Bye Bye Georgia

After leaving this quaint little hiker town, we pressed on to get as far as we could with my troubled ankle. Walking around town it seems fine so we thought all would be good by just taking it slow that day.

Random troll off the start of the trail.

Happy to be back on the trail.

All was great that morning, going back up into the mountains, until we stopped for lunch. We found a nice rock to settle down and have a lunch of tuna wraps and when I stood back up the pain in my ankle was excruciating. Wanting to keep going, we settled into the next shelter Plumorchard gap shelter, which gave us a 4.5 mile day. The shelter was a triple decker and was rumored to have rattle snakes living in a stump behind the shelter. Luckily we didn’t see any of them while we were there. But we did meet some really cool new people.

We arrived there early in the day, giving us plenty of time to start a fire and soak my ankle in the cold spring water.

We met Grock, Pinball and Dwayne, Two Bear (he got his name from walking up on 2 bears making babies, lol), Jessica (soon to be named Maple Leaf) and 2 other hikers. Hanging out and sharing stories was a great end to the day.

I was extremely excited to find out that Grock went to school for Physical Therapy. When we walked into the shelter that day, I thought how lucky I would be if a Dr was to shelter with us that night. Well, close enough. He had a lot of knowledge of the anatomy and thinks I’m suffering from Tendonitis. Probably from over compensating for my sore knee earlier on. He gave me some great stretches to do in between icing and they felt like they were helping. Best thing he had to say was that this is likely to pass if I take care of it. Awesome!!

Heavy downpours started late that evening and were expected all weekend. It’s such a struggle to get going in the morning when you know you’re going to be soaking wet all day. At least we didn’t have a wet tent to pack. Things could be worse.

Onward we go to the North Carolina boarder and the next shelter at least.

Thunderstorms and heavy downpours went on all day as we hiked. We summited our biggest peak that day, 4708 ft Couthouse Bald Mountain, but with weather like that we didn’t get any views. We did though get a break in the weather just in time to see the iconic creepy tree on the trail that everyone takes pictures of.

We were lucky to get to Muskrat Shelter elevation 4,562 ft and be one of the first to claim our spot inside. This one only fits 6 so it filled up quickly.

Getting there was 7.3 miles with lots of rocky terrain, which didn’t help my still irritated ankle. More icing, elevating and stretching, over and over.

We did however have the best group staying in that shelter that night. We laughed, shared stories and just became the fastest of friends.

Buck, Perry, the girl taking the picture I called Matador because a bear ran at her only to cross in front of her on the trail, Big Bear and us

There was a few people that came too late to get a spot so they had to pitch tent. They were awesome too.

It’s just the most awesome feeling making such great friends and everyone here really cares about each other and their goals. We’re all trying to accomplish great things and we all want each other to succeed.

Heavy downpours again started us all off soaked and cold, but everyone here is really good at “embracing the suck.” It is a really thing you get used to out here and it makes you count your blessings as they come.

Walking on we had some moments of beauty between the rain.

When you are pushing your body to its limits and enduring weather like this you really think deeply about all you have to be grateful for. We are extremely grateful to have each other and to have an opportunity to do something that some people don’t have the ability to do. We are able bodied and capable of more than we realize. That is a blessing.

Oh yeah, and My MS kicked Georgia’s butt!!!

Every dollar raised directly supports people living with MS in our community, funding important programs and services and fueling research. You are helping to create a bigger impact than you may realize.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/mymsvstheat

https://www.facebook.com/donate/395329344635495/?fundraiser_source=external_url

https://gofundme.com/my-ms-vs-the-at