HELP! Ride Please!
Day 2 on the Trail: 12.8 miles hiked
It got a bit chilly last night and I had a few icicles in my water; nothing like free ice water waiting on you in the morning.
Me and Thomas left out at 7:15 this morning. We planed on making it to Gooch Gap (about 13 miles). The day started well, even though my knee was feeling a bit rusty. With a little vitamin "I" (Ibuprofen) and I was good to go. All of a sudden, about 4.6 miles into the hike there is an emergency: major issues,
I had to call for a ride off the trail. NOT for me or Thomas, though. We ran across a poor old woman who decided she wanted to hike the trail but who had only gone about 17 miles since last Friday. We squared her away the best we could but the people she had me call didn't sound reassuring. I hope she made it somewhere that she could get her "issues" taken care of. She wasn't the last person that needed help either. We saw several people struggling and even ran into a Park Ranger who had to rescue another old woman off the top of a mountain, who also thought hiking was a good fit for her. Regardless, I applaud those who try and fail, then those who never attempt.
The hike today was a good one but it was tough. We stopped just short of Gooch Gap, about .2 miles out at about 4:30 pm. We found a nice small camping spot next to Blackwell Creek. We got our fill of water, had a big dinner, cleaned up in the creek to wash what little funk off our bodies as we could and relaxed.
Tomorrow we are planning on a 9 mile day. We need a shorter day to rest and then on Thursday we will only have about 7 miles to Neel Gap where our first stop is scheduled.
