TRAIL DAY 10
Tue, Mar 1, 2016 Up, pack and walk a half mile or so past the feathered ones to the Huddle House for breakfast. This was the first of this chain I encountered and I’d see more farther north. I entered and went to a table off to my left, asked about and settled Theo, used the restroom and ordered as I plotted and planned the next leg of my hike. Regulars came and went as this fellow with the backpack on the bench and a dog at his feet sat knowing that he was just passing through, a homeless hiker finding his way, open to the next turn in the road, in the trail and in his life.
I called for another shuttle to transition me from civilization to that ever-so-other place in the woods. It was 9:30 a.m. and I was heading back to the brown-out world under an overcast sky which I am blessed to be able to enjoy in an I’ll-take-what-I-get kinda way. I’m part Danish which I think accounts for my pleasure in the darker days. There’s some DNA within whose strands harmonize with the quieter music of such days and so, too, with the darker, cold days of winter. Long ago I wrote a little poem resonating with this spirit:
FORMED
I was conceived
On a cold, cold night
When the moon was full
And the earth was white
The dark day moved on as the ground moved south under my feet, each step pushing me northward into the experience I was destined to have, into that turn in the trail I had never taken before and would likely never take again.
En route, I encountered a group of hikers southbound on Tray Mountain (4430′). They were strung out along the trail and two of them stopped to take pictures of me with Theo. They hiked frequently and always southbound. They like seeing other hikers and especially thru-hikers whose pictures they would post on their website, hikingsouth.com.
My notes remind me that I met Simon from Quebec and two hikers whose joint trail name was “Ramen Noodles” (“Noodle” and “Noodlette”). Notes also tell me Bonnie was to have surgery to remove a skin cancer from her nose this day so, if I had coverage I would call her later.
On the far side of Tray Mountain there was a shelter which I decided not to use. I moved on even though the wind was picking up and I would need to search out an area where there were no “widow makers,” branches that could crash onto your tent in the middle of the night.
Soon after the Tray Mountain Shelter there was a short climb before Steel Trap Gap and then a longer ascent to Young Lick Knob where there was plenty of room for a tent off to the west of the trail. I decided to pitch under a healthy pine tree whose branches would deflect any small branches from the deciduous trees nearby.
The wind caused the tent to emit a groaning noise but I was still able to connect with Bon and get the scoop on the surgery. She had a big bandage on her nose and looked beat up she said but she was otherwise fine. She has always been brave about physical pain from medical procedures. Years ago I let her go to Memphis, Tennessee for ear surgery on her own. She’s a brave gal. When her other ear needed the same procedure years later, I joined her.
Night routine and sleep. I loved being in my tent in storms or wind. Mother Nature had a lot to say and I enjoyed listening.
Day #10 GA 75 (Helen) > Young Lick Knob 8.0 miles