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AT Blog: Day 7-9

Georgia Off My Mind

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Day 7

I wake up in my nice toasty hostel bed. Overnight I had my wet gear drying, and collect it. Today will likely be my last day hiking in Georgia, my home state. Soon it’s time for breakfast and we have waffles and home fries. I talk to Auggie and a few others hikers at breakfast then head back to my room.

I get dressed clean my room and head out. I was a little worried about missing the shuttle back to the trail. But the hostel runs on island time and waits till everyone is ready.

To my surprise a lot of people I know who weren’t at the hostel are here. Around the bend has a nice little resupply location so they came over to get stuff. Eventually Tigger, Taxi, Lobster, Auggie, Jack amd more head to the trail. Waywalker and Half Pint stay behind for a full zero day.

When we finally get to the trail we debate our options, tonight it is supposed to storm bad, and we worry about the 10 miles in between the next two shelters. We end up taking lunch at Plumb Orchard Shelter, the last shelter in Georgia to plan.

We ultimately decide to call it a short day. With rain coming in none of us wants to get completely soaked. So what if we only did 5 miles in the end.

I end up laying down for a movie downloaded on my phone. I have the FNAF movie saved and I haven’t seen it yet. It turned out to be a pretty good movie.

We do end up all laughing cause the very poor weather ends up not hitting till late at night, meaning we had plenty of time to make it to the next spot. I did need the light day to rest my feet, but I know in the future to keep hiking unless the forecast is truly dire.

Day 8

Woke up to little fanfare. Spent the night in plumorchard shelter, and got OK sleep due to rustling of mice. After talking some and getting morning bars Tigger M.D (mechanical dragon) and taxi leave camp and I follow shortly after.

The last few miles in Georgia are pleasant as we slowly climb the Ridge, but we do see how wet everything was from the storms. We eventually make it to the Georgia/North Carolina border. The first of 14 states accomplished. Tigger M.D is with me at the time as we cross. I feel a little pang of sadness as we leave my home state and enter into lesser known territory.

The rest of the day is strenuous. We have to conquer high court Mountain and others that are drastic climbs, through the cold and ice and eventually dustings of snow. It’s not terribly cold but enough to weigh us down. As we keep going there are multiple signs warning of bears. The Georgia ATC warned us of it, blaming it on hikers used to Georgia bear cables and boxes to protect their food. Now hikers aren’t used to actually hanging their food since North Carolina lacks those facilities.

Due to shelter spacing most everyone decides to end up in Beech Gap campsite, where Shelton and Mosey already were. The distance to water is long, but the major downside is bears. Farout (an app with hiker comments) said there were lots of bears there and there were multiple bear warning signs. I make sure to hang my stuff up well with a pct hang.

Day 9

Start the day at Beech Gap, Taxi and Tigger MD are already packed and gone by the time I get out of my tent.

I head over to my food bag and am thankful that it’s untouched. Upon taking it down I notice my rock bag (for throwing the line over the branch) is damaged. I temporarily repair it with spare leukotape.

After eating a quick protein bar I head off. Lots of ice on trail, the sun still rests below the ridge, letting it stay frozen. There’s a neat effect where frozen dirt creates this ice grass effect. Beyond that the early trek is not super note worthy, just a good view at Little Ridgepole Vista. The terrain is much flatter in this section, until hitting Albert Mountain, it’s peak marks the 100 mile point on the AT.

Getting up to it is a big pain, as it suddenly increases in elevation near the top, with huge steps built and drilled into the rocks. Without them the hike up would be impossible.

At the top of Albert mountain is an old firetower giving incredible panoramic views of the forest of North Carolina. It’s high enough that I can still see into Georgia!

From there it’s mostly downhill or flat. I make it to mile 100 on the AT(not super remarkable since it’s shortly after the tower). Eventually I make it to Rock Gap shelter. Lots of late February starters are there, meaning I’m camping out tonight. Auggie, Tigger MD and Taxi are all already there. And I set up for the night.