Date: 2020-06-06
From: Woody Gap / Above the Clouds Hostel

To: Stealth spot past Neel Gap
Miles today: 11.2

It was chilly in the hostel overnight with fans going full blast. I know, such problems. Breakfast was Lucky's grandma's recipe for biscuits and gravy. Delicious!Yesterday I cleaned out the water filters thoroughly. What a pleasure not to have to fight for every drop. Now we just need a dirty water bag that doesn't leak.The UNC foursome decided to yellow blaze and get back on at Woody Gap. So we all caravaned the three minutes up to the Gap and took off. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and the large lot was full. Great views at Preaching Rock a short ways in. Lots and lots of dayhikers and weekend backpackers on trail. Some ask me where I'm headed. When I say Maine they ask when I'll be done. That's determined by climate. Katahdin will close sometime in mid October when the snow hits. But that's over four months away.Big E and I were in great spirits after a satisfying breakfast. We weren't hungry again for hours. We passed over numerous small climbs, shallow gaps, and sidehill trail. There were some views to ridges in the south. Humidity came and went like drifting fog.At Jarrard Gap we began a 1200 foot climb to Blood Mountain, the highest point on the Georgia AT. Filling up at a spring on the way up we ran into the amateur radio enthusiasts from Springer. Still chugging along, this was their last day and they still seemed a little overwhelmed. The climb up wasn't as hard as Big E imagined. Blooming rhododendrons and mountain laurel lined the trail above 4000 feet. Near the summit the trail turned to bedrock.A large backpacking Hispanic family or group was at the top. One woman took our picture. There's a stone two-room shelter with fireplace built in the 1930s. Big E was proud to have conquered the mountain. The sun was out but a breeze kept us cool. The descent was more precarious, with long stretches of angled, sometimes damp, bedrock and lots of rock hopping. A series of granite clearings exposed long views across blue mountains with rhododendrons, mountain laurel, and wildflowers encircling us. We descended steadily, visions of pizza pulling us toward Neel Gap.On the way down we passed many dayhikers and a few backpackers. We smiled and greeted them all. Some were too tired to reciprocate. One out-of-shape dad with a large pack mumbled "I'm in too much pain" when we commented on the gorgeous weather and "This isn't my thing." That might be true, but I admire him making the effort with his young son in tow.We passed Balancing Rock, a formation of wind and water erosion that appears to be one boulder resting precariously on another. But they are still connected in two spots. It must be a similar process as that carving the natural arches out west. We pushed and pushed, but it's pretty solid!When we reached the Mountain Crossings outfitter in the old stone Walasi-Yi Center at Neel Gap we were all business. Frozen pizzas went in the oven. We purchased cold drinks, resupply for the next two days, and a new Evernew water bag to replace the leaky Sawyer bags. Stamped the AT passport. Picked up the sleeping bag liner I ordered last week. It's a silk liner, great for summer nights when a bag is too hot, or cooler nights to supplement a summer bag that isn't warm enough. Plus it feels better on the skin and keeps the bag cleaner.I asked the clerk, a young bearded hiker type, whether any thruhikers had come by. He dismissed the idea saying it was too late and they'd have to flip up to Maine to finish. Told him I wasn't gonna flip. He agreed straight nobo was the way to go, but seemed doubtful it would happen. Big E and I each finished off a 12" pizza. Then some leftover brownies from Above the Clouds. We had skipped lunch and gone since breakfast splitting a honey bun and a granola bar. This late lunch / early dinner was enough for the day though.Big E was feeling tired so we hung out awhile and admired the spreading oak covered with the discarded boots of failed thruhikers. The radio boys showed up, as did the Hispanic family. A troop of boy scouts headed out beginning a 44 mile hike to Deep Gap, North Carolina. We'll see more of them. No sign of the UNC foursome from the hostel. A woman eagerly told us how the outfitter had shaken 20 pounds out of her 55 pound pack. She still sported a huge external frame pack, 5 gallon sleeping bag, and fishing rod. She was headed as far as she could get in two months.On his way out after closing the store the hiker-clerk guy stopped by and offered us a pack of tortillas. Trail magic! It's not actually our first. In the bear box at Black Gap shelter our first day we found someone had left Taco Bell fire sauce. To Big E, that's trail magic!A dayhiker chatted me up as we were packing. His wife and daughter were late picking him up and he thought they may have taken a wrong turn on their hike back to the car. He had no service so tried to reach them with my phone to no avail. Told him I'd keep trying but we had to go. An hour later his wife texted back and somehow I managed to connect them. He had hitched back to their parking spot and the girls eventually found him. Big E and I meanwhile had hiked north less than half a mile and found a large tenting spot. Our first night tenting, and it was perfect weather. He retired early to watch a downloaded movie while I reclined on a fortuitously shaped rock and enjoyed the evening breeze. The bear bag was hung, we were too full to cook, and it's time to sleep.