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Day: 8-10
Weather: sunny and hot, threatening thunder showers, sunny and hot
Trail miles:: 52.9
Refreshed, resupplied, repacked, and recharged from our hostel stay, we had a good day’s hike. Pleasant weather, beautiful scenery, brought us most of the way to our next campsite. The last bit of the trail was obviously put there by the god’s to keep us humble since it was steep and rocky and of course … up. The roughly 7 miles we went that day was an improvement over our average, which meant for me at least a muscle relaxant and painkillers to get to sleep that night.
Thunder storms were promised for that night and the following day, but all we got that night was a bit of breeziness. A rather pleasant night actually, which is good because now I have another equipment malfunction, namely the zipper on my sleeping bag. Guess I am going to have to call on my inner MacGyver again.
Thunderstorms were definitely threatening the next day, so we got out of camp pretty quickly, and managed to keep ahead of the storm. We actually were flying at first. Grey Wolf had a mail drop coming into Helen, Georgia, and it being Friday it meant we had to get over 14 miles by Saturday morning for him to get it. Either that or wait until Monday. Neither Preacher or Ken were up for that kind of day yet, and were not specifically keen on visiting Helen (9 miles off the trail), so for now at least Grey Wolf and I have parted ways with them. We pushed ourselves to do the 14+ miles with about 11 hours of hiking. If we had gotten to our destination a little earlier, we would probably have been able to hitchhike into town. Unfortunately it did not work that way, so the choice was to collapse where we were or pay for a ride in.
We stayed in a Super 8 Motel last night. We decided to take a recovery day in Helen, which is a tourist town with a flavor of Germany (actually the 3rd most popular tourist attraction in Georgia). It was a beautiful and relaxing day. The town is small but entertaining, with plenty to do and an extremely friendly populace. We will stay one more night here, then hit the trail tomorrow for 3 days of hard up and down to get to MY first mail drop. Supposedly we will be walking through rain on Monday at least, with the rest being good weather.
I had an oopsie with my camera resulting in the protective filter breaking, so some pictures may have odd distortions until I can get that replaced.
The photos look great! Love the trees against the sky.
So far the extra weight seems worth it. Thanks!!
Looks like Helen, Ga. was a great place to pit stop at. Those are some great pictures too, keep them coming. Here at home in SC… almost on a daily basis, Maytag expresses his desire to be on that trail again. Three nights in a row, he has slept in the yard in his hammock. One night included an all nighter in the pouring rain. I’m not so sure what he’s thinking, but I feel like he’s training to perhaps get back on the trail. I’m just saying…
Where there’s a will, there’s a way!