On the Appalachian Trail: Deep Gap Shelter, GA to Plumorchard Shelter, GA

Day 3 Deep Gap Shelter, GA - Plumorchard Shelter, GA (Miles Today: 8; Trip Miles: 20; Total AT Miles: 70)

I didn't sleep all that great last night. Both boys woke me up a couple of times to go to the bathroom and Ty woke up crying a few times that his leg hurt. He does this from time to time at home as well. The doctor says it's growing pains and that they're more likely to occur after a lot of activity. Exactly how much activity is a lot for a seven year old?

We were the last ones out of the shelter this morning. Everyone else here last night was thru-hikers and they were anxious to hike three miles up the trail to Dick's Creek Gap. There's a truck waiting there to shuttle hikers into town at 9:30 for groceries, laundry, all-you-can-eat buffets, and a night in a hotel or hostel. We're not going into town so we weren't in any hurry.

A little into our hike we passed Margaret. Margaret is a woman in her mid to upper 50s who's hiking the trail solo. She wanted her 17 year old son to come along but he decided he didn't like to hike all that much any more. Her husband doesn't like to backpack and even went so far as to try to guilt her out of doing this five month trip. He researched the effects of prolonged separations on married couples. She assured him they wouldn't get divorced and came out to hike anyway. I would think that after thirty years of dreaming about this trip she deserves the chance.

As we passed Margaret and her gimpy knee on the trail she gave each of the boys a hug. "This'll probably be the last I see of you two," she told them. "You take good care of your dad out here."

We hiked on with Muluken going far ahead of Ty and I on the trail. As Ty and I made our way down into Dick's Creek Gap we saw Muluken sitting on the side of the road with a Gatorade in his hands.

"Where'd you get THAT?" we both yelled.

Muluken pointed across the street to an old white van parked at the trail head. "The old guy in that van gave it to me," he explained.

Generally when your kids take something from a stranger in a van you get very worried. In this case I wanted to know if I could have some too. We made our way across the road and ducked our head into the open side door in the van. The old guy inside had a long bushy white beard and didn't get around too well. He asked what flavor of Gatorade we'd like and fished them out of his cooler. As he pulled the lid open we saw he also had pudding cups and a variety of other snacks. He was spending his day passing out treats to hikers as they made their trek north. This was our second experience with "trail magic" and we again very grateful. We thanked him about five or six times and rushed over to eat our lunch near the creek. I can't say enough about the people who volunteered their time and resources to us. They were amazing.

The boys stopped to play in three different streams today. With only eight miles to hike we were in no hurry. Getting to camp early just means more down time to fill. We'd rather spend this time on the trail playing around on fallen trees or in the water. You'd think that stopping more often would make the hiking easier but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes it slows you down to the point that you feel like you're moving at a crawl along your path. As we hiked up out of Dick's Creek our energy was lagging. The sun was high in the sky and it was getting hot. We also knew that everyone else had headed into town for the night and that we were alone again.

A few miles up from the gap we came across a sign that read "Vista." It was a side trail leading upward toward an unseen lookout. I laughed to myself for some time. Why in the hell would I possibly hike up yet another climb to see out? There were more than enough climbs already without adding another. Pretty much unless there was an ice cream shop up there we weren't veering off our course.

Our last three miles of the day were really tough. The temperatures were up into the 80s and since the trees had yet to leaf out we were exposed to the sun pretty much the entire time. The climb coming out of Coward Gap lasted well over a mile. We climbed and climbed and climbed some more. We took many breaks and lamented the fact we didn't fill up on water at the last creek. We were all just about out and there was still a ways to go before we reached camp for the night with no water sources listed between.

Finally we reached Plumorchard Gap Shelter. It was a small shelter but with three levels it slept about 14 people. We generally prefer to stay in our tent but with threats of electrical storms and perhaps even a tornado moving in we decided the shelter was our safest option. We set up our pads and sleeping bags and the boys went down to the stream to play and throw rocks down the mountainside.

The people at the shelter tonight were great. There were brothers Alex and Zach who were section hiking the trail like us. Nineteen year old Woodstock and Cool Cat were thru-hiking after Woodstock's mother drove them all the way down from Michigan and tearfully said goodbye. There was a young couple celebrating their six-month anniversary with a three-day trip on the trail. They had a mixture of borrowed, bought, and home-made gear that worried me a bit about their safety. There were also two older guys, Snake and Two Steps Back, who didn't say a whole lot but snored really, really loudly all night long. After dinner we all sat around a campfire and talked for a long while. Woodstock let Muluken borrow his headlamp so he could write in his journal as the sun disappeared over the treetops. I've come to realize that the people you meet along the trail are just as remarkable, if not more-so, than the trail itself. This bunch of guys and girls are the kind you hate to say goodbye to.

(Dad, age 36)

We hiked 8 miles today. When we hit 8 miles we came to a shelter in Plumorchard Gap.

(Ty/Flash, age 7)

We hiked up a couple of mountains and got to Cowart Gap and then we went up the highest mountain ever. It went very high and was the hardest mountain we climbed. We drank lots of water. We played in the streams on the way and had lots of fun. At first the water was freezing on our feet but we got used to it. It was good playing in the stream. It cooled down our feet a lot.

We got to Plumorchard Shelter. We got water for the crab chowder for dinner. It was very good. Then we went down for water for the hot chocolate. Very warm and good. I would like a lot more than a little bit. Then we went to the privy and went out to play. We threw rocks down the hill to see how long it will go. It was fun. Then it started to pour and we had to come up. Someone made a fire later and cooked their food. The rain was weird because it kept going on and off. We did 8 miles today. Yay.

(Muluken, age 9)