Thursday 14 April 2016
We got off to a late start: Schnitzel sneaked into the Privy just as I said Good Morning to Betty and Susan. Feeling extremely uncomfortable and yearning for a shower, I managed to turn my irritation into motivation to complete the first tough stretch of the day in a short time, although we did stop at the famous “Swag of the Blue Ridge Mountain” for a photo. Kelly’s Knob or Dismal Mountain as it is also known, was all it promised to be with a relentless elevation profile, requiring us to stop ever so often. We did stop for lunch at the top, but our sense of relief was of short duration: still quite a few ups and the fact that my water ran out more than a mile from the Gap didn’t help. Catching a lift to Hiawassee from Dick’s Creek after 15:00 in the afternoon, was a problem. Especially since we were 4 men and one woman. No matter how hard I tried and how optimistically I smiled, I kept on thinking if I could shave off 20 years it might have worked. Or maybe dark windows are just too convenient even if you own a pickup truck on which you could load a whole bunch of weary hikers without taking on too much of a risk. We walked half a mile down the road but reception was interrupted every time Kobus got to a point in the conversation where he wanted to negotiate a lift with the hotel owner. Eventually the owner of the Top of Georgia Hikers’ hostel gave us a lift to town since he had to go to the hardware store. He charged us $10. He told us how he hiked both the Appalachian and the PCT and how, in the face of strong competition, some friends bought the hostel for him. He wanted to restore hikers’ faith in the kindness of strangers and pay back some trail magic. Commenting on the increase in hikers he told us that the stats show that the annual registered hikers increased from 3600 and 3800 in the previous years to 5500 at the last count. He dropped us off right in front of the Holiday Inn and mentioned that Daniel’s Restaurant had an all you can eat buffet. The Holiday Inn provided a welcome reprieve for the next day and weary feet before we hit the trail again on Saturday the 16th.