Last section in Georgia Day 2 & 3

After waking up at 6:30am, I packed up camp and joined everyone for breakfast. Pyro gets an early start up Rocky Mountain, I leave about 20 minutes later, and then Speedy and Water B follow a few minutes later. The climb up Rocky was long and Speedy and Water B blaze up the trail with no problem. I really need to start jogging again. I haven't ran in a month and I can totally feel it in my lungs! We are almost out of water when I catch up to Pyro. We decide to stop at the first available water site. Pyro and I find a dismal puddle and filter up on the downside of the mountain. Then, about a 1/4 mile down the trail, we see a really nice flow. Isn't that how it always happens? haha! We finish the descend down and thats where Pyro's hip starts to bother her a bit so we take it easy til we get to Unicoi Gap, where we take a small break. Pyro says she needs a bit more of a break, so she tells me to go on up without her. I start up Blue Mountain and it's kicking my ass. Then it hits me. I hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast. So I stop on a nice log and decide to have a long snack break. I was hoping Pyro would catch up to me and we could finish this beast of a climb together. But after 20 minutes, I decide to move ahead. On the way up, I ran into a mother and daughter backpacking together. The mom was 69 yrs old and they had already hiked in from Springer Mt. They were headed to Dicks Creek. WOW, I had to say "Go Mom!" when I heard how far she had already come. It's amazing to see people out hiking at her age. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I hope to be climbing up mountains when I'm her age. I meet another group of backpackers, they are a little family out for a nice holiday weekend trip. One of them thru hiked in 2006 and had a cocker spaniel dog by the name of Springer. I said, "what an appropriate name for your dog!" We all laughed and went our separate ways. I finally reached Blue Mt. Shelter around 1:30pm and find Speedy S'mores and Water B chillin'. I also meet a hiker named "Paul with Bunions" He's such a character. He's hiking a section from Harpers Ferry West Virginia to Springer GA and then flip flopping back up. He's taking his time and enjoying the trip.

Well, after two tough climbs, I take off my boots and lay down for a second b/f I finally eat lunch. I called SHOE to see if she had Pyro's #. I was going to call and and make sure she's alright. After a couple of hours we were all getting worried, when all of the sudden, Pyro struts in all smiles. YAY! I call SHOE back and tell here not to worry, we are all back together. We take another break with Pyro and just relax, enjoy the shelter and the conversation. Water B goes to the spring and gets us all filed up for the rest of the trip. Another 45 mins. pass and we decide we need to forge on. After all, we've only gone 5 miles and had a long day a head. So off we go. We all hike together down Blue Mt. for another couple miles til we get to a nice log and campspot and take a break. Pyro's hip is really bothering her and I could see the tears of pain welding up in her eyes. I knew she didn't have long, so we let Water B go up a head to look out for water, while Speedy and I took a few items out of Pyro's pack to lighten the load. It was a crazy hard day today and I didn't want Pyro to loose herself in anger and pain. I told her this is when she really needs to dig down deep inside and pull up the true backpacker within and focus on getting to camp. I've hiked with her several times and knew she could do it, but she had to believe she could and not give up on herself. So I told her that we would hike a couple of more miles and find a campsite.

About a mile later, we get to an intersecting trail and Water B says there is water down a steep hill. When Pyro makes it in, she tells us that the spring down the hill is the beginning of the Chatahochee river. Pretty cool, but no one wants to hike down to see it and Pyro's has already done it. Pyro is still needing some time, so Water B stays behind with her for a bit while Speedy and I move ahead to look for the water pipe another hiker told us about. I must of walked another 2 miles along the ridge, when I came up on Speedy. She was sitting on a log waiting for us. She thought we could just camp there for the night. From the map, I think we were at Cold Spring Gap and there was no good place for Speedy's tent or any good tree's for my or Pyro's hammocks. Speedy volunteers to scout up ahead for 1/2 miles for a suitable campspot, so she's off. I sat down, then Water B comes up, and 10 minutes later Pyro shows up and has gotten her second wind. She hugs me and says she found a shiny penny on the ground and it reminded her of her brother and that she felt like she heard his voice encouraging her. So she got her second wind and made some amazing time up AND she wanted to keep going! By then, Speedy returned and said that the trail is pretty much carved out on the side of the mountain the last 1/2 mile she hiked and no spots for camping. Pyro says she remembers a nice campsite that her and SHOE stayed at once, and she thinks it's about a mile-2 miles away. So off we go. Tired and in need of water, we all hike on. Thank goodness the trail is either flat or has a slight up hill, cause I don't think any of us could of handled another climb.

We finally find the corrugated pipe coming out of the ground and Pyro and I stop to filter up. Pyro describes the campsite to Speedy and Water B and they continue on to look for it. I climb down to the pipe and fill up our bottles and as I climb back up, Pyro's steri-penning the water, she tells me a bit more about her brother. I tell her that she found that lucky penny at exactly the moment she needed it and I tell her about my good luck charms. Little ladybugs and just then, she tells me to look down and what do I see? A ladybug! Right then and there, I knew the rest of the trip would be a good one. We put on our packs again and head down the trail and not even a mile down, we see Speedy and Water B. They had found a campsite. We all unpack and put up our perspective back country homes and as I'm fiddling with my tarp, Pyro builds us a nice fire. We sit around the campfire, enjoy dinner, chit chat, then call it an early night. We are all tuckered out.

Not more than 15 minutes of laying in my hammock, and I hear a loud scurrying in some brush near by. I call out... "Kellye!" and she says she heard it too. We see Water B pop a light out of his tent so they must of heard it too. Well, then we hear it again! Pyro tells me she thinks it was just a deer. Not sure if she's telling me that so I don't get scared of if she really wants to believe it was a deer and not a bear. haha! I believe her and am fast asleep within 2 minutes. Thank goodness I have some hiking companions on this trip.

The next morning I wake up around 5:30am and start packing up in the dark. We have a long 7 mile day back to the car and want to make it there by 3pm. So after breakfast, at 7am, we all step foot on the AT and continue on. I'm feeling good on this flat trail so I kick it up a notch and Speedy's right behind me. The next thing we know, it's 8am and we've hiked 2 1/2 miles to Low gap shelter. We are so stoked we made it so quickly that we high five one another. A couple of minutes later, Water B arrives and a second later Pyro shows up. We all made it so fast to the shelter! We decide to load up on water for the last 4.6 miles of the day and walk down to the shelter. When we get to the water source, we meet a family from Florida out hiking from Hogpen Gap to Unicoi Gap. A couple of them are in clark jungle hammocks and we talk gear a bit. They were hiking with two dogs, a German Shepard and a Chocolate Lab, both puppies were limping around sore. I asked the owner if she had any aspirin and to cut one in half and give it to both dogs. She said she already gave them some Vitamin I. Poor puppies, they have a rough climb up Blue Mountain today. After pumping water, Speedy, Water B and I took a quick snack break. When we reached the AT again, we noticed Pyro was gone. She went ahead and started the 500 foot in a 1/2 mile climb. Water B went ahead of us and Speedy and I hiked together. I was actually able to keep up with her. I wonder if she was going slower for me? hmmmm.... hahaha! Anways, we make it to the top and find Pyro relaxing on the trail waiting on us. I take another break and for the rest of the trip, Pyro and I hike together. I take this time to really enjoy this section of GA. It's my last and I want to make sure I take it all in. I spot these giant clover leaves and they immediately remind me of Boo, so I snap a photo of them. Funny how the littlest things can have such a powerful connection out here in the woods. I spot a white blaze and am moved to touch it. I realize it may be the last blaze I see in GA, so I snap a photo of it too. As we descend down and climb up again, we finally make it into Hogpen Gap. YAY! I've offically completed the AT in Georgia! Whoo Hoo! and it's only 12pm!!! The first thing I do is fling my pack off and change out of my boots and into some flip flops. I've been craving Mexican Food since Pyro mentioned it about 3 miles back. So off we go to the cute little town of Helen GA for our reward. We make a quick stop at this quirky little place called, Goats on a Roof. And there really ARE goats on a roof! We only stopped to change clothes, but can't resist the corniness of it all and take time to tour around the place. Got to love little places like this. We finally get back on the road and as we come into the town of Helen, we join the crazy holiday traffic jam and it takes us over 20 minutes to drive the one mile into town. It's OK though, cause we are driving along the Chatahoochee river and see hundreds and hundreds of families tubing along the river, having a great time and keeping cool in this heat. We pull into town, park and head in for our reward lunch!

Over all it was a great trip and I got to hike the last section of Georgia, with a Georgian, Pyro, and usher in a new state with North Carolinians, Speedy S'mores and Water B. Georgian will always hold some great memories for me, but I look forward to the new challenges of a new state. So NC, bring it on, I am ready for you! Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!