Bama to Baxter, day thirteen: we arrive in Georgia

I thought I slept pretty well last night, but my watch’s morning report told me I didn’t get enough REM sleep. Anyway, I felt wonderfully refreshed. I woke up right before my alarm went off and wrote some more for the blog. When it was evident that everyone else was awake, I got out of bed and dressed for the day. It wasn’t as cold as it was yesterday, but it was still pretty cold, 49°F on my thermometer, with a strong wind blowing, I got dressed, was able to drop a two in the morning, always a blessing on the road, and sat and waited for Brandon from Elevated Grounds to come pick us up. Our plan for the morning was to return to the Elevated Grounds, have breakfast, and then follow the trail ahead. Brandon arrived at the motel around 7:30 am. In just a few minutes we were back at the cafeteria. Two Meals and Hot Tank had a proper breakfast. I just had a Coke zero and a breakfast bar. We finished and were walking by 8:30. It was cold enough to wear gloves, but not so cold that it was uncomfortable. Of course, from the highway we had to climb, but it was a well-graded climb with very good trail conditions and I felt wonderful all the way to the top. It was truly a glorious morning, full sun, not a cloud in the sky, excellent trail conditions and mostly up and down hiking. Throughout the morning, the three of us played hopscotch with our positions on the trail while each of us took a break or relaxed after a climb, etc.

We all ended up stopping for lunch at about five hours in. Hot Tang noted on a nearby sign that we were about halfway up the Pinhoti Trail (350 miles) at that point. He also noted that we had a 3 mile climb ahead of us and then a 2 mile descent to our planned shelter for the night. I have learned that the trail typically descends and climbs from road junctions, stream crossings, and places of refuge. The good news is that at no point during the climb did I feel out of control. I never got dizzy. I never lost my balance. That said, it was a tremendous climb: steep, rocky in places, crossed by ravines that we had to jump into, cross, and then climb out. It turns out that for about 7 miles, the trail passes through private land that has been developed as an ATV park. The ravines are the dirt roads that the ATVs have been excavating. Near the top of the climb, I noticed an American flag flying at a point I mistook for the summit, but the trail seemed to be moving away from it. Eventually the trail turned to the clearing of this false summit, so I took a short photo break and had something to eat. It offered beautiful views of the valleys on both sides of the peak. However, the climb was not over yet. After about another 3/4 mile, the trail crossed the mountain and began the descent, which was much needed at this point.

About a mile from our destination shelter, we crossed the Alabama-Georgia state line. The rest of the afternoon was a cruise walk. One state less, fourteen more to go. When I arrived at the shelter, Hot Tang was already there and settled in. About five minutes after me, Two Meals arrived. If there had been a video camera at the shelter, the footage would reveal that they are much more efficient backpackers than me. It takes me forever to get things done. We also noted that we were in Eastern Daylight Time at this point, so we effectively lost an hour of our day, however, because we are on the western edge of the time zone, we were comparatively having a very late sunset. We all ate, checked in with the family and were in our sleeping bags by 8 o’clock.

Happy trails. . .

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