First Week

I'm done with my first week on the AT! It has been an interesting week too. My partner and I started from Amicalola falls in what felt like sub-freezing weather and summited Springer in about 4 1/2 hours and high spirits. On the mountain we met up with another pair of hikers, Pootz and Uncle Buck. Originally we were planning to spend the night at the Springer Mountain Shelter but we were there by 2:30 so we decided to push on a few more miles instead. As it turned out we ended up at the Stover Creek Shelter with Pootz and UB and man was it COLD. It got down to about 21 that night and I ended up sleeping in a hat and face mask which was a first for me. We also discussed the effectiveness of macing oneself when faced with a bear in h0pes of making yourself taste less appetizing. Needless to say it was a rather odd night. The next day was fairly uneventful except for the fact that my feet were unbelievably sore all day. That night we spent the night at a rather full Gooch Mtn. Shelter w/Pootz, Uncle Buck, Scoot, Pickle, North Star, Ninja, Patriot, Tar Heel, Sublime, Lloyd, and Jet James. I was in the zone on the third day, and might have summited to Blood Mountain Shelter on my own but the rest of my crew was wanting to stop at Wood's Hole where we spent a very pleasant evening and rose at 5:20 to night hike Blood Mountain and watch the sun rise. It was beautiful. One of the best views I have ever seen. We then knocked out the remaining couple of days to spend the day and night in Neels Gap at the Walasi-Yi. The next day we took the wrong trail for a ways on some mountain, which cost us some time but did provide some very funny pictures of Skyhiker and Sublime fighting with plastic light sabres we found left at some ancient camp site. Other than that the only thing that happened was Skyhiker and I became seperated and have hiked seperately for the last couple of days. The next day was fantastic it was good hiking with beautiful views, but more importantly it was my first encounter with trail angels. Two hikers from last year Slick B and Holly Trout had a campsite with food, drink, and well played music set up at the site of the Old Cheese Factory (don't ask, I have no idea). It was a fantastic night of hanging out, talking, and laughing with the two angels, Eagle (who is on his third consecutive hike), Sugargrits, Nine Iron, Larry, Airic, Pootz, Uncle Buck, and Sandwich (a woman who was carrying 38 pounds and was only two days out from Springer!). The next day we woke to a very damp dawn and have since pushed on through a very hot day of hiking into Hiawassee where I am currently residing at the Cloud 9 hiker hostel and trout fishery. In fact I am about to head back to the trail so I need to go. Thanks for paying attention to this venture and I'm sorry I have no pictures yet, there was no good way to post them. I will try to remedy that at my next entry.
Until then,
The Breadless Horseman