March 2
End: CR 56
Miles: 27.2
Total: 1453.5
My early start was fueled mostly by my excitement to be at Flagg Mountain, and also by my need to get to the Weogufka post office before their early closing time. I continued up the county road which I slept beside for some time, then switched to another county road. A woman warned me of tornadoes moving south by the late afternoon, so I hurried onward.
I was definitely in the boondocks, with no real towns or stores nearby. Finally I turned onto County Road 16, which is a narrow shredded piece of asphalt patches which crosses over a creek on a narrow side-less concrete bridge. The road from there up into the state forest was initially a mud pit, then a dirt road.
It was a lot of fun to finally be arriving at my second trail to thru-hike after the Florida Trail. The Pinhoti Trail starts at Flagg Mountain and goes into Northwestern Georgia, ending almost seventy miles West of the Appalachian Trail.
I found some yellow blazes claiming to be the Alabama Trail. I had seen yellow blazes at the Florida border and in Andalusia, and I thought that they might be for the Eastern Continental Trail, so I took it. The trail circumvented Flagg Mountain and hit a couple small campsites before rejoining the dirt road a little later.
I walked down and out of the state forest, and onto county roads leading to Weogufka, which I had bypassed to start the Pinhoti. I was surprised to be picked up by Blister Bob at the creek crossing before I could even get there. We had arranged a meet by the post office, but he was too fast for me.
I traded my now non-functioning trekking poles in at the post office, and Bob took me back to his house. Usually he just does Pinhoti shuttles to and from the trailheads, but he allowed me to spend the night since I was traveling such a long way, and because tornadoes were moving through the area.
Blister Bob and his wife Shadow Sue treated me royally. I had great food, got to use the computer, watch a little television, and enjoy the view from almost any spot in the house. The tornadoes passed within ten miles, so I was happy to be inside.
