Day 6, 6-20

So, our filter had broken earlier, and the trail swami at Neel's Gap had pronounced it beyond repair. He had said, Rock Dancer had said, third guy in Neel's Gap had said: unfiltered H2O is safe, as long as you're smart about where you get it. So we went with it. We found some water, filled up straight from the water, and looked at each other. 'Greg, this could be really dumb'. 'I know. I know. Are you ready?' 'yeah'. 'First, a toast. To not getting the runs!' And we clunked our Nalgene bottles together and drank our first unfiltered water together. It was really tasty. I enjoyed it.
But I get ahead of myself. We left the shelter, and found that the odd couple had set up pretty well. We left before they did, but I don't know if they ever left. We never saw them again, and I think they were living on the trail. There's a post on them. And then we got water shortly down the trail.
Around...lunchtime maybe? We make it to Blue Mountain Shelter, which is right before the infamous Unicoi Gap. We had been hearing of Unicoi Gap for a long time, ever since we started. Everyone seems to have started from that point. It was a bit crazy. So getting close to it was something of an achievement, because that meant we were finally getting ready to surpass the myriad hordes of Boy Scouts that were hiking on the trail. More on Boy Scouts later. So anyway, we make it to Blue Mountain Shelter, where the 4 girls and uncle/nephew are, and dry out all our stuff in the wonderfully toasty sun.
The 4 girls were from all over, and I'm pretty sure that 3 of them were sisters...lets see if I can remember names...Anita, Jackie, and...two others, names to come later. The uncle and nephew were there as well. The uncle had sort of folded the girls into his protective umbrella, which I thought was kinda funny, since they were all upper college age and were doing better than he was. After it all dried out, we set out again. They seemed a little sad to see us go, I think perhaps the assumption was that we were going to nab a ride into Helen (the town connected with Unicoi Gap) with them tomorrow. But we needed to get a little farther that day, so we did. After going about a mile or so down into Gap, I realize that Caleb looks a little different. No bandana. We deduced that he must have left it at Blue Mountain, and we contemplated going back for all of 3 seconds. But we would have had to ascend that last mile we had come down, and there was no way either of us were going to be ok doing that, so on we went.
We blasted the ascent coming up Unicoi, both of us were feeling really strong. We only paused to talk to this guy about the trail. He asked, 'Where does this thing end?' We kinda laughed and said: Maine. He meant for the night, and so we told him what we knew of what was coming up. There were a few grandkids with him, and he wanted to take them out for a night or two.
A bit longer, and we made it to 'Cheese Factory'. Apparently this guy in the mid 1800's built a Cheese Factory in the middle of nowhere on the bet that a lot of the mountainous terrain around would soon be turned into farm land, and he could begin producing Cheese. All the farmers came, looked at the mountains, and left. So he folded after a few years, but apparently 'produced a superior cheese' for the time he was open. There isn't anything there now but a nice open area, a great water source, and some rocks that may have once been part of a wall. But they look like small rocks now. There were a few people already there, so Caleb and I set up, scope out the water (wonderful source - straight out of a rock), and made dinner. The group continued to grow, but they were all cool, so that was nice. One of them, the unofficial leader of the trip, had Thru-Hiked in 05, so we talked with her for a while. Then we scored some serious trail magic.
'Hey, we've got some extra food, would you guys like any?' That question doesn't need to be asked, really. Of course we would. They had brought some tasty muffellata sandwiches on impressive bread, some hummus mix, and some carrots. It had been a while since I'd seen a carrot in its unadulterated state...so we gorged. It was great. They gave us the bag, and it was a wonderful thing.
Us, pre-C losing his bandana.













After the Unicoi Climb. Note the knee brace: still creaky, but getting much better.












Caleb, after the Unicoi Climb. Note the missing bandana. Sad times. He's no longer a frood fellow, he doesn't know where his towel is. (points if you get that reference)
















The Trek Poles of Joy and Knee-Saving Happiness.


















This was a cool tree that we had to take a picture. It was mostly decayed and falling apart, but still clinging tenaciously to the side of the trail.
















This is Caleb. He's lost his bandana. So sad.


















This is us, resting before finishing up the day. I like this shot a lot.












That's Albert Mountain in the distance, I think. Its a heinous climb. If it's what I'm thinking it is. But it may not be...