Alabama – Georgia 4/1/00 – 4/5/00 Coleman Lake Trailhead (Pinhoti Trail) – Cave Springs, GA

Saturday  1 Apr 00   8 miles/1557 total.  FR 55 to FR 500.  97 Trail Days.

Since I survived the trail hike yesterday, we thought we would do it again today.

The trail went up a long rocky ridge and peaked at Dugger Mountain.  This is a beautiful, rather remote area that has steep climbs to both the north and south of the ridge.  Two wild turkey made a hasty exit as I rounded a bend in the trail.  On the approach up the ridge, I spotted something reflecting in the sunlight.  About a hundred feet above the trail was some debris from a light plane crash.  It was partly covered with dead leaves and had been there for a year or more.  Engine parts, the tip of a wing and various pieces of twisted metal were evidence that some poor guy had not quite cleared the ridgeline.

The short hike to FR 500 was very enjoyable.  Rick and Katherine Dougan drove up a couple minutes after I arrived at the trailhead.  Katherine told me that all the traffic on this off-the-beaten-path forest road was due to a dedication ceremony that was held about three miles down the road.  Dugger Mountain was being officially accepted as a Wilderness Area.  She said that at the same time I was hiking across Dugger Mountain, it was the backdrop for a large gathering of politicians, environmentalists and concerned citizens at the dedication.  Rick and I had a lot of the same interests; we all had an interesting chat for about a half hour.  I learned a lot about the area from this active local couple.

Sunday  4/2/00   0 miles/1557 total.    Rest Day.    98 Trail Days.

We moved the RV from the Forest Service campsite at Colman Lake to a commercial campground at Cedar Creek near Cave Springs, GA.  This was about a 60 miles drive in a rain that continued until mid-afternoon then started again in the evening.

Now that I am about “cured”, Betty is not doing well.  Her symptoms are similar to what I experienced, but she has not had the vomiting and intense abdominal pains.  Our current diagnosis (third) is that I did indeed have the flu and now Betty has it and I feel much better, thank you very much.  Our method of getting a second medical opinion is to wait a day and guess again.

The afternoon was spent organizing maps, selecting pictures requested by the Florida Trail Association and planning the route from the Pinhoti Trail to the Benton MacKaye Trail and on to the Appalachian Trail.  We are currently about two weeks behind our desired schedule.  All these days off with the “affliction” have taken their toll.

Monday  4/3/00   0 miles/1557 total.  Rest Day.  99 Trail Days.

The rain and thunderstorms continued throughout the night.  By morning, Cedar Creek, which is about 100 feet back of the RV, was out of its bank in places.  The campsite owner probably thought I was a “nervous nellie” when I told him we wanted to relocate to a nearby site that was about six feet higher, but he said fine.  When I told him Betty wasn’t feeling well he said absolutely everybody he knows has had a devastating flu within the past few weeks.

Even though anxious to get back on the trail, today is not the day.  Betty spent the day in bed and by mid-afternoon the rain which had subsided for a few hours was increasing again.  Tornado and flash flood warnings were issued for our area.  Some roads were closed and events were canceled in communities nearby.  Betty slept through most of this, but always seemed to rally when the radio issued a tornado or flood warning.  She especially liked the ones that advised mobile home and RV occupants to get out of their vehicles???

Betty:  I’m typing this on Tuesday morning.  I’m feeling much better, Chuck is out on the trail.  Cedar Creek (which is behind us) still hasn’t crested.  The picnic tables are under water and some of the RV’s,  back in the row nearest the creek, have water up to within a foot of their back tires.  That’s too close for me!!  When I took Chuck out to the trail this morning.  The area near where he will be hiking was hit by a tornado yesterday or last night – good thing I was sick!!

Tuesday  4/4/00   16 miles/1573 total.     100 Trail Days.   FR 500 to US 278.

It rained and stormed all night, but by morning it started to ease off a bit.  The forecast is much better today than it has been for the past several days, cloudy and cool by mid-morning.  We’re going hiking.

On the way to the trailhead, Betty drove through a lot of areas that showed storm and water damage.  County work crews must have been out all night.  Trees that were blocking the roads just hours earlier, had been cut and pulled to the side enough to allow vehicles to pass.  Power company trucks and telephone crews were all working to restore service to remote communities tucked back in these low mountains.  Police were guarding one area that had been devastated by a tornado.  Later, I heard that a lady in a mobile home was killed.  Low lying areas were flooded and water rushing down steep slopes had covered the roadway with mud and rocks in some places.

Now, before Terry Miller (Betty’s sister’s husband, who is a heavy equipment operator in Howard County, Iowa) gets a big head about the county crews out saving the modern world, I’ve got to digress to a related story.  While hiking through Pike County, Alabama a few weeks ago, I saw five county workers up ahead of me.  All of them were gathered around the back of a pick-up truck and several pieces of heavy equipment were parked nearby.  As I got closer, I reached for my camera and said I would get a shot of “Pike County” in action.  Before I could get the camera up to my eye, these guys walked off in all directions as if they had some signal to “scatter”.  Anyway, the crews in Cherokee County, Alabama were earning their pay this week.

Betty dropped me where the Pinhoti Trail crosses Forest Road 500.  The trail was wet and muddy, I wore my rain parka and was glad my boots had been sealed recently.  About an hour into the hike, I rounded a corner and saw trash bags and other debris strewn about a small area on the steep hillside.  Closer inspection showed it was someone’s camping gear.  I began to realize someone could be in trouble.  As I stood in front of two torn trash bags that were draped so as to make a sort of vertical cocoon, I asked if anyone was there.  They separated a bit and a face peered out.  “Oh, thank goodness,” said Nina Baxley.  She had been caught in a flash flood the previous afternoon.  After her tent was flooded, she tried to relocate to a better site, but was trapped between two dangerous mountain streams.  She was knocked off her feet while attempting to cross and was swept away by the force of the flood water rushing down the mountain.  She managed to grab some limbs and pull herself and her pack to the side.  Her tent and her hiking poles were gone in an instant.  Though totally soaked, she survived being washed down the side of the mountain.  If her head had hit a rock, she would have surely drowned.  She actually made it through the night quite well, even with wet clothes, wet gear and unrelenting rain all night.  The temperature was in the forties and hypothermia was a real danger.  Her makeshift shelter and top quality gear kept her above the danger level.  She had the presence of mind to make hot tea when she started to get chilled and she kept nibbling on high energy snacks.

I offered her dry warm clothes, but she only took the dry socks to keep from getting blisters as we hiked on to the nearest road.  Having been soaked for over twelve hours, her feet were bound to be tender.  While Nina packed her wet gear, I searched downstream for her tent and hiking poles.  Amazingly, the tent, with fly attached, went nearly a quarter mile before getting trapped in some deadfall.  Other than being full of debris, the tent seemed to have survived.

Nina hiked on with me, about five miles, to the first road, CR 94, and waited there while I hiked eight more miles to meet Betty.  I saw about a dozen wild turkeys scurrying around near the trail, but I was in high gear and never attempted a picture.  All the little mountain streams were swollen and required more care than normal in crossing.  A couple of them required fording, so I removed my boots, eased across and was on my way.  Fortunately, Betty was already at the trailhead on US 278.  We then drove back to retrieve Nina and the gear she had been drying during the day.  After a hot shower back at the RV, Nina joined us for some tacos that Betty whipped up.  Nina said she had never eaten four tacos at one meal before.  She slept well too!!

Betty:  On Tuesday I was feeling much better and glad I hadn’t been well on Monday since we would have been in the area of the flash flood and tornado.  My plan for Tuesday was to drop Chuck off and then go by the Cave Springs library to post the web site and check our e-mail messages.  It takes about 10 minutes of telephone time to post the web site and check messages.  Well, nothing has been easy since we entered Georgia, and this wasn’t going to be either.  Our campground uses aol and I thought they might be willing to let me use the phone line during some slow part of the day/evening.  Not!  However, the owner referred me to the library.  The librarian said I could use their computer, but couldn’t plug in my own, or use the phone line.  “What if somebody wanted to call the library”?  It’s interesting that during our conversation, which took about 20 minutes, the phone never rang and no one came in.   However, the librarian suggested I drive to Cedartown, which would most certainly be able to help me.  Well, I did drive to Cedartown and went to the Chamber of Commerce.  There I met Betty Gray, who tried desperately to get me connected to a phone line, but their phone jacks are set up with three lines coming in and we couldn’t figure out how to get it to work with my computer.  I then headed for the Cedartown library – No luck.  They suggested I try the Auditorium, next door, because they have a couple phone lines coming into that office.  I went by, and the young woman working in the office didn’t want either of the lines tied up.  By this time my rejection rate was high, I was nearly in tears, and luckily it was time to go pick up Chuck.  His and Nina’s experiences made my frustrations seem a little frivolous.

Wednesday   4/5/00   20 miles/1593 total.     101 Trail Days.  US 278 to Cave Springs, GA.

Nina was catching up on the night of sleep she missed while sitting out the rainstorm.  Finally, she was coaxed into the day with a hot cup of coffee.  Over breakfast, she told us about her hiking club in Louisiana and her plans to hike the Appalachian Trail this June.  We talked about hiking gear and related stuff.  Nina’s trailname is most appropriate, “La Nina”, The Rain Goddess.  She said it usually rains when she goes hiking, but this time was a little excessive.

Betty and Nina dropped me at the trailhead, then they were off to run some errands.  Nina needed to have some replacement eye glasses made and she needed tent stakes and some other replacement gear.  I still marvel at how well she did considering the circumstances.  In yesterday’s account, I failed to mention that her glasses were washed away in the raging stream and that she can’t see much that is more than a couple of feet away.  Nina called a friend, Maggie, in the Alabama Trails Association, and arranged a ride to her home about 75 miles away and near the southern end of the Pinhoti Trail.

Meanwhile, I was finishing the last few miles on the northern end of the Pinhoti.  My day included the last five miles of the Pinhoti Trail then 15 miles on back roads into Cave Springs, GA.  However, the Pinhoti does not yield easily.  About 100 yards from the trailhead on Old Salem Church Road is a ford across Hurricane Creek.  This creek collects a lot of water from many streams coming out of the hills nearby and it was swollen to the top of its banks.  I looked for alternative crossings both up and down stream, bridges, a large downed treed, etc.  Nothing!  This stream was really moving, maybe Class 3 or 4.  Fortunately it was only about 50 feet wide.  I really did not want to ford this little monster, but a five mile hike back across a mountain to a location where “Betty wasn’t” did not appeal to me either.  So, I set about readying myself for the crossing.  I found a post-like log about six feet long and maybe eight or ten inches in diameter to brace against the current.  My wallet and other items went into plastic bags, my hiking stick was tied to my pack and the pack straps were loosened in case I needed to jettison it in a hurry.  My boots were tied together and slung around my neck.  I faced upstream, placed the pole in front of me and leaned into it, then I inched sideways into the current.  The pole not only acted as a brace, but also helped deflect some of the force of the current.  It was a slow process, finding stable footing among the slick rocks for tender bare feet, then moving the pole a few inches more into the current.  At the beginning, I was unsure how deep it would get.  I knew that anything much over waist deep would push me off my feet and I would have to swim with the current to the far shore.  Fortunately, the deepest part was a little below waist deep and I eased out of the strongest flow and onto the far bank.

The rest of the day was a road walk out of Alabama and into Georgia near Esom Hill, then on to Cave Springs, GA.

The statistics for Alabama were:  361 miles including 110 miles on the Pinhoti Trail in 28 days which includes five rest/sick days.

Upon arrival in Cave Springs, I used a pay phone at the Coastal Station to try to reach Betty.  As the phone was ringing, I looked up to see Betty driving by the station.  I ran to flag her.  While using the phone I was talking to a very pleasant lady who said she had seen me on the road twice during the day and wondered how far I was going.  I broke the conversation short as I ran to catch Betty.  With my pack stowed in the back of the Honda, I waved back to the lady as we drove back to our campsite.

   Note:  What I did not realize until the next morning was that I had left my hiking stick leaning against the pay phone.

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