Day 3 (31.3-50.1)

I woke up in Blairsville GA after hitching a ride and smashing some pizza the night before. Laundry was done and it’s roughly 9am. I handed in my keys and made my way towards town square to attempt a hitch back up to Neel Gap. Thumbing down a ride that morning turned out to be a pretty difficult task. After some time standing out in the cold rain I opted to walk back to the motel and call for a shuttle. Sifting through the shuttle numbers I landed on a gentleman whose name was Mike, I gave him a call and he said he’d be over at 10:30, perfect. Mike arrived and we made our way back up to the trailhead.

Arriving at Neel Gap around 11 there were plenty of hikers hanging out, enjoying the shop that was  placed conveniently at the trailhead. Stopping for a moment to admire the tree that was littered with the boots of hikers. I ran into a few familiar faces before starting the climb out of Neel. Animal, J3 and DaVinci. DaVinci had just completed his YoYo of the Appalachian Trail, starting last year and walking to Maine, only to turn around and walk back towards Georgia. Incredible. 

I set off to my next destination, Blue Mountain Shelter. A long steady climb out of Neel, still struggling to catch my breath and fighting the sore legs until they warmed up. I made my way over to Tesnatee Gap. At the bottom of the gap I ran into Gazelle who had stopped to eat her lunch. Asking how she liked the trail so far, she responded “it’s much easier today especially in the rain.” I agreed that the cold definitely helps you from getting too warm. I moved along and started my climb up wildcat mountain. Stopping  frequently to catch my breath and let my legs cool down, laughing to myself about the previous conversation with Gazelle about it being easier. Up and over I went. 

At the far side of Wildcat Mountain I ran into Baggins, Gazelles hiking partner, we shared our frustrations about Wildcat and moved on together. The conversation while hiking was nice for a change. Five miles flew by and Baggins reached his destination for the evening, Low Gap Shelter. The shelter was packed for the most part, largely due to older lady who decided to set her tent up inside. I stopped and ate a quick snack before taking off. 10 miles still to go.

The day passed by fairly quick, until it didn’t. Fatigue set in, 5 miles down, 5 miles to go and there was plenty of elevation ahead of me. I struggled, hungry, tired and wet. Afraid of the shelter being packed to the brim and having to set up camp in the rain after a long hard day. I arrived, poking my head around the corner of the shelter, it was empty! I quickly unloaded my food bag and started cooking dinner. As I sat down to eat I noticed a mouse scamper across the floor. Great, infested. Watching the mice run around and poking their heads out of the shelter floor like a crude game of whack a mole I tried to come up with a plan to hang my food and keep myself from getting chewed on. Rocks! I thought, I’ll put rocks over all of the holes to keep them from coming up directly on me. I gathered what rocks were lying around the ground and placed them over the holes. It seemed to work so far, now I just need to keep my food safe. I dug through my food bag and found the bear line used for hanging my food bag, I strung it across the shelter and began suspending my items from it. Hopefully mice can jump I thought to myself. I trusted my ingenuity and laid down to get some sleep, or so I thought. 

Around 930 I hear a crash right outside the shelter, pretty startled I look to the doorway and I see a light shining through, this is it I’m going to get axe murdered… another hiker stumbles in, what a relief. Woobie is his Trail Name. Woobie set out the day before from springer to attempt his Calendar Year Triple Crown. On a tight schedule and set on making miles. I offer to let him hang his food because the mice were out to feed. He hung his pack set up his sleeping pad. We shared some stories about the trail and he told me about his previous accomplishments. Shortly after we were both fast asleep. Intermittently of course. Stupid mice. 

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