Day 11: One State Down! Thirteen To Go…

March 18: We woke up to a beautiful sunrise, and I parted ways with Pink Panther and Jacoby. Pink Panther was heading into town and I didn’t expect to see her again. Jacoby, I figured, I’d see later that evening at the shelter. He might hike slower than me, but he seemed to keep up the same distances as I’ve been doing!

The first person I saw on the trail was a girl stopped along the side of the trail. It was near water, and I wasn’t sure if she was stopped to get water or just to rest, but she wore a black, long-sleeved shirt which made the bright, pink cap she wore really pop out, so when she said she didn’t have a trail name yet, I suggested Pink. She didn’t much like the name and said that there was already a Pink Panther on the trail (yep, I know, I shared the shelter with her last night!), but this girl seemed more Pink than the Pink Panther did. =)

I continued onwards where eventually I bumped into another fellow who told me his trail name was Clean Shave because he didn’t intend to grow a beard like most men on the trail. He was a little pudgy and spoke with a thick accent, so I asked where he was from: Puerto Rico. He seemed to enjoy talking… a lot! But there’s something likeable about the guy. He also told me that he started the trail with a 90-pound pack explaining that in the military, he had to carry even heavier loads and thought a 90-pound pack didn’t seem particularly heavy. Yikes!

Apparently, however, that didn’t work out well for him and he had since lightened his load to 40 pounds. Still a bit on the heavy side, but at least within the realm of normal. He asked about the girl “wearing pink” behind me. I laughed. She really needed to find a trailname or get rid of that pink hat if she didn’t want the trailname Pink to stick. =)


I headed onwards, including a quick stop at the Plum Orchard Shelter. When I left the shelter, I found Clean Shave and “Pink” sitting on the side of the trail resting and eating a snack. Neither of them seemed inclined to walk the 0.2 miles off trail to the shelter like I did, but I did tell the girl she should get rid of the hat because when I ran into Clean Shave, he asked about the girl “wearing pink.”

“NO!” she exclaimed, looking at him. “You did not call me Pink!”

“It’s the hat,” I told her. “You need another trailname quick or you need to ditch the hat!”

Apparently, Doppelganger had also been suggested as a trailname for her after someone mistook her for someone else (Pink Panther, perhaps?) Clean Shave and I both thought that sounded like a great trailname, but she didn’t much like that one either.


I continued on, never to see either of them again on the trail. (At least not by the time I’m writing this post.) I have no idea what trailname the girl settled on or was forced onto her, but I hope she likes whatever she ends up with. =)

Near the end of the day, I reached the North Carolina border. Georgia was finally done! The first time I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, I remember being absolutely ecstatic about reading this point. At the time, it marked the longest backpacking trip of my life. I’d never hiked to another state before. This time, I still felt a sense of accomplishment, but nowhere near the ecstatic feeling I had before. I hadn’t even hiked a hundred miles yet. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a scratch compared to my previous exploits.

As I remembered from my last thru-hike, North Carolina welcomes hikers with a serious punch, climbing steep hillsides with not even a hint of a switchback. It wasn’t as hard as I remembered it, but I was in better shape this time and not suffering from blisters and other ailments which slowed me down the last time. The trail, however, definitely turned more difficult almost immediately after crossing into North Carolina, even if it was easier for me this time around.

I finished the day at Muskrat Creek Shelter where I met an entirely new cast of characters. It seemed like I was meeting entirely new cast of characters on a daily basis—I was definitely hiking longer and farther than most people. This time, it included a father-son pair named Martha Stewart (clean up your crap!) and Dr. Pepper (for drinking 4 liters of it in an hour), a couple named Mouse and Georgia (I tried to convinced Georgia to name his blisters after each state the trail runs through so his first blister would be named Georgia. He claimed that there wouldn’t be enough states, though!).

Then there was Copperhead—named for her red hair—another Seattleite! Seems that our section of the world happens to be well represented on the Appalachian Trail this year. =)

Somewhat surprisingly, however, Jacoby didn’t make it to the shelter that evening. I guess I finally outpaced him too.

Total steps today: 37,888 steps
Miles today: 15.9 miles
Total miles: 90.2 miles

Sometimes shelters are built off-site then brought into the backcountry by helicopter like this depiction shows in the Plum Orchard Shelter. I’d really like to see that happen in real life, though!

Clean Shave used to have a 90-pound pack at the beginning of the trail. He’s managed to whittle it down to a mere 40 pounds now. =)

She actually wears more black than pink, but that bright pink contrasted against that black really makes the pink pop. However, she does not want to be called Pink. So from now on, I’ll just call her “Not Pink.” =)

I make friends with the tree that marks the Georgia and North Carolina border. =)

I took this photo because it was such a strange tree, but No Toes was using it as a resting place and wound up in my photo! =)

Day 10: Stalking the Pink Panther

March 17: The next morning, I met Jacoby while eating the continental breakfast at the hotel. I knew he had been planning on going into Helen for a maildrop but hadn’t realized we were at the same hotel. Later, Amanda caught sight of him about to hitch a ride back to the trail while I was still packing all of my gear and asked if she’d have time to take him to the trail while I was packing. “Yeah, sure!” I told her.

I waved Jacoby back towards our room explaining that Amanda could take him back to the trail. They left and I continued packing. When I was done, I left a note on the door for Amanda telling her that I walked over to the post office to ship my laptop ahead to Gatlinburg in case she got back before I did, then left to do just that.

Amanda caught up with me again at the post office, then we headed back to the hotel were we checked out and I got a ride back to the trail at Unicoi Gap.

Amanda had picked up the ice chest she had left the day before when she dropped Jacoby off—it had been cleaned out by thru-hikers except for one root beer. I was sure it would be a Cheerwine that was left thinking that a lot of people on the trail weren’t even going to know what that was, but all of the Cheerwines were gone. (Cheerwine is like a cherry cola—a very regional product that’s pretty well known in North Carolina, and somewhat known along bordering states, but you’d be hard-pressed to find it outside of those locations!)

Amanda and I hugged and parted ways. It would be awhile before I would see her again.

The rest of the day was largely uneventful. I caught up with Jacoby after only an hour of hiking which surprised me given his head start. Passed a few other hikers along the way, and I saw two different fires burning in the distance, but neither of them were in the direction of the trail or warranted my concern. I was a little surprised, though. Forest fires? But it had just been raining not that long ago! No lightning that I was aware of. Controlled burns, perhaps? Even more surprising, none of the other hikers I talked to had even noticed the smoke in the distance. If I hadn’t gotten photos, I might have thought someone was trying to gaslight me!

For the night, I headed into the Deep Gap Shelter and was somewhat surprised to see only one other person there—Pink Panther. I wasn’t really “stalking” her—I didn’t even know she was there until I arrived. I just liked the title “Stalking the Pink Panther.” =)


It was, by far, the emptiest shelter I had seen so far. Pink Panther said everyone else nearby wanted to walk the extra few miles to get a ride into Hiawassee leaving just her on the trail and until I showed up, she thought she might actually have the shelter to herself.

She set up her tent on the front porch of the shelter and said she could move it if it were a problem, but I didn’t have a problem with it. In fact, I’d been thinking I’d camp out under the stars myself since it wasn’t supposed to rain overnight and wound up joining her on the front porch area.

Pink Panther and I had some hiking experiences in common as well. This was her first long-distance thru-hike, but she was from Florida and to prepare and test her mettle, she did some dry runs along the Florida Trail including the Big-O hike with the Florida Trail Association which I had also done (back in 2008). So we reminiscenced about our times on the Florida Trail.

Near sunset, Jacoby rolled into camp. I’d given up on him arriving once it started getting dark, but by golly, he proved me wrong! He set up camp in the shelter.

Step count: 34,357 steps
Miles today: 13.1 miles
Total miles: 74.8 miles

If I hadn’t taken photos of the smoke in the distance, none of the other hikers I talked to would have believed me!

It’s a beautiful day for a hike!

Don’t worry! Be happy! =)

A hiker takes a rest with a view!

The Pink Panther set up her tent on the shelter’s front porch. (I’d do the same on the left side.)

Turns out, Pink Panther and I had both done the Big-O hike with the FTA around Lake Okeechobee, so we did a lot of talking about that. =) That’s a lot of orange for someone named Pink Panther, but I think her hiking clothes gave her her name—not her nighttime attire. =)

Day 9: Sleep Apnea and More German Diversions

March 16: The strange fellow who showed up the night before throwing his cans of food into the fire turned out to be more than an odd duck. As it turns out, he has sleep apnea—and ranks up there as one of the five worst people I've ever shared a shelter with. Now, I'll readily admit I'm no expert on sleep apnea, but when a guy completely stops breathing for a good 10 to 15 seconds, then suddenly sounds like he’s choking to death and is loud enough to be heard over a 747 jet engine, then stops breathing for another 10 to 15 seconds and repeats ad nauseam all night long, I'm calling it sleep apnea. I grumbled about it to myself all night not willing to get out and move camp, but gave him the benefit of a doubt. Maybe he didn't know his snoring was such a problem, but seriously—how could he not?!

In the morning, the rest of us in the shelter had long since gotten up. Jacoby—who slept on the other side of Mr. Sleep Apnea—walked up to me and said, “I can probably guess, but how did you sleep last night?”

“Not well,” I answered, shaking my head and looking at the lump of a being still in the shelter. “Not well.”

Eliot joined us at the table in front of the shelter for breakfast. He didn't have a trailname—I suggested “Red” for the red coat he was wearing that morning, but he pointed out that it was the only red item he had and he didn't wear it most of the time. I said, “Who cares! It’s a great name!” =)

But I digress…. Eliot said he heard the noise coming from the shelter—a couple of hundred feet away, mind you!—and thought it was a bear attacking the shelter. This amused me to no end, not the least of which because I suspected there would have been more screaming if it had been true. Calling the guy “Bear” didn't seem out of the question, though. (He already had a trailname, though—Wildcard. Yes, I’m calling him out by name!)

When Wildcard did finally get up in the morning, we mentioned his snoring problem. Some of the other hikers seemed to downplay the problem as being a “little” loud. “There’s nothing little about it!” I said. Don’t beat it around the bush. This guy needs to know his snoring is a real problem. He should not be allowed to sleep in shelters and keep everyone else in it up all night. And frankly, sleep apnea, from all I've heard, is a serious health risk. For all I know, the guy might have a heart attack the next big hill he tries to climb up.

I told other hikers that if he ever tried to sleep in a shelter I was using again, I'd poke him all night and make sure he stayed up all night. I might not get any sleep, but I wouldn't have gotten it anyhow and at least by keeping him awake, everyone else in the shelter might be able to get some sleep. Or maybe we should take shifts keeping him awake—at least until he got tired enough of us keeping him awake all night long that he finally left the shelter and camped by himself like he should have done in the first place.

I never saw him again after I left the shelter—thank goodness for that—but we did warn other hikers ahead that he was behind and to avoid sharing a shelter with him at all costs. Either kick him out or get out yourself.

It was along a stretch of trail like this where I twisted my ankle!
It doesn't look dangerous, does it?!

As for the day’s hike, it was largely non-eventful. The sun was shining, life was good, the trees still in a state of hibernation that looked like a wildfire had ravaged the countryside. About a mile or two from Unicoi Gap, I twisted an ankle and crashed to the ground in a lump. OUCH! It was a very unassuming section of trail, and for some reason, my worst sprains always happen on those sections. It was generally flat with few rocks or other obstacles in the trail to make things difficult. I probably let my guard down. Whatever the reason, though, I crashed hard to the ground with my left ankle screaming in pain.

I pulled myself up and limped along at a decidedly slower pace. I knew I'd be feeling that injury for a few days. I tried wiping the dirt and leaves off my clothes where I had crashed to the ground and bitterly cursed the trail.

A few minutes later, I finally got a signal on my cell phone and I gave Amanda a call. She was supposed to meet me at Unicoi Gap and I wanted to give her an update on my progress. About a half hour away. Or rather, it had been a half hour away. Maybe 40 minutes now with my new limp. =) She answered the call and said that she was already at the gap waiting and handing out trail magic to any passing hikers, although since she had arrived, none had passed by.

That didn't surprise me much. Everyone from the nearest shelter—the Blue Mountain Shelter—likely had already passed through. And everyone from the shelter where I stayed at—I was at the front of the pack. There might have been a few people camped between shelters who were between Amanda at Unicoi Gap and myself, but probably not many.

I did finally arrive at Unicoi Gap where there was another hiker who said that I was lucky to have my own personal trail angel.

“Yes!” I agreed. “Everyone should have one!” I imagined thru-hikers strolling down the “Trail Angel” aisle of the local Wal-Mart, perusing the selection.

“This one is last year’s model, so it’s on sale,” the sales clerk says. “This one over here, however, is a popular model because it’s a flight attendant that can visit you anywhere on the trail!”

I’d nod my head thoughtfully. “Oh…. Yes, that does sound tempting….” =)


I also learned that before my arrival, Amanda had dubbed the hiker Donut. Or maybe Doughnut. I’m not sure the spelling of his trailname had been settled or even discussed, but Donut is shorter to write so that’s what I’ll use. =) She’d given him a box of Krispy Kreme donuts to munch on and said he could be called Donut, but only if he ate all of the donuts in the box. She really wanted to get rid of those donuts! (He didn't eat all of the donuts, however, probably wanting to leave some for other hikers, but we’re still calling him Donut.)

I partook from the trail magic as well, and while standing around chatting, a few other hikers arrived off the trail who joined the Unicoi Gap party. To make the party even bigger, a couple of more hikers who had stayed in Helen overnight were dropped off at the gap to continue their hikes including… someone I recognized! After having took four zero days, I thought everyone I knew was far ahead of me now, but it was Bionic Woman! I guess the one leg was proving to be a major handicap in her hiking speed.

Knowing she was from Germany, I asked her what she thought of Helen—our Disney-ized version of it. She thought it was hilarious. She also said that she was getting a new leg in Charleston, SC, soon, which she hoped would work better for a thru-hike like this. Amanda thought that was particularly interesting. And how cool would it be to just replace body parts as they wore out or got tired. Blistered feet? No problem! Switch them out for these new ones! Knees hurting? There are spares in Atlanta you can try!

Unicoi Gap

But in all seriousness, I was glad to see Bionic Woman still going at it. Her handicap might be slowing her down, but she wasn't going to let it stop her!

Amanda still had a bunch of drinks and snacks for passing thru-hikers, but we were ready to go back into town and we decided to leave an ice chest with all of the goodies for the thru-hikers. We’d pick it up again tomorrow when she dropped me off on the trail again.

We drove back into the Bavarian town of Helen and checked into the Super 8 for the night. We were a little surprised when opened the door and saw the whirlpool tub next to the bed and mirrors on the wall. I thought we got a room for the night—not one by the hour! I stood speechless for a few seconds upon opening the door, not sure what to think. Amanda was still pulling her luggage out of the car and came in a minute later, as stunned as I was.

“Well,” I said. “That’s kind of funny, really…”

As it turned out, it was also a smoking room, which neither of us cared for. I hadn't thought to ask for a non-smoking room. I tend to assume rooms are non-smoking unless otherwise noted, but I know some hotels sometimes put thru-hikers in smoking rooms because we smell so bad. It wasn't a particularly strong smell of smoke, though, so we propped open the door for the rest of the afternoon and decided just to live with it.

In the evening, we ate dinner at a local German restaurant for Amanda’s birthday (happy birthday, Amanda!). She does like her German restaurants, and we were told this was the best one in town. Then we walked over to the small grocery store for me to resupply. Tonight would be my last night with Amanda’s support and I figured I’d need 5 nights and 6 days of food to get me to the NOC for my next resupply. And rain was in the forecast. *sigh*
Steps today: 25,303 steps
Miles today: 9.7 miles
Total miles: 61.7 miles

The newly dubbed Donut—the first trailname Amanda got to give somebody! =)

Amanda and I were pretty surprised to see this whirlpool tub and mirrors next to the bed in our room!

We ate dinner here at the Bodensee Restaurant for Amanda’s birthday. =)

Good times!

And watch out for bears!

Day 8: German Diversions

Helen, Georgia, had a cute Bavarian theme and
is a popular trail town just 10 miles off the trail.

March 15: The morning was absolutely gorgeous. An occasional stray cloud floated across the sky, but it was the first definitive sunny day since the first day way back on the Approach Trail. It was time to get back to hiking!

But before I did, Amanda and I wanted to check out our adopted home for the night: Helen. It's styled as a Bavarian village celebrating all things German--not unlike Leavenworth (the Washington state version, not the prison outside of Kansas City!) for those of you familiar with that.

When Amanda did some research, we learned the similarities with Leavenworth were even greater than we imagined. Helen had been an old logging town in decline and in the late 1960s, some businessmen noticed the steady stream of cars passing through the town but not stopping in it. They rebuilt the town with the Bavarian slant and the rest, as they say, is history.

So we stopped downtown to walk around and explore for the better part of an hour. A lot of shops were closed but that didn't stop Amanda from looking through windows when she could, perhaps taking the term 'window shopping' much too seriously!

But as all good things must come to an end, so did our explorations. I needed to get back on the trail!

We drove back to Neels Gap. I took some new photos of the area now that the weather was sunny and clear, and went inside to find Fireneck for the photo of him I forgot to get last time I was there.

Amanda and I parted ways. Just before I started the hiking, I was going to check my guidebook to see how far away my next targets were when I realized--it was still in the car! I had been looking at it on the drive up and when I had finished, it slid down the side of the car and under the seat. I couldn't get it out while we were driving and figured I'd pick it up when we came to a stop, but then forgot about it.

I rushed back to the parking lot hoping to catch Amanda before she had left. She was just pulling out and I jumped into the parking to block her escape. =)

Where's the schnitzel?!

She stopped, and I went to the passenger side where I fished under the seat for the runaway guidebook. Whew! Close call!

Then we parted ways again. Amanda drove off, and I started hiking again.

It didn't take long for me to catch up and pass other hikers, but I didn't recognize any of them. This wasn't surprising--I had been off the trail entirely for four full days and everyone I knew was likely far ahead of me. Some of them had probably even quit the trail in my absence. Rumor has it that about 20% of people drop off the trail at Neels Gap where I was starting the day.

A couple of hours into the hike, I found a group of hikers at rest near a viewpoint and stopped to take photos and rest myself. Not everyone had trailnames, and I'm not sure I even got everyone's name. One fellow who seemed to do a lot of the talking I later learned was named Silent Mike, and I asked about the trailname because he actually seemed to do much of the talking. Was it meant as sarcasm? =) Turns out, he's a quiet but fast hiker and tends to sneak up on people when he's walking, startling them when they realize he's right behind them.

Amanda's version of window shopping.

Also in the bunch was Yellow Jacket, a trail name that was allegedly self-evident on a cold day. She wore a bright yellow shirt which I had assumed was the reason for her name, but she told me that no, she really did have a yellow jacket. Then there was Something Tank, a trailname I had partially forgotten by the time I wrote it down in my journal. "Something" was not her trailname, but there was a word there that for the life of me I can't remember. She had her trailname because of her buzzed head.

"Hey! So did I!" I told her, taking off my hat so she could see my head properly.

"I took off 30 inches," she told me.

Wow. Okay, she wins. =) That must have been one of the most dramatic hair cuttings I'd heard of on the trail.

"I took off.... maybe two inches."

The shoe tree at Neels Gap.

We also talked about the weather. I had been curious how the weather had been for them, and they complained bitterly about the rain. Today had been their first dry day on the trail. Some of them had taken a zero day at Neels Gap just to get out of the rain. Yep, it sounded like the four days I had been off the trail were an excellent four days to have missed!

I continued onwards while they continued their rest. I caught up with an older gentleman named Bloodhound who was a Vietnam vet and apparently still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and he told me about some of his kills in Vietnam. It was a little odd. I've met war veterans before, but none of them seemed to want to dwell on the people they had killed--not that I ever really asked about it.

Late in the day I made it to Low Gap Shelter where I was surprised to find only two other people in the shelter. I had thought about cowboy camping tonight since no rain was in the forecast, but since the shelter was so empty, I just threw my stuff into it. Here I met all sorts of new other hikers, including one from Germany--the second hiker I had met from Germany on the trail.

I asked how he had learned about the Appalachian Trail, and apparently there was some sort of documentary about it (in German) that had played in their country and since then, the Appalachian Trail had become a mecca for many Germans. Allegedly, something like a hundred Germans had hiked the trail in one particular year. I have no idea if that's true or not or if that's just an exaggerated story, but there you go. 

He didn't have a trail name as of yet, and I thought about it and suggested, "You know, you could just use Germany as a trail name. I've never heard of anyone ever using the country where they were from as a trailname before."

He thought about it for a moment and said that yes, he could use that. Really?! I got to name a second person on the trail?! Cool! =) So now he's Germany. Assuming it sticks, of course. The name is still new enough that he could decide that he didn't like it and change it again.

I also suggested he maybe he should visit Helen. He might find our American version of a German town amusing. =)

Fireneck I had known online for years, but it wasn't until I reached Neels Gap where we finally met face-to-face for the first time!

A little after sunset, a couple of enterprising hikers started a small campfire which I wandered over to enjoy where we shared more of our war stories. I also told the Cremation of Sam McGee because, you know, that's my thing. =)

An hour or so later, a headlamp pierced through the darkness and another hiker arrived at the shelter. He was a large man--tall and hefty. Looking more like a football player than a hiker, and he asked if there was any room in the shelter. Plenty, we told him--only three of us had set up inside of it and it could fit seven. So he joined the party and threw a couple of heavy cans of food into the fire to warm them.

The rest of us thought that was a little odd. First, you don't see heavy canned foods on the trail very often. (When you do, it's almost certainly a newbie hiker that doesn't know how to pack light,) Second, we were all a little concerned about what the fire might do to the can. Would it explode as the contents heated up, raining down beans and who knows what else on everyone surrounding the fire then drawing in bears over the night?

These cans, fortunately, did not explode. Their ends did bulge outwards, as if ready to explode, but no explosion. After opening one and eating it, he found a plastic liner or something in the food, which seemed to confuse the guy. Was it edible? I guess he didn't realize that same canned foods do have liners, and throwing them into the fire did nothing for that. It wasn't an issue I had thought about either. So he ate around it.

Then it was off to sleep, another day coming to an end.

Steps count: 27,533 steps
Miles for the day: 11.5 miles
Total miles: 52.0 miles

'Twas a beautiful day for a walk!

A bunch of hikers at rest, enjoying the view. Yellow Jacket is the woman on the far left in the yellow shirt (but she has a yellow jacket that she's actually named after!). Silent Mike--who talks quite a bit!--is leaning against the tree on the far right.

I had a close call falling down a cliff, but fortunately, I managed to grab onto this tree to arrest my fall!

Tesnatee Gap. This is a popular area for people to ride motorcycles. They were all over the place and I could hear them from much of the trail!

It wasn't just a clear day--I was practically broiling in the sun!

Definitely not a whole lot of leaves on the trees as of yet!

Not sure what happened to this tree!

The Low Gap Shelter

The shelter campfire.

Days 5-7: Civil War Battlefields

Canon at the top of Kennesaw Mountain.

This time, I'm going to roll three days into one. This is supposed to be largely a hiking blog, and three consecutive posts about Civil War trivia seems like a bit much. So I'll condense it into a single post and get back to our regularly scheduled hiking stuff in the next post. =)

March 12: I wasn't ready to get back on the trail just yet. For one thing, the weather was still an ugly mess. And for a second reason.... well, did I really need a second reason? Not really, but I wanted to see some Civil War battlefields because I find them fascinating. Amanda had even done some research about them so she'd be ready and know what had happened there before we arrived. (As she read the book, she'd tell me, "No spoilers! Don't tell me what happens!")

So today, we wandered over to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Much of the morning was spent at the visitor center watching the video about the battle, then exploring the museum about it. The Confederates held the high ground here in an attempt to stop Sherman from taking Atlanta, and they held their ground. Winning the battle, however, was not sufficient to win the war. Sherman eventually got around the flanks of the Confederates and they retreated further back, eventually losing Atlanta completely.

Amanda left me at the visitor center while she drove off to do her thing, and I followed trails the rest of the afternoon along the entire length of the battlefield where she would pick me up at Kolb Farm.

The hike was largely uneventful. The views from the top of Kennisaw Mountain were great despite the cloud cover. I could see all the way to the skyscrapers of Atlanta and the hump of Stone Mountain. I read all of the signage installed describing what happened at various points of the battlefield. Not a lot of people were on the trails, all thing considered.

The Atlanta skyline was clearly visible in the distance from the top of Kennesaw.

At Kolb's Farm, I called Amanda on my special cell phone ( that I acquired specifically for the AT ) and told her I was ready to be picked up, and while waiting for her to arrive, it started to rain. I had hiked the entire length of the park without rain and thought I was home free, then poof! I get rained on while waiting for Amanda.

Then we headed back to DeAnna's house for dinner with a whole boatload of Amanda's relatives: DeAnna, Zoey, Aunt Lynda, Monika and Kayla. Monika surprised me--I thought she lived in the Charlotte area and didn't realize that she was in town. Kayla surprised me because I hadn't met her before and didn't recognize her. Amanda had relatives popping up all over the place!

The Illinois Monument was being renovated or something when I went through, but the thing I find most fascinating here is that small tunnel at the bottom of the photo. Union forces were stuck on this hillside just a few yards away from Confederate forces at the top of the hill. In an attempt to displace the Confederates, they started digging that tunnel under the Confederates to blow them up. The Confederates retreated before the tunnel had been finished, however, and nothing came from it. Except for that small monument that now marks the entrance of the tunnel.

March 13: I spent a great deal of the morning creating the Amicalola Falls to Springer Mountain post you read on day #1, so Amanda and I got a late start driving out towards Chickamauga--our next major stop. On the way, we drove through Dalton--a town I was familiar with because that's where I traveled through on my Key West to Springer Mountain hike. Amanda was surprised by the large carpet factory presence not realizing that it was the carpet capital of the country. (Or at least it sure seems that way!)

I ride a train at the Tunnel Hill museum.

But we didn't stop in Dalton--I just pointed out the overpass I walked over as we drove under it. We did, however, stop at Tunnel Hill. We got there just in time to go on the last tunnel tour of the day, a 1500 or so foot railroad tunnel built in 1849. For those of you familiar with the Great Train Chase during the Civil War, both the General and the chase train went through that very tunnel. There was also some minor fighting that happened in the area and Sherman used a nearby house as his headquarters for a week while planning his assault on Dalton.

It was just a quick stop to break up the drive, though, and eventually we continued on to our destination for the night: Chickamauga.

This historic tunnel is now open for tourists like Amanda and myself because they built a new, larger tunnel next to it in 1928 to replace this one. (That 1928 replacement is still in use today.)

Outside the tunnel, looking in.

Covered bridge near the tunnel.

It would be another dreary, ugly day at Chickamauga.

March 14: Amanda and I hit Chickamauga Battlefield first thing in the morning. (Spoiler alert!) Another Confederate victory, but still not enough for them to win the war. How demoralizing that must have been. They win battle after battle, but just can't win the war. This was the bloodiest two-day battle of the war, a fact that amused Amanda to no end. "They have to qualify it with two days?" Yes, they did. Antietam, I told her, was the bloodiest day in American history. Gettysburg was the bloodiest three-day battle and the largest of the war.

We stopped at the Visitor Center first to get the lay of the land, then I headed out to do some hiking while Amanda drove off to do some driving. I started off trying to follow trails, but they were saturated with rain. Walking across what looked like grassy fields turned into a swamp. The thick grass would hide the inch of water resting on the surface and I'd end up splashing through. Tired of that, I started following roads instead. This early in the morning, there wasn't much traffic anyhow. The guide we picked up at the visitor center had a driving route with numbered stops, and at each stop you could call a number to hear what had happened at that point. With my fancy new cell phone I acquired for the trail, I started going to each of the stops on foot and calling the number. Good times!

At the last stop, I called Amanda to let her know I had finished and it was time to pick me up.

Then we drove up the road to Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain to witness the location of one of those rare times the Union actually won a battle!

Wildlife was thriving! =)

As we headed up the mountain, the fog grew thicker and thicker until we could barely see a hundred feet in any direction. This was a huge disappointment for us. Allegedly, the views from the top were absolutely stunning, but it looked like we wouldn't see squat.

However, as the folks at the visitor center reminded us, the battle took part in a thick fog just like this which is why it was called the Battle Above the Clouds. (Technically, they were IN the clouds, not above them, but I guess that didn't sound as good.)

We explored the area for a bit, but due to the lack of views, we didn't stick around very long either.

Done with our Civil War wanderings, we headed back towards the trail driving out to Helen, Georgia. We checked into the local Econolodge for the night. Tomorrow, I'd be getting back on the trail again....

It's the acorn monument!

Lookout Mountain was socked in a thick fog. It ruined the views, but was true to battlefield conditions of the time!

The entrance for Point Park on Lookout Mountain.

Day 4: Letterboxing

Hunting for letterboxes in the Marietta area.

                                                           March 11: Given the turn in the weather, now seemed like a good time to catch up on touristy things that I had originally planned to do before I started hiking. And that's how Amanda and I ended up searching for letterboxes in and around Marietta, GA.

The day didn't start well. It was dreary and rainy, but even worse, I spent much of the morning working on taxes. When I finally headed downstairs for lunch, I slipped on the stairs and fell pretty hard. Amanda and DeAnna (whose house we were staying at) said they thought a car had hit the house. There was a huge BANG and the dogs were barking at the front door and they rushed up, worried about what had happened.

"No, nothing hit the house. It was just me falling down the stairs."

Fortunately, besides a bruise on my arm, I was uninjured. It would have sucked if I injured myself so badly I had to quit the trail already--and indoors on a zero day no less!

Then my meal from Chik-Fil-A was wrong. We ordered Strips and picked it up in the drive-thru.  Did not double check, got home and it was Chicken Nuggets instead....First World Problems, but some days, you feel like you should have never gotten out of bed.

Then we went to some local parks and started finding letterboxes, catching a couple of other letterboxers in the act: KarmaKat and Big Red. Some of you who might be reading this blog might not know about letterboxing, but it's essentially a treasure hurt where we look for boxes out in the woods and parks. Inside is usually a one-of-a-kind hand-carved stamp that we can stamp into our logbooks for posterity.

So we teamed up with KarmaKat and Big Red for an hour or so to find some more letterboxes, had a few successes, then eventually departed in our own directions.

From left to right, KarmaKat, Amanda, myself and Big Red. An unexpected meetup on the trail! (I totally stole this photo off Big Red's Facebook page because I didn't think to take one for myself!)

The last letterboxes that Amanda and I looked for were quite old--more than 10 years! The boxes were tough to find because landmarks had changed or were missing, and we spent the better part of hour walking in circles looking for a box. Finally, after finding it and with a great deal of celebration, Amanda flipped through the logbook to discover.... that we had already found it 8 years before!

We were shocked. How did this happen? Neither of us recognized the park or the clue. I suggested that maybe the box had been a postal or was planted somewhere else and we had found it then, but after checking the date--that couldn't have been the case. It was dated the day after I finished hiking from Key West to Springer Mountain. We were in Marietta then, mere minutes from this park. We had found this box before, and neither of us had remembered to record the find. Whoops. Didn't we feel like dorks. =)

By this time, I realized that I was missing my wallet. I assumed I had probably left it back at the house, but I wasn't 100% certain so we headed back for me to check. Thank goodness, I had. Crisis averted! =)

From there, I walked to the Marietta Pizza Company, or the MPC for short, because while I had been busy hiking the first part of the Appalachian Trail, a bunch of letterboxers had been planning a grand welcome for me in the area where Amanda and I would be the guests of honor.

I showed up on time, but the place was already packed with people. Must have been about 20 people, but I didn't stop to count. There were a lot of them for an event, quite literally, planned with all of about two days notice.

Amanda and I had a great time chatting with the other letterboxers. Mark was there, who was good to see since he was the fellow who had driven me to Amicalola Falls the first time I hiked the trail. Thanks to Mark and Amy for planning the gathering! I'm not sure if anyone else was involved in the planning, but thanks to those who did and those who took the time to visit!

After all of the laughs were done and everyone headed off, Amanda and I headed back to the house for the rest of the night. The day might have started poorly, but it sure ended on a high note!

Letterboxer meetup at the Marietta Pizza Company. Good times! (Not everyone who went to the event is in this photo. I didn't think to take a photo for myself until just as we were all walking out the door and several people had already left.)