened up and the temps dropped. We had 10 miles to go to get into Franklin and we hauled ass. I don't like being wet and I don't like being cold, but I really HATE being both. By mile 2 I was getting wet and cold, I mean to the point of teeth chattering. I told SHOE I needed to hike fast to just stay warm, so I hiked on ahead til we got to Rock Gap Shelter. We were going to meet Kellye in a mile at Wallace Gap and I was, for sure, going to hop in the car and stop my hike. But when SHOE called her, we were at Wallace Gap too early and she was still too far away, so we decided to just hike the last 3 miles to Winding Stair, where she would meet us at the parking area. By this point I was soaked thru and thru and to the point of shivering, so I took off up the mountain and when it flattened out a bit, I put it in fifth gear. For a while, SHOE was just a few yard behind me so don't let her say she's the slowest hiker on earth. She was gunning up that mountain just as fast as I was. But when the wind started up, I started running. Yep, I did some trail running with a pack on my back and let me tell you,, I have never hiked/ran so fast in my life. I finished off that last 3 mile section in less than 1 hour and 15 minutes and made it to Winding stair by 2pm. As soon as I saw the car, my hypothermia turned into pure joy. I bolted down the last switch backs. Kellye had the back of SHOE's Explorer opened with the heat blasting and two hikers huddled under the tailgate to get out from the rain. I threw down my pack, grabbed my dry clothes, hopped in the back seat and changed out of my wet shirt and bra. I slipped on a dry shirt and immediately felt better. Another hiker and SHOE finally arrived and we said goodbye to Marty and the other two hikers, (they were waiting for Ron Haven's shuttle to pick them up) and we rode down into Franklin to find a place to finish changing. Kellye had brought us Subway sandwhiches, which I scarfed down, since I didn't get to eat a lunch b/c of all the rain. (Man, that sub was so good Thanks again Kellye!). We finally pulled into a Burger King and took over the bathroom stalls. I changed into some dry pants, my Frocs (fake crocs) and my down jacket. aaahhhhhh... :) I felt so much better being dry and warm.

We headed to Kellye's house to take our first shower in 4 days and to eat a real meal. After cleaning up, we met Kellye's roomate, Janet, and we all headed out to Longhorn Steakhouse for a much deserved steak dinner and glass of wine. It was so good and I ate way to much. We came back to the house and got our packs organized and dry for tomorrows hike. No rest day for us, we are hitting the trail for another section tomorrow. Later on that night we had Kellye show us how to play some Wii fit. I can tell you I totally suck at Wii. hahaa! We had too many laughs that night.

In retrospect, I'm glad Kellye was late (or rather we were early) in picking us up at Wallace Gap, b/c it forced me to complete the section instead of giving up on it with 3 miles to go. I hiked 40 miles from Dicks Creek to Franklin in 3 and 1/2 days and I'm pretty damn proud of that :) I met alot of interesting thru hikers, I got to give a trail name out, I walked into a new state on the AT, I got to see my Bly Gap tree, I tackled Albert Mt. and I hiked 10 miles in some pouring rain. It was an excellent 4 days on the trail and I wish I was walking up to Maine with the rest of the thru's. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!