Dicks Creek Gap to Muskrat Creek Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 11.6 miles

What ever possessed me to think that this trip would be easy!? Oh my word, I thought I was in shape. Note to self: running five kilometers, three or four times a week, does not adequately prepare oneself for the trails in Georgia and North Carolina. Conclusion: the best thing to prepare your body for hiking the AT is... well... hiking the AT. Next time I will have to remember to give myself a day or so to get my trail legs.

It didn't help that I am on day three of a nasty cold. I am hoping this congestion goes away quickly. With all this snorting and sniffling, I'm worried I might be mistaken for Mary Ellen, that pitiful character in Bill Bryson's book, A Walk In the Woods.

I got a bit of a late start (10:15 a.m. or so) because I first had to park my car at Nantahala Outdoor Center and have Fred The Shuttle Man drive me to Dicks Creek Gap. I noticed right away that Fred held me in higher regard this time than last, when I was just a newbie. I think that my hiking 75+ miles in six days last October proved to him that I wasn't such a cupcake after all. (He might've thought differently, however, if he had seen how I clawed my way up Court House Bald, gasping for oxygen, mere hours after he dropped me off...)

Today was my first crack at using my new Leki trekking poles (thank you Pete and Cindy!), and I must say, being a quadruped took some getting used to. For the first hour or two I wanted to fling the dang things into the woods -- I just couldn't get any kind of smooth movement going, and it felt like they were really slowing me down. Once I quit trying so hard though, my legs and arms just fell into their own rhythm, sort of like cross-country skiing. By the end of the day I kind of came around -- now I think they're actually pretty useful.

The sand and rock here seem to be really quartz-y. When I stopped for a break today I happened to be studying the ground (translation: hunching over, leaning heavily on my Lekis, wondering if my lungs were going to explode right out of my chest) and I noticed that it almost looked like someone had spilled a bottle of glitter on the ground. Kind of pretty.

I misread my map and stumbled upon Muskrat Creek Shelter about a quarter mile earlier than I expected. First time in my hiking history that I've actually been ahead of where I thought I was... anyway, I just about danced a jig when I caught sight of the shelter. I suppose that would've rather alarmed Peter, a mild-mannered gentleman who had already staked out his side of the shelter and was beginning to cook his dinner. He turned out to be good company for the evening... he is fiftyish and recently retired from his position of VP at North Sails. Must remember to tell Dad about him. We chatted about Annapolis and sailing for a little bit, exchanged some stories about bats and hiking, and then I collapsed in a heap and slept all night.

There was no bear cable at this shelter, so we hung our food from a little mouse-proof (but definitely not bear-proof) suspension thingy in the overhang of the shelter. As the old joke goes, I figured I was safe from any bear that came along, as long as I could outrun Peter.

Saw lots of wildflowers today, one beautiful butterfly, and a pretty doe that wandered close to the shelter at dusk.

Highlight of the day: Finishing the Georgia section of the AT.
Hiking time: 5 hours, 2 minutes (7 hours with breaks)