Day 3: The View From the Gaps

Short & Sweet

Another short day – 8.2 miles with no significant climbs. Today’s section from Cooper Gap to Woody Gap offered some spectacular mountaintop overlooks, lovely creekside walks, and my favorite: side-slope trails through early spring woods.

But there wasn’t enough of it. I hiked into Woody Gap just after 11:00 am, well before Mrs. The Incident finished running her resupply errands in Dahlonega. Fortunately, Verizon’s coverage at Woody Gap was better than any of the other Gaps we’ve stayed in, so I had a chance to catch up on emails and the news. Only three days in and work emails have become nearly irrelevant. Remind me again why I care about the news?

Boondocking the Gaps

We’ll boondock at Woody Gap tonight. Camping at road crossing trailheads lets me stay connected to the trail and hike out early each morning. I hope we can keep it up.

But most of the Gaps have been in deep, wooded valleys. They are beautiful, but relatively secluded. Woody Gap, however, is located in a high pass between two mountains and offers amazing views of the Appalachian valleys below. It also has a moderately busy paved road that brings travelers to the parking area.

Because I’m keeping the mileage low this first week, we get to spend our long, post-hike afternoons sitting outside the van with the doodles, watching the hikers and tourists come and go.

The Tourists

The tourists pull in, take a picture from the overlook, and move on. Most of them are polite, clean, and more than a little bewildered by the clusters of dirty hikers lounging on the grass beside their huge backpacks. Most tourists give the hiker trash the same level of attention they’d give the homeless on streets of their hometown.

Once in a while, a tourist will walk up to a cluster of hiker trash to ask a question, like “Where are you all going?” A few approach wanting to share their knowledge of the AT, or to say that their cousin Fred or a crazy guy from work tried to thru hike last year. The hikers give them the same level of attention the homeless give outsiders who walk down their street. Once they figure out that no food is forthcoming, they lose interest and keep to themselves.

The Hikers

The hikers trickle in alone or in groups of two or three. It is still too early for tramilies (trail families) to have formed. As the hikers arrive, they accordion up in small groups, sitting close enough to talk to each other, but far enough apart to not intrude. Conversations seem to be limited to hiker small talk – Where’d you start? Where are you going? How is your hike going?

These questions have double meanings, intended to ferret out thru hikers from section hikers, as they don’t look or smell that different yet. But honestly, the ATC thru hiker tags seem to do the sorting without having ask any questions. The questions also help identify potentially compatible hiker partners.

If that goes well, they might venture into something more personal – Where are you from? What kind of work did you do? How did you manage to get six months off to hike the AT? Still small talk, but honing in on the question of compatibility. If no connections form, the hikers move on alone. But sometimes, hikers leave with someone new.

The Thru Hiker Dance

The interactions have all the tensions of my high school freshmen mixer dance, though to a much lesser degree, and much less awkward or mean. Still, there’s the cool crowd, the stoners, the jocks (uber hikers), the rich kids, the poor kids, the geeks, and the weirdos, each with their identifying types of gear, clothes and haircuts. There’s also been a few scary folks who looked like they just got out of juvie – who let them in?

Just like at that first dance, everyone seems a little nervous, unsure of themselves, and hesitant to reach out. Also, I think we’re all wondering who of us is going to make to Katahdin.

The Incident Goes to the Dance

As for me, I’ll talk to anyone on the trail, even that scary guy with the bad teeth and the face tattoos. I have no idea who’ll be climbing Katahdin, or even if I will. I hope so, but it’s a long, long way from Woody Gap to the Birches Campsite at the foot of Mt. K.

I have the feeling that two weeks from now, we’ll all recognize a lot more faces and will be more of a community. For now, the tentative dance of thru hikers and tourists is the view from the gap.

Today’s Stats:

  • Start: Cooper Gap (Mile 12.3)
  • End: Woody Gap (Mile 20.5)
  • Weather: Just another day in Paradise – sunny, breezy, cool
  • Earworm: Get Back (Beatles)
  • Meditation: 1 Pet 2:24
  • Best Thing: Views from Ramrock Mountain
  • Worst Thing: Fire ring left smoldering

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