6.7 miles

March 8, 2018

Neel gap (mile 31.1) to Whitley gap shelter (mile 37.8)

Had a lazy morning and slept in till 8. We had biscuits and eggs for breakfast. I need to get a recipe for these to bring back to Australia, because man oh man they were great.

Snow was falling as we left the cabin at around 10:30 am, but it wasn’t too cold and it looked absolutely beautiful. K2 made a glorious speech about why we hike the trail, it brought tears to my eyes. Tears of laughter that is, he is a bit of a funny bugger is ol’ K2. I have a video of it somewhere which I should get around to adding here to share the inspiration with everyone.

I did feel a little winded walking up to Mountain Crossings from the cabins, which did worry me a bit, but I put it down to the biscuits and eggs sitting in my belly. Otherwise this was going to be a looooong day.

I bid adieu to K2 and Doo (they hike way faster than me) as I, remembering my frozen hands from yesterday, ducked into Mountain Crossings and got gloves, an extra pair of socks and some food supplies.

I didn’t get started on the trail until 11:30. Some dudes coming down the trail got excited about my kilt and one of them asked “You know what to say when folks ask you what you are wearing under your kilt?” I said something rather crass. Funny, but crass. And the guy looked a little hurt as was like “No dude, Jesus! Socks. You say socks.” I felt like I had kicked a puppy. I need to remember that not everyone is as…colourful with their language as us Scottish/Australians.

The biscuits and eggs no longer sat heavy in my belly and I felt a lot better, and noticed I could go longer up the mountains before needing a breather. It was nice to see some improvement, maybe the fabled trail legs would kick in soon?

As always on the AT, the day was filled with lots of ups and downs. The ascent from Tesnatee gap was particularly brutal and totally kicked my ass.

My goal at the start of the day was to get to Low Gap shelter, which would have made it an 11.5 mile day but at the end of the day, with the light fading, I decided to take the 1.2 mile side trail to Whitley gap. K2 had mentioned maybe stopping there for the night, but I knew they wouldn’t have seeing as it was so far off the trail. In hindsight I wished I had pushed on and camped somewhere along the trail. I was struggling with my mileage and adding a 2.4 mile round trip off the trail just felt like a waste. I think it would have been nicer if there was other folk there, but there was only one other dude. He was a nice enough fella, with the trail name Whiskey. Alas, he did not have any whisky.

The sunset was pretty beautiful but it became quickly apparent that it would be a real cold night. We tried to start a fire but the wind made it all but impossible. Whiskey set up his tent and I had the shelter all to myself, which made for a lonely night, and I was feeling really low. The first pangs of homesickness started to bite.

The woods were full of strange noises. I plugged in my earphones and drifted to sleep listening to music, using the age old survival tactic of “if I can’t hear it, it can’t eat me”