Day 14: Dicks Creek Gap to Bly Gap

I am now in North Carolina, having finished the Georgia section of the A.T. Woohoo! It’s every thru hikers first major milestone. It is said that if a hiker completes Georgia, there’s no physical reason they can’t complete the entire A.T.

One has to be careful though. Using state line crossings as the only milestone could be defeating. Why? Because some states are very short while others are very long. For example, West Virginia only has 4 miles of trail, while Virginia has over 500 which is a whole quarter of the A.T. As such, more regular milestones are more mentally healthy. I will probably use 100s of miles as a milestone. 100, 200, 300, etc…

That is assuming I make it that far. See, and this is hard to write, I had a tough mental day. I am not completely sure why, but I was not enjoying my hike during the second half of the day. I was sore, the terrain was harder than expected, and I actually started to question my thru hike.

This is a normal thing for every thru hiker to experience, but I didn’t expect it to happen this soon. I had a couple low days last week but that was due to the weather. In contrast, today was perfect hiking weather. The only thing I can think is maybe it was a side effect of being generally tired and not having enough sleep. I stayed up way too late last night and had to get up early.

At any rate, no need to worry yet. It is totally normal to have up days and down days – just like in “real life.” I expect tomorrow to be much better, an up day!

Presently, I am in my tent. Thunderstorms are in the forecast tonight and into the early hours of the morning. A few minutes ago I heard distant howling wind, but it has since ceased. There was a temperature drop too. It’s cold outside my bag!!! That reminds me: I just put my water filter in my sleeping bag with me. If the temperature goes subfreezing, it will ruin the filter. More howling wind now.

This morning I met a few new hikers headed back to the trail. They were Irish, Heisenburg, Jamaica and Papalu. They planned on staying here at Bly Gap too, but they are nowhere to be found. They probably hiked on to the next shelter.

After the shuttle dropped me off I saw familiar faces! Whistler and White Rabbit (formerly “T”) were just arriving at Dicks Creek Gap. They were the guys I camped with at Woody Gap on Day 4. We chatted for a bit and then they grabbed the exact shuttle I arrived on. They were headed to Hiawassee for a night or two.

So the first half of may day was good. I was happy being back on the trail and was in a good groove. I arrived at Plum Orchard Shelter at about 300pm which marked my halfway point for the day. I stopped there to take a break and see more familiar faces! Shrek and Gummy Bear were taking a zero day at the shelter.

After I left, I didn’t see a soul until I arrived here. It was during this time I had my major low point. I just wasn’t enjoying the hike. No need to dwell on that though, as I’ve already covered that.

So I arrived at the state line at about 630pm and then at this campsite at 7ish. There are four other people camped here. I’ve barely had a word with any of them. They don’t seem the social type. Or maybe they were just tired like me.

So, I’m off to sleep now. Tomorrow will be better!

Wandering on…

Kelly