Neels Gap to Hiawassee

3/15: After a relaxing day in Blairsville, Kori and I got a shuttle back to the trail. It was supposed to storm that night, so we hiked in the fog to a shelter that was about a mile off the trail because we figured other hikers wouldn’t bother going there. On our way, we met a student at the University of Georgia doing his masters thesis on water quality on the AT and he showed us some salamanders in the creek! And then, as we approached a gap (a place where a road intersects the trail) a guy named King Tut was giving out trail magic! He gave us warm hats, donuts with a lot of calories, infinite snacks, and we stood by a gas fire he had running to warm up. Here are the hats we got! Kori’s is orange :)

It certainly felt like magic for two cold and damp thru hikers. After saying goodbye and wistfully leaving the fire, we hiked to Whitley Shelter, which was at the bottom of a steep incline off the trail. We grabbed the first two spots in the shelter, which was a good thing, because it stormed loud and hard that night. We were beyond happy to be in a wooden structure!

3/16: The rain stopped in the morning, so we hiked to Low Gap which was only 6 miles away (well, 7 if you count the mile off trail). Again, it was super foggy. Here’s a picture of Kori standing not that far away to give you an idea.

We got the last two spots in the shelter at Low Gap! An older thru hiked named Turtle and Kori worked on making a fire since we had the whole afternoon. It was super smoky and uncooperative, but after some Kori magic and a lot of blowing, it stayed up until Turtle dumped an armful of wet wood on it. We named it Carl from the old man in the movie “UP” because the fire was definitely a boy and very grumpy. We made friends at the camp, and saw a fellow thru hiked named Hagrid! Who we met and I gave her trail name to on the first day (she said felt felt haggard, but I thought she said she felt like Hagrid...and there you go). We went to bed that night after stuffing and mashed potatoes, which was tasty and filling.

3/17: It was a cold morning but once we got moving, we warmed up. We didn’t know exactly where we were going that day, but we wanted to find a campsite near water. It as a clear day, so we could see all the views! We had a steep hill to climb, but at the top of the mountain a couple offered us cookies for St. Patrick’s Day and we felt like we were on the top of the world looking at the mountains around us.

We ended up hiking over 10 miles! It was the farthest we have hiked so far and we found a nice campsite near a stream just like we wanted. As we were settling down for the night, two friends from Low Gap, a couple named Otter and Sunshine, came up the hill to camp there too! And they brought beer and we had a campfire named Gabe. It was the perfect end to a long day of hiking!

3/18: We had a shorter hike because we went into Hiawasse to resupply on Tuesday, so we hiked about 6 miles to Dick’s Creek Gap and camped at a site right by the road to be picked up in the morning. It got down to the high 20s near dawn so it was a cold night, but we stayed toasty warm in our sleeping quilts!

So that’s where we end for this week! Right now we’re in Hiawassee after resupplying our food. We ran into our buddies, Otter, Sunshine, and Hagrid in Town so we got pizza with them for dinner and ate way too much. Luckily as thru hikers, we try and eat as many calories as possible, so mission accomplished! Here’s a picture of the crew!

From left to right: Sunshine, Otter, Emily, Kori, and Hagrid

Quote of the week:

Em: “What do you mean? 9am is the perfect time for a frozen burrito!”

Happy trails!