Days 4 through 7; Slow and Steady

Day 4- 7.29 miles, 981’ elevation gain; Woody Gap to Slaughter Creek Campsite

Oof, rough night at Woody Gap. Between the cars chugging up the hill all night, the dude who rolled in loudly complaining at his dog for causing him a fall resulting in a hold up until he heals, and the slamming of car doors at 0330 to catch the sunrise on Preachers Rock, it was by far my worst night’s sleep yet. Yup, I’m complaining and it’s not doing me any service. Either way, I couldn’t hit the trail fast enough. I didn’t even make breakfast before leaving camp. I filtered some water and we boogied our way north crossing into the Blood Mountain Wilderness.

Entering Blood Mountain Wilderness

The trail brought us up to Preacher’s Rock and then almost to the summit of Big Cedar Mountain, a 3,694′ peak before summiting Granny Top Mountain at 3,323’. One of the locals from down in the valley was sharing his wealth of knowledge of everything we were able to see. He explained we could see about 75 miles away, but I forget at what. Being 2024 and the AT I had timed being on the summit for a telehealth call, I politely explained I needed to take a phone call and excused myself from the conversation to not disturb them and get privacy. What a time to be alive.

Loving Life.

As a transmasculine individual on HRT, one of my biggest fears was the inability to administer my hormones on trail. If you too are like me and have a desire to backpack, I’m here to confirm it’s just like at home. I make my own soap sheets and bring extra alcohol pads to keep it all clean. Sure, carrying the extra weight sucks, but like many transgender people in this world, we wouldn’t be here in the flesh without it. To make my soap sheets I take UNSCENTED castile soap (and only unscented castile soap) and paint it on parchment paper. It then goes in the dehydrator at a low setting until it dries. Soap sheets, for literal pennies. I also love clean hands, a clean beard and clean and dry feet, it’s the little things that make it easier out here.

After my phone call I still felt like lounging around, so River and I hopped about a half mile down a blue blazed trail where we set up camp at an established site along Slaughter Creek. It was warm enough to be out in my t-shirt, sedentary for the first time. I soaked up the sun and pondered life while River napped in the tent for the afternoon. We only saw two people walk by the entire time we were down there.

Day 5- 7.83 miles, 1816’ elevation gain; Slaughter Creek Campsite to Baggs Creek Gap

It poured last night, along with thunder and lightning. Every time the sky lit up, I’d wait for the crash of the thunder. Counting in seconds for its miles away. I never counted under 30 and knew I was safe. I’d roll over and fall back asleep to the sound of the rain and Slaughter Creek off in the distance. I hung out in my bag as long as I could before packing up my wet tent. The mountains were calling and so wasn’t my resupply.

Neels Gap, where 25% of thru-hikers call it quits. It still doesn’t quite feel real, but we’re doing it, slow and steady! When I walked into Neels Gap I was carrying two hot cocoa packets, two snacks, and another day and a half of food for River. Not too bad for our first food carry. I paid my 20$ holding fee (ouch!), got my two boxes and repackaged it all on the picnic table. This resupply made it feel a little more real.

Climbing out of Neels Gap was no joke, a short 400’ climb up the 3804’ Levelland Mountain with a full six-day resupply made me rethink my life’s choices for a hot second. Nonetheless we put one foot in front of the other. It turned out to be a gorgeous day once the clouds broke and the wind tapered off.

Day 6- 10.2 miles, 2293’ elevation gain; Baggs Creek Gap to Horsetrough Mountain

Sunset along the AT.

Today ended up being emotionally rough, but hey the trail provides, they say. I’m trying to work through some trauma, content warning, paternal loss, skip to the next day.

I’ve found myself in a small bubble of some serious Dad Energy. As we, apologies for forgetting his trail name but Titanium’s hiking pal, made our way down into Tesnatee Gap we were graced with our first round of trail magic of the day. Trail magic is when someone provides hikers with anything, be it food and beverage, words of encouragement, trash collection, etc.

The people providing the trail magic were a father and son pair who had stacked a cooler full of ice-cold soda and a bag to collect our trash for us. While drinking my blue raspberry lemonade it was brought up to the son that by the time he’s 14 he’s going to know it all and Dad will know nothing, at 21 he’s going to be asking for all of Dad’s money and at 27 going to be asking for all of Dad’s stuff.

I love you. I miss you.

Can confirm the first two to be true, sadly when I was 27 my Dad had been gone for six years. The evening my Dad passed away, I had asked to borrow $20 to go to a job interview. He gave me all the money in his wallet. I never got the chance to pay him back.

So yeah, it could have been any other thru-hiker that found themselves there at that very moment in time. But it just so happened to be me, it’s synchronicity. I turned away with my ice-cold soda and wiped the tears from my eyes. I finished it fast, as I needed to leave that energy behind. Only to hike into Hogpen Gap to more trail magic.

Working through my loss, I got some Caribbean Black Bean soup and sat down by myself. The compassion, generosity, and outpouring of love was a lot to take in. I’m still trying to make sense of my experience and am having a hard time putting it to words.

So Delicious, thank you!

A few of the folks living down in Hiawassee were the gracious souls who provided the trail magic. It was nice to meet some new faces, including a year-old puppy, and get my belly filled with some true southern comfort food. One of the guys has been doing it since 2014, an entire decade! I stuffed my pockets with no bake cookies and these wonderful homemade rice crispy type things at their request, signed in their logbook, and timed my exit so I would no longer be leapfrogging the Dad Energy. I gave some hugs, grabbed my pack, thanked them and said ‘I gotta start heading home.’

Trail Angels.

It felt good to go to sleep with more than a belly full. Food always tastes better when you don’t cook it or it’s free. The ultimate plate of food is both.

Day 7- 7.24 miles, 1274’ gain Horsetrough Mountain to Rocky Mountain

Last night was cold, the kind of cold that settles in around your bones and doesn’t dissipate until about 4 to 5 miles in the next day. I slept like absolute crap, constantly worried that River has worked his way out of his sleeping bag and just thinking about life. I stayed in my sleeping bag until the sun was well up and I was able to feel its warmth.

It’s been a week, and I still don’t have a trail name. Which is to be considered normal when hiking alone. There are still plenty of us without one. Although, I may just call us Slow and Steady. I’ve been leapfrogging my fair share of people; however, we can’t match their pace and I planned six-day food carries rather than the typical four. They’ll get ahead by a day and a half or so, and then I’ll get ahead while they stop in town. We’ll leapfrog for a couple days until they start to pull away. There’re also many thru-hikers that walk on past, never to be seen again.

…and we’re still headed home.