3/16/15 Tray Mountain Shelter – 7miles

Extreme climbs today! Today was really tough for me. I started my stupid period and felt totally bitchy. I then got myself into a panic over snacks. I ate to many snacks yesterday and was running super low today and of course was starving. I was really hoping for a run in with trail magic today, preferably donuts but alas it did not happen this morning.

We all agreed that at Tray Gap we would stop for lunch but I was already down to one Fudge Round and lunch wasn’t going to be enough for me after today’s climbs. Just when things were looking really bad and I started getting cramps, I caught a glimpse of what looked to be a table; I was pretty sure I was imagining things. Then I started to smell hamburgers. My pace quickened and I was the first to view the miracle of trail magic! Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, sodas, cookies, apples, bananas and DONUTS! Beautiful round, glazed, goodness! I was so fucking desperate to eat something I ate a big fucking hamburger and it was the best damn hamburger I have ever eaten! Eight years of being a veggie down the drain in 5 minutes.

I consumed the following: One hamburger, one hot dog, two delicious glazed donuts, one lunch size bag of chips, six Oreos, a lunch size pack of Nutter Butters and washed it all down with an ice cold water. AMAZING! The trail magic was provided Mr. Albert and his dog Champ, Mrs. Gigi and her husband Gray Ghost (a past thru-hiker). They really saved the day for me with such wonderful trail magic. After talking and eating for an hour, we parted ways and took off for our last mile and a half.

Once at Tray Mountain Shelter, we dropped our packs and walked down to take in our amazing view overlooking Georgia. We decided to tent instead of staying at the shelter. The shelter was nice but tenting seemed nicer with such a great view.

Apple Cider hiked with us all day today and is planning on joining us for our first planned zero day. It’s really nice to have a girl in our group. Hot Sauce and Roub are still with us as well. I found out today that Roub is in his 60’s and here I am bitching about cramps. We also heard from a fellow hiker that Midnight got off trail for a while due to a hurt ankle; I am hoping we will see him again. Cowboy caught up with us today and Shay and Finn who we have been seeing a lot, were already here when we arrived. We all have deemed Finn our trail elder since he has completed a thru-hike before and is like a fountain of trail knowledge.

Tomorrow we plan to poop out a 12-mile day to Dick’s Creek, hitch in for pizza and beer then arrange for a shuttle Thursday morning for a wonderful hotel room!