Day 113 on the trail: Zero day in Hiawassee

Two nights ago, I camped out in a gorge ringed by a USFS service road, out of the wind and just six miles from Dicks Creek Gap. It was just me and a couple and their dog.

They stayed in their tent while I, after arriving in the evening on the back of a 13.4-mile trek, went about the series of necessary camp tasks that comes with hiking the AT: Get water, hang line for bear bag, change some clothes, set up tent and set up camp stove. Then make dinner, brush teeth, hang bear bag. Next, hang laundry to dry, gather things, make bed. Efficiency grows with repetition.

Most people I have been seeing at camp this past week were staying at the Tray Mountain shelter, six miles south, but I wanted to be close enough to be able catch the morning shuttle into Hiawassee, mainly because my food supply was down to fig newtons and grape jelly, and a pack of Lil' Debbies that Two Dogs [AT '07] handed out as trail magic at Indian Grave Gap [just before Tray Mtn.]

Which is how it should be. If you're doing it right, you're supposed to be out of food whenever you hit your next resupply point.

I set my alarm and started hiking before dawn on Wednesday, jamming on my iPod and rocking my headlamp up Kelly Knob [elev. 4,276 ft.]. New band to check out, if you haven't: Glasvegas, of Glasgow, Scotland.

[View of the rising sun from the AT just past Kelly Knob, northern Georgia, March 17.]

 I got to the road at 9 a.m. At 9:30, Ron Haven, whom Baltimore Jack called the "Donald Trump of the AT" because he owns three hiker-friendly hotels in Franklin, NC and just bought the Hiawassee Inn, pulled up in a yellow short bus to drop off some hikers and pick new ones up. I jumped on board. He's a friendly Southern fellow who makes our lives easier down here.

So now I'm in Hiawassee. I've already resupplied [I bought some dried veggies and a little jar of pimento, so a new lunch wrap recipe is imminent]. Later I'm going to cover my calves and my left heel in muscle cream and relax my legs. Ashley said last night my Achilles problem is a sympathy injury for David Beckham, whose Achilles rupture was heard 'round the world this week.

There's only about eight miles left of Georgia; so far, I've hiked 76.3 miles. That's Week 1 behind me!

Hiawassee:

[Side of a Main St. auto body shop in Hiawassee. Signs of Bible Belt culture abound: No taverns, Christian speech prominently displayed.]