Breaking camp with everything wet is never fun. Especially in a secret grove of poison ivy (that seems to be thriving in Georgia). I started early today, around 7:30, and only took 2 breaks that were longer than 2 minutes until 6:30pm when I stopped.
It was brutal and the most exhaustive exercise I've had in my life. We finished at 13.5 miles today, but hardly by choice. I was ready to collapse at 11 miles, but the campsite shown on the map seemingly didn't exist.
The real stars of the day though were Blue Mtn and Rocky Mtn, because climbing across them kicked my ass.
So after going well beyond my comfort zone, walking the longest hike in my life over the harshest terrain, I arrive in camp and collapse.
Thankfully my night didn't end there. Mr. Fantastic, Beast Zone, Bear, CVS, and I all sat down to dinner along with 3 guys in the Israeli army (one of whom was quickly named Tetley for offering up some delicious piping hot tea). A few others made camp here, but didn't join us.
It was an amusing dinner, and we all talked food, tomorrows plans, and Hiawassee (being the first town we'll cross, and that it's coming up). We're all very excited by the prospect of a supermarket, and possibly taking a zero day there to wait out thunderstorms. We're all running very low on food, so we plan to walk a relatively light 9.5 miles tomorrow to a shelter. The next morning we'll walk a short 4 miles and get a ride into town. Beyond that, Xanadu.