Day 7 to 9 - Friends and Forest Fires

Susan's Journal Entry 4 - Recorded Tuesday, April 3rd for the preceding four days.

"Friday 3/30/18 we made it to Hogpen Gap.  The last mountain, Wildcat Mt was very tough.  Sam was hurting and I was tired.  We took a shuttle to the Best Western, enjoyed hot showers and checked out the town.  We went to Coleman's across the street, had burgers and drinks, and found a wine store. We bought two bottles to share with the guys tomorrow."

 "Saturday 3/31/18.  We had breakfast at the hotel and then found a great coffee place, Coffee Cabin, with a great turtle mocha and nice seats outside.  The guys arrived around 11:30am and took us to lunch at The Hole in the Wall.  It was a small place with good food.  Then they took us grocery shopping to restock our food for the next five days, we had champagne and Mike helped me with my Kindle.  We went out to dinner at a Mexican place and just had a nice time."


Sam's AT Mileage Tracker:  Day 8 Mile Marker 38 to 42.6 to reach Low Gap Shelter

"Sunday 4/1/18 Mike and Jon brought us to the trail by noon and we were on our way again (Uphill of course).  We only did 4.6 miles and stopped at Low Gap Shelter.  


There we met the most wonderful people.  Mike, Sam, JoAnn and Devon.  They are our trail angels.  I slept for the first time in a shelter.  Sam preferred the hammock."


Sam's AT Mileage Tracker:  Day 9 Mile Marker 42.6 to 52.3 to reach Unicoi

 "Monday 4/2/18. Our Trail angels invited us to hike with them.  JoAnn, Sam and I hiked at a wonderful slower pace and had a lovely time chatting and taking pictures.  Samantha, Mike and Devon hiked ahead and got to Blue Mountain Shelter by 12:30.  


This was fortunate because they saw a fire off in the distance and determined after calling around that we should get off the mountain.  We were almost there when they came back, took our packs, and got us to the shelter.  We rested for a few, picked up our packs and finished the climb.  They made all the pickup and hotel arrangements.  We could not say in the shelter even though the fire was a controlled burn.  The fire spanned 2200 acres, and you never know what can happen.  Sam and Mike are retired army, JoAnn is a fabulous landscape quilter and Devon is her grandson who is awesome.  He carried two packs on our rush down the mountain to Unicoi Gap.  We are now in Hiawassee GA, where we will zero and get back on the trail tomorrow with our trail angels.  They are section hiking until Dick's Creek Gap .  It will be nice to hike with them again.  Samantha gets to stretch her legs and I get to slow down."




Comments

  1. UnknownApril 5, 2018 at 12:43 AM

    Looks like you're doing great. Thanks for sharing!
    Great that the guys could stop by and that you found "TRAIL ANGELS".
    Enjoy, happy hiking and stay safe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 5, 2018 at 11:53 AM

    I was finally able to get to the blog! Wishing you both a great trip. Love, Mom

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownApril 5, 2018 at 7:16 PM

    What a great adventure! And happy too see you girls found some company for a few hikes!!! Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownApril 7, 2018 at 1:49 PM

    What a terrific adventure. Stay safe.

    ReplyDelete

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