Day 9 – March 16 2017 – 8 Miles – Near Dicks Creek Gap to Top O Georgia Hostel
I slept fitfully, but considering it was a least ten degrees below the temperature rating of my sleeping bag, it was OK. Stoat had experienced the same thing.
Over breakfast we decided to make the Top O Georgia Hostel our destination for the day.
At some point I had enough cell signal to reserve two bunks. With the promise of a warm bed and a hot shower we made quick work of the eight miles we had to hike to get there.
When we got there there was a hiker on the front porch. He was in the middle of showing everyone the frost nip on his fingers. That could have been us if we were a little less prepared.
Top O Georgia was a great hostel. It was clean, had several showers, and most importantly, had unlimited coffee all day.
It was run by a guy who went by the name Sir Packs a lot. He was a triple crowner, meaning he had done the A.T. , P.C.T. , and the C.D.T.. We got to talk to him for a bit and he said we had a good mindset for thruhiking.
He had a small gear store and I bought new tent stakes to replace my woefully inadequate ones.
The hostel also had loaner scrubs that we wore while our laundry was being cleaned.
They also offered a shuttle into the nearby town of Hiawassee.
We took the shuttle into town and went to the supermarket to resupply. After that we went over to Daniel’s All You Can Eat Buffet. When we walked in it looked like we interuppted some sort of medical conference. A second or two later we realized everyone who was wearing scrubs were thru hikers from the hostel.
Stoat accurately described Daniel’s decor as a funeral home converted into a restaurant. There was soft religious music playing and the layout of the building really looked like a funeral home. The food, however, was fantastic!
The fried chicken was especially good. We kept going up for more.
We sat with two other Thru Hikers who were hiking together. Their names were Bear Cub and Bull Frog and they were from Pennsylvania and we knew some of the same places.
In the shuttle on the way back, Bear Cub wasn’t feeling too good. We were almost back to the hostel when he threw up. He tried blocking it with his hands but the person in front of him still got sprayed. That person was me. At least I was in scrubs…
(Stoat making friends at Daniel’s All You Can Eat Buffet)
( On the way to Hiawassee)
(We slept in the area reserved for people hiking with dogs. Sadly there were no dogs.)
2017 Thru hike 