Day 5 - 5 miles- 5th April 2010 - Jarrod Gap to Neels Gap via Blood Mt.

The climb up Blood Mountain is relatively easy - and we arrived at the summit to find a stone shelter and great views stretching to the horizon.

We had been told that a bear was very active in the area and had raided hiker bear bags which had been hung 4 metres off the ground. A problem bear is given 3 chances. The first chance is a relocation. If the bear returns to the scene of the crime, it is relocated a greater distance away. If it is caught a third time it is put down, as it has become dangerous associating people with food.

Hikers are expected to play their part and hang their food high up in a tree, away from the tent. At night, at any campsite, you can see colourful nylon bags strung up like a washing line. Very tempting to the bear who knows how to climb up to the rope and help himself.

We descend Bear Mountain, excited at the possibility of real food at Neels Gap. We pass many day hikers climbing to the summit of Blood Mt. We feel like veterans, especially when they ask us if we are thru-hikers, and we proudly say YES! Day 5 on a journey of over 170 days and we are already acting as if it is in the bag.

Neels Gap conjures up great images in our mind. We had already read the story of Walassi Yi and how the beautiful old stone building was renovated and set up as a hiker hostel and shop for hiker supplies and gear. We started to salivate at the food possibilities. Only 5 days out and we already felt food deprived.

When I arrived home I re-read Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods' and one image stands out - Bill and Katz stagger into the shop at Neels Gap and gaze at the fridge with all the cold cans of soft drink within - he rapsodises about the condensation dribbling down the glass doors, and stares in wonder at the contents.

The first shock was all the cars. People everywhere. There was a Christian group cooking free hamburgers. We line up and thank the Lord (twice). We visit the shop and buy stuff.

We arrive at Neels Gap

Trail magic and a free hamburger

 We had started the trail with some very ancient equipment and after 5 days we knew what we needed - a new titanium billy, a new bowl, a water filter and some lightweight hiking meals. Our new billy is very light and indestructible - costing an arm and a leg - but we decided it was important to get it as it would be our only cooking pot for the next 6 months. We cooked and ate our meals for the rest of the hike from this small one litre pot. Everything came out of this one pot. Porridge and a cup of tea in the morning. Rice and slop at night, and a cup of coffee.

I wander through the outfitters section - to find my $1000 paddy Pallin Ultralite sleeping bag for sale for $400. At this point I feel like slashing my wrists! Gear here is so cheap compared to buying stuff in Australia.

Although it is only midday we decided to stay at Neels Gap at the hostel and have a shower, do our washing. We meet 'Crafty' for the first time, named because she has made all her own gear. We catch up with Chris the Australian, again. He tells us about his newly aquired trail name: 'They wanted to call me Skippy! I said bugger that! Call me 'Boomer'." For those who don't know, 'Boomer' is the name given to a large male kangaroo, and we look at Chris - large, male and bouncing with energy - and think it's a good fit.

We never actually see 'Boomer' again - for the next 6 months he is always just ahead of us - sometimes we miss him by just only half an hour. We follow his journey and his travails in the log book in the shelters, and people always ask us - 'Do you know Boomer?' when they meet us and find out we are Australian. Even now we wonder if he made it to the end and climbed Katahdin.

We drink beautiful filtered coffee in the hostel. Along one wall of the living room at the hostel are hiker boxes full of stuff abandoned by other hikers. We go through the boxes with a fine tooth comb and help ourselves to half a yellow chamois towel (the hiker had cut his new towel in half and left one-half behind). This towel - only 30 cms by 30 cms became our towel for both us for the whole trip.

Lori, who we met at Jarrod Gap, spends her time in the outfitters, having a consultation about her gear. She wants to reduce her packweigh, and is having a 'shakedown'. The hiking expert goes every square inch of her stuff to see what can be deleted, or reduced in weight.She buys a lighter pack.

Packages arrive by courier - large boxes of food for hikers to replenish their supplies. Packages depart by courier - large boxes of gear that hikers are sending home to lighten their loads. Our mobile phone has stopped working after only 5 days, so we send it back to the shop.

Dinner is cooked by 'Miss Janet', and payment is by donation to cover the cost of the food and her time. Lasagne, garlic bread, salad, with a choice of several different types of mayonnaise. Delicious. Everywhere I look, a beautiful mixed lettuce salad is smothered by mayonnaise. Some hikers have seconds. We meet Frank from Venezuala, who has just received a trail name of 'Red Stick' - his walking stick had been spray painted red.

Early night in the bunkhouse, but the loudest snorer is sleeping in the bunk above me. I drag my sleeping bag out to the common room - fine for a few hours. Another refugee joins me - it is Lori. At 6.30 Miss Janet arrives to prepare breakfast and laughs - there are now 3 bodies. She says the record is 6 bodies trying to escape the 'snorkestra'.