Day: 007
Date: Monday, 01 May 2023
Start: Dick’s Creek Gap (AT Mile 69.2) but staying at Hiawassee
Finish: Near Standing Indian Shelter (AT Mile 85.8)
Daily Kilometres: 27.5
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 146.8
Weather: Partly sunny and cold with a cold wind
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Cooked breakfast, toast & jam
Lunch: Italian sandwich/chicken salad sandwich
Dinner: Dehydrated meals & soup
Aches: Dave - a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report
Highlight: In the early afternoon we crossed from Georgia into North Carolina, a milestone and the next of many states we pass through before reaching the end of the trail in Maine.
Lowlight: It got quite cold at times today, especially when exposed to the full force of the wind and the sun was behind the clouds, though we both have the gear and it wasn’t a real problem.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We had a 6:30am breakfast at the diner next to the motel. Other patrons included a few police, always a good sign, and a table of good ole boys enjoying what looked like their regular Monday morning get-together. They didn’t look like they had first met up at 5:30am for a run, as is the SOP back home in Terrigal before a cafe breakfast!
We were hoping to get back on the trail early by getting an Uber from town back to the trailhead. Uber did offer service in the area but, as new users, we didn’t reralise that although they quoted a price for our journey and took our request, “Limited Availability” meant we were unlikely to get a ride, and that’s how it turned out. So, around 7:15am, we began hitch-hiking from outside the motel, somewhat hopeful, given the volume of traffic and knowing that Appalachian Trail hikers were a common sight in town. However, it took a while before two Hispanic landscapers in a pickup stopped for us. Unfortunately, a miscommunication about where we wanted to go, meant that they had to apologetically drop us at an intersection a few miles out of town and we began hitching again.
After about 20 minutes another pickup, emblazoned with Trump stickers, stopped and the friendly couple on their way to work (he was a tree-lopper) took us to the trailhead.
It was an hour or more later than we had hoped, but not too bad. Also at the trailhead and continuing their hike from Springer Mt to Virginia on the AT (about 500 miles), were a mother, her two children (boy about 10yo and girl about 8yo) and her father. We had a brief chat and learned that her husband, who could work remotely, was driving the support van and presumably working from the van or Starbuck’s, etc., and that her mother was looking after her baby, presumably also in the van. They looked a happy bunch and it seemed a great arrangement.
Further along the trail today we saw other AT thru-hikers. Several 20-somethings with their ultralight gear passed us making a good pace, and two others, older, not doing so well. One, a very overweight mother (her daughter had gone on ahead) was resting on a long climb and we wondered how she will ever make it to Maine before the snow arrives. On the other hand, she had already hiked nearly 80 miles on very tough trail during which she must have thought about quitting many times, so her tenacity was to be admired.
The rhythm of the trail was much the same today as for previous days. Climb a mountain, get fantastic views somewhat obscured by deciduous trees with their fresh green foliage, then descend to a “gap” before climbing the next mountain. Occasionally we had short sections of relatively flat trail, but mostly we were climbing or descending.
Typically, on the first day out of town you are climbing with a full pack (four days of food) and a full stomach making the hills even tougher, but it wasn’t too bad today and the day off to recover from the first five days has helped Dave.
Although it felt like winter for most of the day, the variety of wildflowers along the way proved it was spring and were a constant source of interest as we kept an eye out for new varieties.
Around 6:30pm, we found a nice spot alongside the trail and beside a babbling stream to camp for the night. It was cold, and by 8:00pm we were in the tent, wearing many clothes having changed and eaten. It will get down to near freezing tonight.
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