HIKING: To Hike Inn

HIKE INN:  10 MILES IN TWO DAYS (January 27-28)

A week after returning from Hawaii I’m packing to hike in -- to the Len Foote Hike Inn.  Our Nature Rambler group has been invited to a discounted over-night up in the North Georgia mountains.  In addition to hiking in the winter woods, we’ll have a talk about forests after dinner and then a guided hike the next morning.

Am I up to this?  Doesn’t matter since I want to go.

It might rain so I need to pack and dress for that.  I put all the possible clothes on the spare bed and then gaze at it for about 30 minutes, thinking of possibilities.  I definitely cannot err on the side of bringing too much because I have to carry this stuff.  Plus lunch and water for Wednesday and Thursday. 

H and I have decided to carpool and share a room.  By the time I get to her house at 8:00 AM, I realize I’ve forgotten something:  my mittens.  But I brought the hand-warmers that would go inside the mittens.  My Viking genes will keep me warm, I hope, and I’ve got my Maine hat and Norwegian jacket.  H feels no more sure of her choice of clothes than I am.  She’s afraid she’ll be too hot while I worry about feeling too cold.

 I’m the navigator while H drives.  I’ve got google directions and an iPhone.  We get to Amicalola State Park Visitor Center 45 minutes ahead of time.  Nice, warm toilets.  We drive up the hill to the Hike Inn parking lot, which has a cold toilet. 

After standing around for 30 minutes waiting for some others to arrive, I put foot warmers in my hiking boots.  Our friend, J, has been hiking in once a month for years and years. "I know every rock and root." She gives us an orientation at the foot of the trail and then takes off with her hiking poles at 50 mi/hr.  

 I ask, “When is dinner?”  Folks laugh.  Not that I’m hungry…  I am trying to figure out whether we have to go at warp speed.  Dinner is at 6 PM so we have seven hours to get there.  Sounds easy.

After the first mile I start thinking about lunch.  Not that I’m hungry…  But the more I eat, the lighter my pack will weigh.  There is no rain but we see occasional snow puddles.

Was there a time when I used to sing when I went hiking?  “I love to go a-wandering, Along the mountain track.  And as I go, I love to sing…”  I just hum it to myself so I do not waste a single breath.  Up and up and down and up and up and down.  I swear there are twice as many “ups” as there are "downs." 

My pack is getting heavier even though I have eaten half the heavy carrot sticks.

After 2 1/2 miles, several of us who are walking together stop at some benches and eat for about 20 minutes or more.  I whip out an Advil for prophylactic reasons. 

By the fourth mile I do not want to talk.  We pause to look at the gorgeous scenery below us.  Bob happens along and identifies some beautiful mosses which we study carefully as we breathe.  A fellow hiker says that H and I have an excellent ability to find horizontal surfaces to sit on.  We pass five streams, crossing over on bridges or substantial rocks.  The water looks clear and cold.  I wish my backpack fit better; my shoulders hurt.  Where is the inn?

And then we see the blue-gray building up the next hill.  “Thank God this is not a six-mile hike,” I pant.  

We sign in and get the key, which we never use, to a warm, cosy (as in short and narrow) room with bunk beds.  I pick the top bunk cause H was kind enough to drive.  To get to the composting toilets we walk down the outside hallways toward the reception area.  Walk through and out that room, then exit down some outside steps and into the washroom building.  The toilets are warm, comfy and breezy from a non-smelly lower area -- just far away from our room.   Immediately I decide to have no more liquids for the rest of the day.  

First Things First:  make the bed.  From the bag they gave me, I extract a pale yellow sheet and attempt to spread it while standing on the floor.  It is the wrong sheet anyway,   so I take out the fitted sheet and climb up on the top bunk.  Fortunately H is not witnessing these gymnastics.   I say a prayer of thanks for the builder who put the ceiling high enough so I do not hit my head (a habit of mine) while fitting both sheets around the firm blue mattress — while I am sitting on it.  

 I take what I want to wear after showering, leaving the rest of my clothes in the room.  When I am undressed in the shower area, I realize that I should have brought the towels they gave me.  I just don’t have the stamina and strength of character to get dressed and walk all the way back to our room for the bath towels.  I use the bathmat to dry off.  I feel guilty — for about 30 minutes.

At 5 PM we learn about Len Foote, how the Inn came to be, and all the forward-thinking and energy-saving aspects to this building.  As we walk to a ridge out back, we see pink sunset colors reflected onto the eastern sky.   

 The Inn strives for no food waste so our meal is served family-style; we are to eat whatever we put on our plates.  Not a problem for any of us because dinner is great.    Later we hear an excellent talk on forests by Jess, the ecologist for Forest Watch. 

At the end of the program our Rambler friend, J,  sings a mountain lullaby.  I feel alert enough to read in bed while H sits in the Sunrise Room with some others.  I fall asleep about 9:45 with my jacket and pants at the foot of the bed in case I need to walk outside in the middle of the night.  I don’t.

About 7:15 AM

My alarm rings at 7:00 AM but breakfast is not until 8:00.  Stiff legs get me down the bunk bed ladder.  I hold onto the rail going down the steps to the wash room.  There is a subtle but beautiful sunrise on the deck outside the sunrise room.  Hot mugs of good coffee warm our hands. The smell of bacon promises that breakfast is near.  

I inquire about the morning’s interpretative hike.  Will Jess be taking us on another trail or just talking to us as we head back on the trail we came in on?  This matters very much to me.  I just don’t know whether I can walk more than five miles.  How do people do the Thru trail (the whole Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine) carrying sleeping bags etc?  I’ve heard about valiant women in their 80’s (that can’t be right, can it?) who have done it.  I hate that I’m a wimp but there you are.   

Breakfast includes scrambled eggs, grits, peachy spoon bread and bacon.  More coffee and juice.  I am relieved to hear that Jess will walk down with us so no extra steps will be necessary.  We leave about 9:45 AM. 

Photo by Staff Member, Corinne Peace

It is a beautiful day.  When we are on top of a ridge, it is windy; otherwise,  mellow.  Those who have a good memory can soon identify the most common trees.  The trail is easy to follow because it is broad and well marked but it is not smooth.  H and I want to be sure not to trip on any of the roots or rocks so we walk carefully, looking down mostly.  

 About halfway down we separate from the folks whose rhythm is to stand and listen for 20 minutes, then hike quickly to the next interesting spot.  H and I proceed like slow-but-sure turtles.

We see some unusual fungi which could be some form of stinkhorn.  Hmm, let’s look closely at those and take some photos.  

Pant…pant…  

 Oh, look at that nice piece of granite.    

And that beautiful fungi on the stump.











Stopping now and then is so nice.

And then some lovely  mosses.  We breathe normally after we have admired them.


 

After about four miles, H notices some gorgeous rocks full of mica sparkling in the afternoon sun.  Goody!  Another reason to stop and breathe and appreciate nature.

Curiously we end up at the parking lot at the same time as the faster hikers. 

How marvelous to sit in the car on the way to the warm toilets in the visitors' center.   Five minutes later I get out of the car as if I’d been in a wreck.  I walk like a duck on ankles that don’t want to bend.  A Snickers bar and an Advil are just what I need!  

But we did it!  This is a first for us both:  walking 10 mountain miles in two days.  Congratulations to us!