Date: 2016-04-11
From: Woods Hole Shelter 

To: Neels Gap: and then to Holiday Inn Express
Miles today: 3.5
Weather: light rain

I awoke at 4am in Woods hole shelter to Trooper whispering what is that noise? An owl I say! You sure trooper says? Well it's not the Georgia Devil. Needless to say Trooper slept with the head lamp on till daylight. I got up first to a very damp and heavy mist. We were in the clouds at 3700 feet. I gathered kindling and fired up the stove for coffee. We are packed and pushed off. Stopping on our way out to filter water on the blue blaze back to the AT. We had a short 3.5 day but it was not going to be easy. Up and over Blood Mt and down to Neels gap. We started slow and at the junction of Slaughter Creek trailhead I waited for Trooper to catch up. We saw our first hikers in almost 17 hours. Most people do not carry a bear canister with them just a food bag. You cannot camp or stay in a shelter between Lance Creek and Blood Mt without a bear canister. Everyone stayed at Lance Creek last night. It was good we had bear canisters or Trooper would of had to hike 11 miles from Lance Creek to Neels. We could have done 9 and stayed at Blood Mt shelter but it wasn't that nice. For a tidbit fact it was the first shelter built on the AT in 1932. So it was nice to see other hikers as we were alone last night at Woods Hole. We went slow any steady and arrived at the summit at 12:30 to pea soup fog. We rested at Blood Mt shelter, ate snacks/lunch, used the privy. I was signing the log book when suddenly it was like the mother alien ship moved off the mountain and we were drenched in sunshine and panoramic views... WOW! Talk about timing. Pictures were taken and we started our descent. Taking our time on the way down was much harder than the way up with lots of rocks. We took several breaks and arrived at Neels Gap at about 4pm. Trooper went in and bought some snacks and was looking for accommodations. She was under the impression we would be able to get into a motel or hotel. The word we were hearing from everyone along the trail was that Neels Gap was the emerald city. Our choices were the hostel, cabins, or a B+B which had a free shuttle from Neels and back to Neels. It sounded like it was out of someone's home. I called around to see if I could get a shuttle/taxi from Neels to either Blairsville or Dahlonga. Left 3 voicemails and finally one guy said he would do it for $75 dollars. No thank you! Trooper said ok let's just get a cabin and she called the number. We just sold out she was told! Ok I guess the hostel... We just sold out!!! Argh are you kidding. Trooper was about to have a meltdown.   Pretzel who was standing by had heard some of this and saw Troopers face and said I'll take you for 40 bucks in a few. Gotta finish up one thing. (He works at Neels Gap) shhhh he is not supposed to take people. We said sold... We were very thankful. It was about 20 miles to the holiday inn express, When he found out we were from the northeast he pulled in to Dunkin Donuts without even asking us. Our faces lit up big time.   Iced Coffee Wohoo!! We bought Pretzel a donut and he dropped us off. We paid him and thanked him immensely. He gave us his cell phone number in case we couldn't get back he would come after his dentist appointment. He thru hiked the AT in 2012.   We checked in and had a hot, hot, hot shower, ordered everything on the papa johns menu and relaxed. I went through my gear and took out about 5 pounds worth of stuff. I even went to the gym in the hotel to lift weights for my arms. Legs are good, arms don't get too much of a workout while hiking.   Now sleep time. Sharon booked a shuttle/taxi from the holiday inn back to Neels Gap which will be 45 dollars so Pretzel was right in line and he went way out of his way for us. Our plan is to go from Neels gap to Whitley Gap Shelter which would be a 7 mile day.