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Day 3 Slaughter Creek Campsite
Mileage: 12.4 miles (27.5 Total)
Woke up this morning at 0645. Setting up and breaking down the hammock is getting faster, but I'd be hard pressed to do it in the dark and rain. Speaking of which, the weather has been fantastic. I've noticed that my pants fit a little loose in the waist already. Anyway, after another "purpose built" breakfast, I was off on the trail towards Gooch Gap at 0830. Redbull, Diesel and Van camped at the Gooch Gap which was about 1.4 miles North from the shelter. I elected to crash next to the shelter site because there was a s***ter there. :-). In fact, all shelters in GA have composting privys. Kudos to the GA ATC. The problem is, there has been a lot of hikers at them. Even the tent space is limited, which is why my hiking buddies pushed north. As I need no level-ground, I can stay anywhere between two trees reasonably spaced apart. Thats not too hard to do in the woods. Leaving camp, I pushed north at a very quick pace. My ankles are very tight in the mornings and I expect to get over that the more I hike. Lately, I've averaged about 2.3 miles per hour which sounds slow, but is a bit more than the average hiker. A pace like this is unneccessary especially during the first few days where I'm supposed to be easing into hiking, but the competitive spirit in me just kicks in and I'm ready to tear it up. Today's mountains included Big Cedar and a series of pointless up's and downs or "P.U.D's". At the five mile mark, I caught up with Red Bull, Diesel, and Van at Woody Gap. I also ran into Leigh who runs the Hiker Hostel back in Dahlonega. I found out that "Low Impact" who had lost his pack while riding the Greyhound down to GA, got it back from the company. He's a few days away South. I expect to see him in the days to come. After lunch, which consisted of Peanut Butter and Granola...speaking of food, my dehydrated beef jerky and apples are essential. Fruit and good sources of protein are limited out here. I just munch on these throughout the day to keep the metabolism up. Anyway, after lunch we only had four miles until we reached our decided-upon camp site (slaughter creek). We are saving Blood Mt. for tomorrow. Van plans to make some serious gear changeups as his sleeping bag weighs about 6 pounds. Ouch. Tomorrow looks like its going to be a near zero day or NERO, where we only hike the remaining 2.6 miles to Neel's Gap. Truth be told, I could just settle for a hot shower/laundry/meal/resupply and press on the six miles to the next shelter, but at this early stage, its important to keep the body working correctly. I can think of no better way to do that then to relax and focus on logisitics tomorrow. We should be in town by 1000 tomorrow, so there should be no problem getting a cabin or hostel space. Okay, I'm tired, sleepy time (its 9PM)
Oh, one more thing. Earlier today we ran into one of "those guys" on the trail. "Those guys" are the ones who insist on imparting wisdom on you. I call this "unsolicited advice" When asked if he is thru-hiking, he responded with, "Did that already, AND the Pacific Crest Trail, AND the Continental Divide Trail" I'm thinking "what is this... a f***ing job interview for Backpacker magazine?" The he tells us if we exhale like a horse while going uphill we can get rid of more CO2 than by breathing alone. Be that as it may, it just f***ing dumb. Then to top it all off, he leaves us with some "parting thoughts" aka "unsolicited advice". "Stay positive and be persistent" he says "and you'll make it". True statement, but saying that ramming my boot up his ass would bring a smile to my face is also a true statement. :-)
I can get out of New England, but I just can't seem to get the New England out of me :-)
One more thing. I've take the name "Yak" as my trail name. Yak, being polish for Jake seems fitting enough. To boot, a Yak is also a sherpa's pack animal and is tougher than nails. This double meaning is working out well. I'll let you know when I'm actually "tougher than nails"
Yak
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