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I finally got around to download a picture sent by sweet couple, Car 54 and Where are you. It took place at Mooney Gap in Georgia this past April. Our hammocks were in background. We looked silly as we weren’t ready to pose for the picture. LOL It was a good memory to camp out together on that cold and dry night after bunking together at Standing Indian shelter a night before in cold and wet weather condition.
I am really sorry, folks. Yesterday, my time was occupied all day long and didn’t have time to pound the keys to share the stories with you, wonderful followers. I jotted stories on my weather-proof journal. At next R&R, I need to find a way to get some time for myself to sit down and get these stories out on the blog.
Today, Adventurous Cane and I are well-rested in Hiawassee, GA for 2 nights. We are going to take off to say good-bye to the “Peach Tree” state and say hello to “The Tar Heel” state this week.
It will be 13 states left to hike through next time I come back to the blog. So cool! 😉 Take care y’all and until next time…..
We hiked for 5 days from Neels Gap to Dick’s Creek Gap – total of around 37 miles. Roger worked hard to get across the challenging terrains which were the rocky and/or descent trails. His negotiating skills improved as the time went on. His steel determination and fire of his heart never ceased to amaze me. It was what kept me going on to provide him my support to guide him through the trail. Right now, I am going to get a decent sleeping tonight and planning to fill you in tomorrow. Cross my heart, Hope to die…… 😉 Thanks all for your continued support! Hugs to y’all from the Deep South!
I am back in town, but only for a day before Roger and I go out hiking again tomorrow. Roger had a little accident with his hand last night which required a medical attention in town, but he is fine and dandy as ever. I am going to defer this to Roger to tell the story of what happened to his hand. We got off at Gooch Gap today, so we will go back to that same spot tomorrow to continue our expedition.
Ok, here is my story for past two days –
6-April – We hiked from Springer Mountain – the southern terminus of Appalachian Trail – to Hawk Mountain Shelter which was around 7.8 miles plus 0.9 mile of hiking from parking lot to get to Springer Mountain. It was hot and sunny on that day. I got sunburned even though I used the sun block. I am now one of “red necks”! 😉 Roger ran out of 1.5 liters of water at halfway. He became dehydrated for rest of the trail. I found the brook and collected the water into nalgene as an insurance. He needed water so badly, so he drank the water. As of today, he seemed to be doing ok. Thanks goodness! I grumbled after around 3/4 way because I discovered to my shock that I was gonna carrying 40 lbs on my back instead of 30 lbs! I miscalculated by not factoring the water in hydration pack and extra last-minute stuff to add. Grrrr! I told Roger straight flat that I am open to quit hiking if I have to carry that crap on my back…..it made me feel like a mule! Roger carried way more than me, though. He carried 50 lbs! Of course, he hated it since it made harder for him to maintain balance and trug it along on his shoulder and hip. Not fun at all! I told Roger that we might need a day of rest next day. Now, we barely made it to Hawk Mountain Shelter at 19:00 (yes, I use military time and shall use it rest of this blog….Roger gets a bit annoyed with me 😉 ). We set out our hammock and went down to the brook to get water….we ended up making dinner in the dark. The food Roger made was good – chickpeas salad with balsamic vinegar and no-bake cookies (made by his sister, Diane). We went straight to hammock. However, my feet wanted to have a conversation with me before going off in zzzz’s land. It said, “Roni! Look at me…..beaten up, in pain, blistered, and sore. I am so ugly! Why are you doing that to me!?” Ahem, I anointed it with lavender oil and said some blessings to it, then went to sleep.
Here is my scale of rating of that day (0 – nothing fancy, 1- a little to 10 – very much):
Love life – 5
Hate life – 2
Pain – 6
Food – 5 (I developed an avert reaction to walnuts after eating 2 handful of trail mix which Roger made. I couldn’t stand that particular walnuts for some strange reason. So, I just dish it out to Roger for him to eat ’em. 😉 )
7-April – I woke up in the morning feeling good. I was shocked that I wasn’t in sore or pain except for my feet, of course. I told Roger lets hike! We ate our breakfast, then broke down our hammock. We were going to hike to Gooch Mountain Shelter which was around 7.3 miles away. Not too bad as I initially thought. However, Roger’s hydration pack drained out all of its 1.5 liter because the o-ring was out of its place and didn’t seal completed before he put it in his backpack. 2nd day of no water for Roger. Ouch! I had my insurance of water which I shared with him only when I drank from my hydration pack. He suffered a slight case of dehydration and it wasn’t good at all especially it was another day of hot and sunny. My skin was cursing at me mercilessly! I slathered it with sun block and off I went to hike. There were no leaves on trees –
they haven’t bloomed yet….so sun beat down on me and my poor fair skin! Of course, I cursed for 2 days in row. Roger swore like a sailor for past 2 days due to water…..I knew him for 3 years and never heard of him cursing profanity. Dehydration played a big role on his mental, emotional, and physical states. Anyway, after climbing the mountain, we came down to Cooper Gap. We tried to find water source, but no luck. Roger was in state of terrible dehydration. Ah, time to sign off….to be continue with this story for our next stop in town.
As of now, both of us are able to hike even with sunburn, bruises, cuts and scrapes…..but, we are still in one piece. 🙂 We are ready to go hiking today – Friday 9-April. Until next time!
We are here on the top of Springer MT where we begin to trek… Go Go Go 🙂
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I woke up @ 6:30 am and greeted the rising sun of Appalachia Mountains. Breathtaking view to take in at that moment. We had breakfast….I was playing with food….nervousness, what else? Today is the day –
starting off with first step at Springer Mountain. Once I start that step, I am going to christen myself a trail name which is “RamSham” which is a nickname from “Rambling Shamrock”. Roger’s trail name will be “Adventurous Cane” – “AdCane”. Cool, eh? The weather is beautiful….expected to be in 85 deg F today. It will be nice for next 2-3 days. Our next stop is Hawk Mountain Shelter which is approx. 8.3 miles away. I am going to turn off this pager and leave it off for next few days except for emergency.
Gee, I am going to follow the white blaze trail today! Catch y’all later! 🙂
Roger and I arrived in Atlanta this morning and took the MARTA to North Spring to meet up Roni’s dear friend/sister, Elisa, whom she hadn’t seen each other since 1995 for a lunch. It was wonderful lunch to catch up with each other’s news and for Roger to share his envision of AT. After lunch, the Hiker Hostel picked Roger and me up and headed for Dahlonega. Such a gorgeous hostel in beginning of Appalachia Mountains range. We re-evaluated our backpacks to remove any unnecessary items to mail them home. Now, it is less than 12 hours before we take the first footstep on AT for 5 millions footsteps (I saw a really tall hiker named “Skywalker” which I discovered his book on the end table at hostel. I picked it up and saw his quote about first step toward 5 millions footsteps….so I decided to borrow his quote since I liked it so much!!!! Here is his website: http://www.skywalkerat.com/ I repeat – he was realllllly TALLLLL!!!!). It gives me a goosebumps to even ponder about that. Of course, I am nervous in some ways, but with touch of optimistic vibes and support from my friends, loved ones and family…it just tides me over to begin my journey with Roger to help him pursuing his dream at last. Wow…..
Folks, I may not able to send updates for a while until we arrive in town with electricity and Internet. Wish us well on our way – follow the white blaze trail! 🙂
Roni and I landed here in Atlanta safely…hopped on subway to meet Roni’s friend for lunch…A shuttle bus from Hiker Hostel gave us a lift to the hostel…we rested the most day..reorganized our backpack getting ready for BIG DAY tomorrow 🙂
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
AT DeafBlind Dream 