Day 3 on the Appalachian trail

Lance Creek to Neels Gap - Mile 48.7 - Apr 13_th, 2018

Today I had to go over Blood Mountain and I really was not looking forward to the climb. This was to be my highest mountain so far, I really hurt my feet yesterday pulling 16.1 miles in but I really needed to make it to Lance a Creek.

On my way out of Lance Creek I rolled my left ankle over on some rocks at a place where Hurricane Irma had done some major damage. There were trees down everywhere which made it very eerie walking through that area. Not long after this happened I came upon bear poop and believe me...it was bear poop. Well not too long after seeing the bear poop in the middle of the trail I heard this trampling up the side of the mountain that sounded like the bear that had just come through the area leaving presents.

I made my way along the trail, there were a few difficult treks up but I just took my time and made many stop breaks to catch my breath. I finally came to the bottom of Blood Mountain, I had already told myself I was not going to over do it and hurt my feet more than they already were. I made my way up and to my surprise realized that going up wasn't too bad, I mean, I had been dreading it so much but it ended up not being bad at all.

One thing I need to mention is, I had already spoken with Joe the night before and told him about my feet and just how hard I was finding it to be without him. So by the time I got to the top of Blood Mountain Joe was on his way to get me so maybe I was feeling extra good because I knew I was going to see him. I took the opportunity to have lunch on top of the mountain, I had a view that most would pay thousands to see and it was all right there in front of me! The weather was beautiful, I had birds chirping and singing around me, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect place to sit. On top of the mountain was an old rock shelter the CCC built that was really cool and there was even a privy but I didn't use it.

After lunch I proceeded to make my way down but knew I was going to have to go extra slow due to the steep decent and the fact that it was all rock! Everyone said going down was going to be much tougher and it was! At one point I was practically on all fours trying to hold my trekking poles and climb over and down these big boulders as I was going down I missed a step and over my ankle went..again! That hurt, but thankfully was not broken! I finally made my way down the 2 mile trek down to Neels Gap to Mountain Crossings where I purchased a Coca-Cola, banana, and a deli egg sandwich.....it was sooooo good, lol! I could have gotten microwave hamburgers and things like that but it just didn't seem appealing to me, another thing most hikers indulge in is the Red Baron pizzas. Mountain Crossings stock the pizzas for the hikers and cook them for you after you purchase them, it's funny, the way they bring them out to you is on the box it came in.....they actually smell really good too.

Joe got caught in I-20 traffic so I just sat and waited on him for a few hours, it was beautiful and I didn't care because I knew I was gonna get the biggest hug when I did see him! Joe finally made it and of course I couldn't stop crying, it was like everything I had been feeling was finally rushing out. I felt like such a failure because I did not think I could go on, I knew I would not be able to make the goal I had set forth to achieve and I felt like I let my friends and family down as well.

We got a room in Hiawassee where I could rest my feet and reevaluate my situation. I got some new hiking shoes and prepared myself to go back out on the trail, then I read the weather report.....rain and ice, low of 29 degrees. Well that was all I needed to hear to know I wasn't going back out on the trail, if I were thru-hiking it would be one thing but I wasn't and didn't have to put myself in danger like that. So, we packed up and headed home, I was so excited to see my babies!