Today's miles 16.2. AT miles 97.6
Another cold but gorgeous sunny day on the trail. We left camp at 8:15, there was a good ground frost this morning but once the sun got up higher it soon thawed. The Rhododendrons looked a bit sorry for themselves after the frosty night but soon perked up again in the sun. There were patches of pretty ice crystals along the trail and a few frozen solid ice patches but nothing that caused a problem walking.
The trail was pretty easy going today, lots of gentle ups and downs and plenty of flat sections. We had to manoeuvre around and/or over quite a few fallen trees though and the path was quite tree rooty in places. We passed a sign pointing to the 'Chunky Gal Trail'. How do they think up these names? Nigel wanted me to stand next to the sign for the photo!!!
The trail was pretty easy going today, lots of gentle ups and downs and plenty of flat sections. We had to manoeuvre around and/or over quite a few fallen trees though and the path was quite tree rooty in places. We passed a sign pointing to the 'Chunky Gal Trail'. How do they think up these names? Nigel wanted me to stand next to the sign for the photo!!!
We passed Deep Gap which had a parking area and trash bins so where able to offload our rubbish. All rubbish has to be carried out, so its great to pass a bin and offload on trail rather than wait until a town. From Deep Gap we followed another old forest trail up to Standing Indian Mountain (5498 ft), our highest yet on trail. The path was a gentle up with lots of zigzags/switchbacks and the same going down. Switchbacks are something Georgia didn't do so well!
We stopped briefly for a midday sandwich in a nice little sun trap. It was lovely in the sun and out of the wind but out of the sun quite cold.
We passed a couple of hikers resting in the sun at Carter Gap Shelter. There is an old shelter that only the platform remains and a new shelter a 100 yards or so further up the trail. A hiker planning on stopping there the night could easily not realise there is another newer shelter not far away.
We passed through some beautiful rhododendron/laurel/azalea forest which at one point had a fantastic view spot.
We arrived at our camp spot Betty Creek Gap at 3pm, a lovely little spot all to ourselves, no one else here tonight. We'd made great time today, helped by Nigel taking some of my pack weight. My pack was too heavy for me yesterday after our resupply, I managed but I could feel it in my knees, so today we swapped a few items around and it worked better. Just after we arrived the two hikers who were resting at Carter Gap caught us up and we realised it was the two lads we had met at the Hiker Hostel, were we stayed the night before we started the trail. It was good to see them again, albeit briefly, they were carrying on to the next shelter.
We stopped briefly for a midday sandwich in a nice little sun trap. It was lovely in the sun and out of the wind but out of the sun quite cold.
We passed a couple of hikers resting in the sun at Carter Gap Shelter. There is an old shelter that only the platform remains and a new shelter a 100 yards or so further up the trail. A hiker planning on stopping there the night could easily not realise there is another newer shelter not far away.
We passed through some beautiful rhododendron/laurel/azalea forest which at one point had a fantastic view spot.
We arrived at our camp spot Betty Creek Gap at 3pm, a lovely little spot all to ourselves, no one else here tonight. We'd made great time today, helped by Nigel taking some of my pack weight. My pack was too heavy for me yesterday after our resupply, I managed but I could feel it in my knees, so today we swapped a few items around and it worked better. Just after we arrived the two hikers who were resting at Carter Gap caught us up and we realised it was the two lads we had met at the Hiker Hostel, were we stayed the night before we started the trail. It was good to see them again, albeit briefly, they were carrying on to the next shelter.
Its going to be another very cold evening/night so we're tucked up in our sleeping bags to keep warm again. For dinner we had one of the prototype Uncle Fools Jerky dehydrated meals we had been given - Beef Chilli. Really good, just what we needed to warm us up on a cold evening. We'll be ready to go to sleep at 7pm when it gets dark - hiker midnight! We have a long 18 mile day tomorrow so need to be up and on the trail early in the morning. We're heading for Aquone Hiker Lodge for the night, a hostel run by an English couple and previous thru hiker. We didn't know this but they contacted us via Facebook, so we're looking forward to meeting them.
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