Unicoi Gap, 52.9 miles from Springer and 2133 miles from home. I'm waiting for Joyce and Sally's shuttle service into Hiawassee Budget Inn. Had some wildlife encounters. A couple of partridges one flew off and one just eyed me from the brush. About a hundred yards up the trail from this road crossing/parking lot, two black bear cubs scampered across the trail left to right up hill ,UP hill right in front of me. One was about 20 feet up a tree before you could spit and the other one kept running. Now I'm a smart man when it comes to bears And I know enough not to get caught between a mom and her kids so I look down hill to my left and sure enough here comes momma moving like the wind. She grunts every time she pushes off with those hind legs. I'm in full reverse by now. She gets across the trail and stops to look at me. I'm talking to her just as nice as I can telling her exactly what I'm going to do and what I'm not going to do. I figure she has to get junior down from the tree so I'm just holding my ground, chit chatting with her and the I notice junior isn't in the tree. Mom disappears and I keep talking as I work my way down. Not 10 yards down the path, there's crowd of kids coming up the trail with a big Doberman type dog off the leash. I tell them what just happened and the said they thought they'd hike the trail on the other side of the gap.
So I'm in front of them and I head over to this sign and take a peek at what's in the magic boxes. The one on the right has mostly granola bars… And four copies of the New Testament. I was tempted to grab the potato chips but looked in the other box first- an APPLE. As the kids with the dog passed by one of the boys looked in the boxes and grabbed something --his girlfriend read him the riot act. "That's not for people like us!"
77° Mostly Cloudy
Chattahoochee National Forest, Hiawassee, Georgia, United States
So I'm in front of them and I head over to this sign and take a peek at what's in the magic boxes. The one on the right has mostly granola bars… And four copies of the New Testament. I was tempted to grab the potato chips but looked in the other box first- an APPLE. As the kids with the dog passed by one of the boys looked in the boxes and grabbed something --his girlfriend read him the riot act. "That's not for people like us!"
77° Mostly Cloudy
Chattahoochee National Forest, Hiawassee, Georgia, United States
Sent from my iPhone
Judd's email -- did he mean me to share some of it or all of it?:
I'm at the budget inn sunday, a day early. So using their keyboard this may even turn into a blog entry if you can make it happen. Im not used to having to put in punctuation and caps. I can't figure out how to view pictures on my camera. I'll go back to my room and get it to try again. I might push through two more days then come back for the box. It works out for my resupply. Instead of carrying 6 days, four of yours and 2 from the grocery store, of stuff. I'll do two then pick up your four. As the crow flies I'm about 8 miles south of NC. It will take me 6+ days. I will leave a bag of stuff that I'm sending home too. i REALLY DO UNDERSTAND why some people count the ounces. As the mornings get chillier I have heard that some people try to go from the warm sleeping bag straight to the trail to stay warm. Thats my next experiment. It means starting the stove only once for supper just before you hop in a warm bed.. Breakfast can be a cliff bar and carnation instant breakfast. and I haven't really started stopping for lunch its sort of a knosh on the go. When I stop My muscles tighten up I would rather rest by just slowing down. Those gaggy energy bars need to be eaten in little bites - and they don't have to be eaten all at once. I have a nice 10 mile pace right now. it gets me into camp around 4, Im usually on the trail by 8am. That might change with the new breakfast. In bed by 8pm and up by 7am thats about sunrise sunset. I have done more but after 13 I get goofy. but I can feel my muscles getting stronger. I weighed myself on the rusty old scale outside the office door and it said 202 lbs. So, its sunday here in Hiawassee. No beer or wine sales on sunday and the hiking store is closed.I was dreaming of beer and pizza. I hit the grocery store for a salad in a bag and cold OJ for supper. I picked up a mashed potato supper, a couple cliff bars, a couple apples and a box if carnation instant breakfast - really! They are not bad! All that instant coffee was a bad idea, you can strip it out of any unsent boxes. Oh, and Im thinking that powdered pnut butter and humus on tortillas should begin to play more of a role. Im getting a little mixed up trying to figure out what i have instagramed and what I have journaled and what I have journaled and mailed to the blog and what I have journaled and tried to mail to the blog but might be lost in the ether because of a fuzzy service connection. Actually there might even be some instagrams out there that I thought I sent but they never went through... I have to just journal all the stories I write in my head while I'm walking along. They may not come up chronologically but there some corkers.
Whew, today the bears were really cool
and here's a little game we like to play on the AT in GA. See if you can spot the rattle snake dozing on the side of the trail before you sorry ass boot kicks him in the head and he gets pissed off at you. They make the cutest little sound with that giggly thing on his tail...
and here's a little game we like to play on the AT in GA. See if you can spot the rattle snake dozing on the side of the trail before you sorry ass boot kicks him in the head and he gets pissed off at you. They make the cutest little sound with that giggly thing on his tail...
Be safe! Bears have no politics!
ReplyDeleteJudd, the bears run away for the most part. . . the snakes do not. Do try to spot them a little sooner and don't let your "sorry assed boot" make him mad at you. They tend not to be as good at southern hospitality as the rest of us. ;-) Please take off your boots and dry your socks mid-day. You will thank me for it later. Trailweaver
ReplyDeleteP.S. Did you see Sally and Joyce's VW camper? Trailweaver
ReplyDelete