JLB
08-23-2005, 10:01
I wrote this on another non-hiking forum, but thought it may interest you guys.
I drove my kids up to summer camp in North Carolina, and took some time with my wife (and beagle) for a short vacation. I wanted to show her the highlights of Northern Georgia, which I found to be very beautiful, and not at all what I had expected.
Last year I hiked a 50 mile section of the Georgia Appalachian Trail, before moving on to NC (to avoid the rain) so having and extra 4 days, we drove down from the Asheville area where the camp is located to Hiawassee Georgia, and Lake Chatuge. This is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. Lake Chatuge is a man-made lake, part of the TVA, and has 120 miles of shoreline, with 4,000 foot mountains all around it. It's 7 miles log, and 4 miles wide at it's widest, but has scores of small fingers of water branching off. The house on the lake are gorgeous, but expensive, as the TVA owns most of the shore line, so lake front lots are large in number, but limited in supply.
We stayed at the Hiawassee Inn, a place that specializes in the hiking community, and was the exact place I was on the 4th of July last year, coming off the trail at Unicoi Gap.
http://www.fototime.com/{3469170A-BD23-49DA-B154-B59CB59BA3D8}/picture.JPG
From Hiawassee, we headed up to Neel's Gap, and to the Hostel and camping store there, to stock up on gear. I had virtually everything, from my long trip last year, but my wife had never done any mountain hiking, other than a trip out to Glacier, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons a few years back, and that was just side trails from the road, nothing serious. We stocked up on camp food, and picked up a set of Crocs sandles for my wife, for camp shoes, and I picked up a cheap poncho, as I had forgotten to pack all of my rain gear. (last year it rained on me all day, 18 days in a row)
Neel's Gap is at the base of Blood Mountain, which is the highest Ga. mountain on the AT, at around 4500 feet. The trail is only 2.5 miles, but it's like straight up, so I would rate it as difficult, for a beginner with a moderate pack. I made sure she was only carrying a day pack, with 15 pounds, while I carried my usual Gregory pack, with about 35 pounds. There is no water source up top, so I was maxed out on water.
Blood Mountain also has the oldest shelter on the AT, and has a pretty spectacular view, so we planned an overnight there, and then would hike back down, and drive further south on the trail, and do another overnight at Long Creek Falls, where tech30528 was last week, and near the beginning of the AT.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/tech30528/006_06.jpg
tech30528 at Long Creek Falls
The beagle was having an absolute blast, being off the leash for the first time in the mountain woods, and probably hiked twice the distance we did, and did so at an amazing pace, running forward, and backwards, as we climbed.
http://www.fototime.com/{6CFC1944-0C07-4554-8F65-267C9DC31043}/picture.JPG
Angel, our 3 year old 13" tri-color beagle
http://www.fototime.com/{2D47248B-8A42-4714-924A-671BD35CC1A5}/picture.JPG
http://www.fototime.com/{E1C39AA3-0E26-49DC-8000-83302FA55C23}/picture.JPG
Near the top
http://www.fototime.com/{335E14BB-FB4A-4537-A972-4AC7C0F25370}/picture.JPG
Near the top
http://www.fototime.com/{CA0BCA9E-B436-4E01-8DAC-EDB8CEBA399B}/picture.JPG
At the top, finally....
http://www.fototime.com/{86B8C42E-040B-4ECC-807F-4915A8D93BBD}/picture.JPG
Blood Mountain Shelter
When we got to the top, the temps started dropping, and we were made aware that a front was moving in, ahead of the tropical storm, so temps started droppping, and we got a light rain, with some mist. Luckily, we had bought 3 camp blankets, and had 30 degree down bags with us.
Blood Mountain Shelter is a stone structure, with two rooms, a front room, and a back sleeping area, with a raised plywood platform, about 6 inches off off the ground. There is no door, and the windows are completely open.
http://www.fototime.com/{30E26BB5-1C0A-4C05-BAD5-A5E2D27452FD}/picture.JPG
Sleeping room
http://www.fototime.com/{8EE4E93D-6348-47AD-B47D-55C2DA94D159}/picture.JPG
Karen reading "DaVinci Code" in the sleeping area.
We got there about 3:30 in the afternoon, and had the place to ourselves for a while, and then were joined by a man and his two sons, who had put in a 12 mile day, so were exhausted. It started raining, so they started cooking, but inside the first room of the shelter (a no-no, as food aroma attracts wildlife).
When it started getting dark, I hung my food and trash with a rope about 15 feet up in a tree, to discourage bears, and other animals from getting at it. Most shelters have mice, and we call them "mini-bears' as they will chew a hole into your pack, and get at anything inside.
I asked the man if he was going to hang his food, and he said he wasn't, as he hadn't seen any bears from his hike from Springer, and didn't see the need. He actually kept his pack, with food in it, in the sleeping area. I strongly disagreed, and told him that if a bear came through the door, I would insist on him dealing with it. He laughed, and said he would.
Now, it's dark, and before bed time, I tied the beagle's leash around my foot, and gave her about 8' of play, so she could move around, but not go bolting out into the darkness after a rabbit, or a mouse. The 8' proved to be a wise choice, as you will soon see.
Now it's about 11pm, and I can't sleep, as the dog has stolen most of my down bag, and I'm laying on plywood, freezing, as I gave my wife my Therma-rest sleeping pad. For the next 20 minutes, the beagle starts shaking and whining. She obviously is detecting something, but I'm assuming it's just the shelter mice, as I can hear light scratching in the next room. I try talking to her to calm her down, but she was wound up pretty tight.
All of a sudden, the scratching noise moves from the front room, to the back sleeping room, right over where this guy's pack was. The noise was pretty loud, and I was starting to form a plan of action for the worst case scenario. I eased my fanny pack over, and grabbed my Surefire 6P flashlight (very powerful and small, same as the cops carry).
Without warning, the beagle shot across the room in the direction of the noise, and was brought up just short by her leash. I reeled her in, and got a firm grasp, then brought my flashlight up, hoping when I flicked it on I would not see eyes 6 feet off the floor.........................
What I saw, was the next worse possible scenario..................
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Oh s**t!!!!!!!
"Dude" I whispered, "wake up!"
No answer.........
"Wake up everybody, we have a situation!" I yelled.
Everybody bolted upright, and stared at the image in my flash light.
And here it was, our second worse nightmare:
http://www.fototime.com/{46B05946-28A2-43FF-B813-CAD19A1102D3}/picture.JPG
Note the tail emerging from the guy's pack!
Yes, it was the biggest skunk I had ever seen in my life!
http://www.fototime.com/{4FC11C76-AC5D-4CA3-80BE-24A9D0874914}/picture.JPG
For 20 minutes we held our breath, as this skunk went in, and out of this guy's pack, and even came over and sniffed their feet.
We discussed what to do, and when the skunk was entirely inside the pack, I told him to just zip it up inside, and take the pack outside. He said "No way, he'll spray my pack." I said "It's your fault he's in here, so take one for the team."
I also considered grabbing the skunk by the tail as it was hanging out, and chucking it out the window like a live grenade, but decided that was a high risk operation, with a large penalty if i failed to use the proper skunk tossing technique.
At one point, it was joined by a smaller skunk, but I couldn't get a pic, as it left the room too quickly.
All the while, I'm holding onto 25 pounds of pure muscle, that is baying, whining, and trying desperately to get at the "kitty" across the room.
2 more feet of leash, and the beagle would have gotten to the skunk, and the entire room would have been the victim of a chemical warfare attack nearly as bad as anything Al Qaeda could dream up.
We would have had a miserable night, then a morning hike with all stinking to high heaven, and then would not have been able to get into our car in our condition.
http://www.fototime.com/{C9DB454B-E7D2-441A-A31E-BADA84360ECA}/picture.JPG
Finally, after a long period of time, the skunk lost interest, and left the room, and the guy took all of his food, and put it in the other room, tossing a handfull of trail mix outside to satisfy the skunk family.
We hiked down the next morning, and learned that our plans to stay at Long Creek Falls would be spent in a rainstorm (Tropical Storm was moving through), so we elected to check into a hotel in the Atlanta area, and just take it easy, having had enough excitement to last us a while.
I drove my kids up to summer camp in North Carolina, and took some time with my wife (and beagle) for a short vacation. I wanted to show her the highlights of Northern Georgia, which I found to be very beautiful, and not at all what I had expected.
Last year I hiked a 50 mile section of the Georgia Appalachian Trail, before moving on to NC (to avoid the rain) so having and extra 4 days, we drove down from the Asheville area where the camp is located to Hiawassee Georgia, and Lake Chatuge. This is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. Lake Chatuge is a man-made lake, part of the TVA, and has 120 miles of shoreline, with 4,000 foot mountains all around it. It's 7 miles log, and 4 miles wide at it's widest, but has scores of small fingers of water branching off. The house on the lake are gorgeous, but expensive, as the TVA owns most of the shore line, so lake front lots are large in number, but limited in supply.
We stayed at the Hiawassee Inn, a place that specializes in the hiking community, and was the exact place I was on the 4th of July last year, coming off the trail at Unicoi Gap.
http://www.fototime.com/{3469170A-BD23-49DA-B154-B59CB59BA3D8}/picture.JPG
From Hiawassee, we headed up to Neel's Gap, and to the Hostel and camping store there, to stock up on gear. I had virtually everything, from my long trip last year, but my wife had never done any mountain hiking, other than a trip out to Glacier, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons a few years back, and that was just side trails from the road, nothing serious. We stocked up on camp food, and picked up a set of Crocs sandles for my wife, for camp shoes, and I picked up a cheap poncho, as I had forgotten to pack all of my rain gear. (last year it rained on me all day, 18 days in a row)
Neel's Gap is at the base of Blood Mountain, which is the highest Ga. mountain on the AT, at around 4500 feet. The trail is only 2.5 miles, but it's like straight up, so I would rate it as difficult, for a beginner with a moderate pack. I made sure she was only carrying a day pack, with 15 pounds, while I carried my usual Gregory pack, with about 35 pounds. There is no water source up top, so I was maxed out on water.
Blood Mountain also has the oldest shelter on the AT, and has a pretty spectacular view, so we planned an overnight there, and then would hike back down, and drive further south on the trail, and do another overnight at Long Creek Falls, where tech30528 was last week, and near the beginning of the AT.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/tech30528/006_06.jpg
tech30528 at Long Creek Falls
The beagle was having an absolute blast, being off the leash for the first time in the mountain woods, and probably hiked twice the distance we did, and did so at an amazing pace, running forward, and backwards, as we climbed.
http://www.fototime.com/{6CFC1944-0C07-4554-8F65-267C9DC31043}/picture.JPG
Angel, our 3 year old 13" tri-color beagle
http://www.fototime.com/{2D47248B-8A42-4714-924A-671BD35CC1A5}/picture.JPG
http://www.fototime.com/{E1C39AA3-0E26-49DC-8000-83302FA55C23}/picture.JPG
Near the top
http://www.fototime.com/{335E14BB-FB4A-4537-A972-4AC7C0F25370}/picture.JPG
Near the top
http://www.fototime.com/{CA0BCA9E-B436-4E01-8DAC-EDB8CEBA399B}/picture.JPG
At the top, finally....
http://www.fototime.com/{86B8C42E-040B-4ECC-807F-4915A8D93BBD}/picture.JPG
Blood Mountain Shelter
When we got to the top, the temps started dropping, and we were made aware that a front was moving in, ahead of the tropical storm, so temps started droppping, and we got a light rain, with some mist. Luckily, we had bought 3 camp blankets, and had 30 degree down bags with us.
Blood Mountain Shelter is a stone structure, with two rooms, a front room, and a back sleeping area, with a raised plywood platform, about 6 inches off off the ground. There is no door, and the windows are completely open.
http://www.fototime.com/{30E26BB5-1C0A-4C05-BAD5-A5E2D27452FD}/picture.JPG
Sleeping room
http://www.fototime.com/{8EE4E93D-6348-47AD-B47D-55C2DA94D159}/picture.JPG
Karen reading "DaVinci Code" in the sleeping area.
We got there about 3:30 in the afternoon, and had the place to ourselves for a while, and then were joined by a man and his two sons, who had put in a 12 mile day, so were exhausted. It started raining, so they started cooking, but inside the first room of the shelter (a no-no, as food aroma attracts wildlife).
When it started getting dark, I hung my food and trash with a rope about 15 feet up in a tree, to discourage bears, and other animals from getting at it. Most shelters have mice, and we call them "mini-bears' as they will chew a hole into your pack, and get at anything inside.
I asked the man if he was going to hang his food, and he said he wasn't, as he hadn't seen any bears from his hike from Springer, and didn't see the need. He actually kept his pack, with food in it, in the sleeping area. I strongly disagreed, and told him that if a bear came through the door, I would insist on him dealing with it. He laughed, and said he would.
Now, it's dark, and before bed time, I tied the beagle's leash around my foot, and gave her about 8' of play, so she could move around, but not go bolting out into the darkness after a rabbit, or a mouse. The 8' proved to be a wise choice, as you will soon see.
Now it's about 11pm, and I can't sleep, as the dog has stolen most of my down bag, and I'm laying on plywood, freezing, as I gave my wife my Therma-rest sleeping pad. For the next 20 minutes, the beagle starts shaking and whining. She obviously is detecting something, but I'm assuming it's just the shelter mice, as I can hear light scratching in the next room. I try talking to her to calm her down, but she was wound up pretty tight.
All of a sudden, the scratching noise moves from the front room, to the back sleeping room, right over where this guy's pack was. The noise was pretty loud, and I was starting to form a plan of action for the worst case scenario. I eased my fanny pack over, and grabbed my Surefire 6P flashlight (very powerful and small, same as the cops carry).
Without warning, the beagle shot across the room in the direction of the noise, and was brought up just short by her leash. I reeled her in, and got a firm grasp, then brought my flashlight up, hoping when I flicked it on I would not see eyes 6 feet off the floor.........................
What I saw, was the next worse possible scenario..................
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Oh s**t!!!!!!!
"Dude" I whispered, "wake up!"
No answer.........
"Wake up everybody, we have a situation!" I yelled.
Everybody bolted upright, and stared at the image in my flash light.
And here it was, our second worse nightmare:
http://www.fototime.com/{46B05946-28A2-43FF-B813-CAD19A1102D3}/picture.JPG
Note the tail emerging from the guy's pack!
Yes, it was the biggest skunk I had ever seen in my life!
http://www.fototime.com/{4FC11C76-AC5D-4CA3-80BE-24A9D0874914}/picture.JPG
For 20 minutes we held our breath, as this skunk went in, and out of this guy's pack, and even came over and sniffed their feet.
We discussed what to do, and when the skunk was entirely inside the pack, I told him to just zip it up inside, and take the pack outside. He said "No way, he'll spray my pack." I said "It's your fault he's in here, so take one for the team."
I also considered grabbing the skunk by the tail as it was hanging out, and chucking it out the window like a live grenade, but decided that was a high risk operation, with a large penalty if i failed to use the proper skunk tossing technique.
At one point, it was joined by a smaller skunk, but I couldn't get a pic, as it left the room too quickly.
All the while, I'm holding onto 25 pounds of pure muscle, that is baying, whining, and trying desperately to get at the "kitty" across the room.
2 more feet of leash, and the beagle would have gotten to the skunk, and the entire room would have been the victim of a chemical warfare attack nearly as bad as anything Al Qaeda could dream up.
We would have had a miserable night, then a morning hike with all stinking to high heaven, and then would not have been able to get into our car in our condition.
http://www.fototime.com/{C9DB454B-E7D2-441A-A31E-BADA84360ECA}/picture.JPG
Finally, after a long period of time, the skunk lost interest, and left the room, and the guy took all of his food, and put it in the other room, tossing a handfull of trail mix outside to satisfy the skunk family.
We hiked down the next morning, and learned that our plans to stay at Long Creek Falls would be spent in a rainstorm (Tropical Storm was moving through), so we elected to check into a hotel in the Atlanta area, and just take it easy, having had enough excitement to last us a while.