Day 5 Low Gap Shelter to Tray Mountain Shelter

Today's miles 15.4. AT miles 58.6

We left camp today at 8.40am, getting 5 minutes earlier each day!  Another sunny day, slightly cooler though with a cool breeze in the morning which dropped in the afternoon.  The first 3 miles of trail followed a fantastic old forest track which ascended at a really easy gradient before heading off back to familiar forest trails.  The trail went over a few rocky sections which made an interesting change. We stopped by Blue Mountain shelter for a quick break and met Quailman and Kristen.  We knew of them via Facebook so it was really good to meet them and chat for a while. They were taking a 'zero' day (non hiking day) at the shelter.

From Blue Mountain it was down to Unicoi Gap where there was another Appalachian Trail metal plaque.  The gap on GA75 state road is a popular spot to hitch into a nearby town, either Helen or Hiawassee to resupply.   Quailman and Kristen had told us Kelly and Chase plus Sheila the dog were in front of us, another couple we'd had contact with via Facebook but we never saw them so they maybe got a ride into town. Sorry we missed you guys if your reading this. The trail had been pretty easy up to this point.  From the gap though it was a long steeper climb up to Rocky Mountain then down again to Indian Grave Gap then back up another long steeper climb to Tray Mountain. We resupplied with water from a spring at Tray Mountain Road not long before the summit. From the top it was about half a mile down to Tray Mountain Shelter where we're camping tonight.

There was one other guy already at the shelter, Chainsaw, so called because he snores loudly apparently. Matt and Karl turned up later. They walked with the Germans to Unicoi Gap where they went into town for resupply, hope we get to see them again down the trail.  I think this evening is the coldest so far, we were tucked up warm in our tent at 7pm, same time it gets dark.  There was an amazing red sky sunset this evening.

We're loving it out here so far.

The wind picked up in the night, it's a weird wind, you can hear it in the distance but then it never hits us, when it does it's like a ghost train rushing through, rustling all the leaves up and then it's gone in seconds! We had a very brief rain shower about 6am, all dry by the time we got up though and it was slightly warmer by this morning - 4°C.  Nigel brewed Tea and coffee in bed again - warms us up before packing up & breakfast.