Slo-go'en
05-01-2017, 12:59
The two big take a ways were 1) the number of people still starting out and 2) the number of people with dogs.
A lot of the hikers we meet (I was hiking with someone I hiked with last year) were section hikers, but quite a few were hoping to "go all the way". There were several with seriously overloaded packs, up to 50 pounds. A couple of older, overweight woman with equally overloaded packs moving at a snail pace (at least they were moving, but one couldn't help be concerned about their health and ability).
One guy in particular stood out. He had a machete, a 12" long survival knife, a three pound hand gun strapped to his waist belt, a fishing pole, 20 feet of 1/2" climbing rope to tie up his dog with at night, a Walmart tent and a brown plastic tarp to put over it. And of course, mostly cotton clothes. It was painful just to watch him try to put his pack on. His dog looked like it would much rather have been anywhere else.
One kid had a 6 month old puppy. Cute dog, but it mostly wanted to sleep. Every day we meet at least one hiker with a dog. Some looked to be okay, others not so much even that early into the trip.
We ended up at Gooch shelter on a Saturday night. It was total mayhem there, shelter full and tents everywhere. Must have been 30 or more people there. The poor Ridge Runner was trying to turn people away, but that wasn't going over too well. Turns out I knew the guy and had hiked with him last year for a few weeks, so that helped my situation a little, but still ended up with a marginal tent site, especially after it started to rain hard overnight. At least most of the water running down the hill went around my tent.
At Woody Gap we decided to go to the Hiker Hostel to get out of the rain. We called from the gap and they had bunks available, but wouldn't come get us until 5 PM. It was 3 PM, raining and cold. After a bit, an independent shuttle van drove up trolling for business and for $10 each, took six of us down to the hostel. The new owners had just taken over running the hostel a day or two before and this was not good. Not very friendly and clueless. Breakfast in the morning was hardly worth getting up for and then they charged us $8 to shuttle us back to the gap! $38 total for the nights stay, plus the $10 we paid to get there. We were not very happy with this.
A couple of days later we wanted to stay at Top of Georgia hostel, where my buddy had a package waiting. My buddy called from Tray Mountain in the morning to make reservations, but was advised not to since the lady on the phone doubted we'd make it there before they closed at 7 PM and if we made reservations and didn't show up in time we would have to pay anyway. Plus she assured us they had plenty of room and it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, it turned into a problem. It started to rain. We got to the "vista" south of Dicks Creek gap where there is cell service about 3 PM, totally soaked. Called TOG only to find out they were now full. Apparently, everyone who was at Deep gap shelter that morning made a bee line for the hostel when it started to rain.
So, we continued on to the gap, not knowing what to do next. At the gap we meet a couple of day hikers who we talked into giving us a ride into Hiawassee. Of course, the Budget Inn was also full, but we were able to get the last room at Mull's Motel down the road. A number of others ended up paying the big bucks to stay at the Holiday Inn. I'd guess there were over 60 hikers scattered around between TOG and the other motels. I suggested to my buddy to call TOG and see if they would bring his package into town when they did their town run, which they did agree to do.
And that's where my journey ended. I had been suffering with tree pollen allergies the whole time I was in Georgia, not getting much sleep from hacking up mucus all night before I learned to take a couple of Benadryl's before laying down, which let me sleep most of then night, but made me really sluggish during the day and my head was still congested. I had hoped to go all the way to Virginia, but it seemed wise to abort the trip and go home before things got worse. So I did.
A lot of the hikers we meet (I was hiking with someone I hiked with last year) were section hikers, but quite a few were hoping to "go all the way". There were several with seriously overloaded packs, up to 50 pounds. A couple of older, overweight woman with equally overloaded packs moving at a snail pace (at least they were moving, but one couldn't help be concerned about their health and ability).
One guy in particular stood out. He had a machete, a 12" long survival knife, a three pound hand gun strapped to his waist belt, a fishing pole, 20 feet of 1/2" climbing rope to tie up his dog with at night, a Walmart tent and a brown plastic tarp to put over it. And of course, mostly cotton clothes. It was painful just to watch him try to put his pack on. His dog looked like it would much rather have been anywhere else.
One kid had a 6 month old puppy. Cute dog, but it mostly wanted to sleep. Every day we meet at least one hiker with a dog. Some looked to be okay, others not so much even that early into the trip.
We ended up at Gooch shelter on a Saturday night. It was total mayhem there, shelter full and tents everywhere. Must have been 30 or more people there. The poor Ridge Runner was trying to turn people away, but that wasn't going over too well. Turns out I knew the guy and had hiked with him last year for a few weeks, so that helped my situation a little, but still ended up with a marginal tent site, especially after it started to rain hard overnight. At least most of the water running down the hill went around my tent.
At Woody Gap we decided to go to the Hiker Hostel to get out of the rain. We called from the gap and they had bunks available, but wouldn't come get us until 5 PM. It was 3 PM, raining and cold. After a bit, an independent shuttle van drove up trolling for business and for $10 each, took six of us down to the hostel. The new owners had just taken over running the hostel a day or two before and this was not good. Not very friendly and clueless. Breakfast in the morning was hardly worth getting up for and then they charged us $8 to shuttle us back to the gap! $38 total for the nights stay, plus the $10 we paid to get there. We were not very happy with this.
A couple of days later we wanted to stay at Top of Georgia hostel, where my buddy had a package waiting. My buddy called from Tray Mountain in the morning to make reservations, but was advised not to since the lady on the phone doubted we'd make it there before they closed at 7 PM and if we made reservations and didn't show up in time we would have to pay anyway. Plus she assured us they had plenty of room and it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, it turned into a problem. It started to rain. We got to the "vista" south of Dicks Creek gap where there is cell service about 3 PM, totally soaked. Called TOG only to find out they were now full. Apparently, everyone who was at Deep gap shelter that morning made a bee line for the hostel when it started to rain.
So, we continued on to the gap, not knowing what to do next. At the gap we meet a couple of day hikers who we talked into giving us a ride into Hiawassee. Of course, the Budget Inn was also full, but we were able to get the last room at Mull's Motel down the road. A number of others ended up paying the big bucks to stay at the Holiday Inn. I'd guess there were over 60 hikers scattered around between TOG and the other motels. I suggested to my buddy to call TOG and see if they would bring his package into town when they did their town run, which they did agree to do.
And that's where my journey ended. I had been suffering with tree pollen allergies the whole time I was in Georgia, not getting much sleep from hacking up mucus all night before I learned to take a couple of Benadryl's before laying down, which let me sleep most of then night, but made me really sluggish during the day and my head was still congested. I had hoped to go all the way to Virginia, but it seemed wise to abort the trip and go home before things got worse. So I did.