Summary: Owlet’s ongoing adventures, a Nobo through a journey that has just spent four days in a hostel walking during the day, but got discouraged at night.
On the fourth day I offered goodbye, forever, this time, above the cloud shelter. This was not before finishing that remaining 2.7 miles, including the infamous blue fire that I had to cross again (with ease experts this time!). Lucky left me in his hands capable of Bill in the mountain cross shop in Neel Gap and disappeared in a scented roast potato cloud back to my house of many happy days.
A word about Neel Gap. Many have seen the photos of the trees, adorned with the footwear of the many who have walked 31.3 demanding miles to get there and then, both proverbial and literally, decide to hang their shoes and go home. If you are looking for tradition in Google, there are some nonsense generated by AI about the place where people hang their shoes after finishing the path of the Apalaches, but anyone with two brain cells to rub can see that this makes no sense. It is clearly and simply the place to quit smoking. They also told me that my sweet first shelter, as early as it appears in the AT, is a place where many take refuge before leaving the road. I am proud to have achieved it, but I don’t have the slightest trial, who is not. I had underestimated how difficult this walk would be and even now while writing these words, many miles along the path, I find myself fighting with the desire to quit smoking weekly.
I’m hung and I won’t walk anymore …
Neel Gap was probably the first place where I began to feel my impostor syndrome, to be replaced by the feeling that it really belonged to this crazy path and the community of people who live for months at the same time. Bill, the resident «Pack Whisperer» of the mountain crosses, tensed my bag and pronounced the weight very well. Love of pride! Then he made me put it and did a little magic with the straps, pushing, pulling and patiently explaining all the time until it was correct. What a difference makes a correctly adjusted package! Then I approached some very necessary clothing and equipment updates, again receiving wisely advised by Bill. It must help hundreds of people a day, but when it is with you it is present 100% and does not stop until you have everything you need. After buying all my new and brilliant toys and some postcards for my people, I retired to some tables outside the store. Other hikers entered, bought and consumed entire pizzas, had washed their clothes and obtained Shakedowns, and we sat together talking about the store and shoes and our shared experiences. No one even gave me the slightest impression that did not belong.
A margin note about some trail magic! An element that desperately needed to update was my rain layer. Mine was too big, it became easily moistened and was stupidly heavy. Bill put me in a magical material that felt like being covered in moth wings. I was obediently trotted my «old» coat to the hiker boxes, and here is: a gentleman and his girlfriend were there to walk Blood Mountain and had not dressed properly for the cold. My coat fits that guy as a custom jacket! The path provides once again!
I also obtained my first traditional magic of trails in Neel Gap: Someone left the sweet hikers in Breezeway!
Campé that night on the path on a hill not far from the store, and enjoyed being able to chat with Bill again the next morning. I realize that I was now one of my first paths of paths, and many more had to follow. In the world of backpackers they speak of the «large three» in terms of team, being their package, their refuge and their sleep system. (A margin note: I will not leave the brand names here. In my next city stop, I will finally make a list of teams and you can see it if you like that kind of thing. I love a good list of equipment!). I was ultralight with my backpack and tent and so many other items that I could pay, sales sales and obtaining older models. Bill’s adjustments and lawyer made my package much more manageable, and also put my shoes correctly and advised other details of packages and clothing. That second day leaving Neel Gap, I met another teacher, a fellow hiker, who would improve my store game in a monumental way! Kimmy, a completely charming and gregarious hiker in the south of the southern section and companion of a walk, was walking north and invited me to camp near her that night. This is always welcome since I completely hug the old adage «safely in the numbers.» We were joined by two younger women later that night and we had a cheerful group. Another hiker with hearing impairment and some other problems camped near us and I was surprised by Kimmy’s kindness and patience. I also noticed that I had the same tent as mine, but it looked so different! I had fought to learn how to use my Trekking post tent at the beginning, to the point of breaking into tears. I thought I had dominated it, but I had problems with drafts and freezing at night. Kimmy showed me how to adjust the lines so that I was adjusted and warm! Alleluia!
Probably 80% of my AT photos are flora and fauna, and not tent adjustments and water bottles. Thank God, right? Enjoy!!!
I celebrated 50 miles to walk through the AT!
That same day, I had shared coffee with another friend from the path to whom I found again when we had to filter water. I had been having a beast that my water leaked more than a drip at the same time and I had to stop and release the pressure several times. I came to detest this task, but he skillfully showed me how to loosen the connection between the bottle and the adapter so that my flow was fast. What a difference!
If all this sounds as if my walk was positive to make sure it was, but it was also very hard, with brutal climbs, rocks, rain, some shameful bathrooms that I will not talk about (since then I learned that all the hikers have them, which is a consolation!), And an exera -standing pain. A complete blog would be needed to explain, but I had to change my shoes for a larger pair. I stayed with the same brand but with an older model, and this oldest model unfortunately did not have a characteristic that now I know is indispensable for my feet. I am back in my first model shoe in the right size and could not be happier. However, at that time, beat! I had not had pain in the least and this was a fresh hell! However, Trek on I did, experiencing my first stay in the shelter and obtaining tips and tricks around each curve to improve my game through realization. I met dozens of each guy and they never reminded me of a person for appearance. It sounds like a lesson that it should have already had, but there is a healthy caution that one adopts in nature, particularly as a woman. You can be cautious without being insensitive!
My week ended with my biggest mileage day, with a great job in the Unicoi gap. I collapsed and went completely when Donna from the dragon hostel Green came to rescue me, and before I stood up, this former teacher was educating me about the proper use of my posts, adjusting her length and showing me where to place my hands. The way he took once looking and knew that he had been doing everything wrong was beyond me, but I improved my experience ten times. And she had just started!
Soon: Join this elf lady for the second breakfast and many meetings in the green dragon!
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