Date: 2016-01-08
From: Woods Hole Shelter

To: Neels Gap Hostel
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 3Check Point 1 completeI woke up to rain, and naturally took my sweet time to get up and going. I planned my milage so I would have an easy day to walk in the rain to Neels Gap, which is where you will find the Mt. Crossings Outfitter and Walasi-Yi Hostel. I stayed here before and was looking forward to staying here again. So I got to do about 3 miles up and over Blood Mt, which is only the highest peak on the AT in Ga at around 4,461 feet above sea level. I just so happen to live at sea level in Florida... Blood Mt. is an amazing place with spectacular views. I think i would definitely comeback here and spend the weekend one day. I got to play the temperature game today. It's a struggle to regulate your body temperature while hiking, yet alone while going upwards, and even more so while wearing rain gear. I was constantly putting a layer on or taking a layer off.. and found out the hard way to always layer off before going up. First item on or off is usually beanie and gloves. Since it was raining, I put my rain gear on top of my normal attire. Wrong. Won't do that again. It got hot real quick, even though it was 30-40 degrees out, I was burning up. So...that ment all layers off... yup just me in a rain suit... I still got wet from sweatting, but at least I was warm. Getting wet from the rain means getting cold. I made it up and over Blood Mt relatively easily, as it is basically a rock stairway up and down. I saw a handful of people making their way to the top. I planned on getting a bunk at the hostel, but things dont always go as planned.... the hostel was closed due to plumbing issues and should be open within a week. I wasn't prepared to hike on, so i had to figure out plan B on the fly. Good thing there was the Blood Mt Cabins right next door...I rented a cabin for the night. The owners are a really awesome couple, who were very nice and welcoming. The cabiin was cozy, the kinda cozy where ya want to spend an entire weekend there, and one day I will. There was a variety of snacks and frozen pizza available, which I took full advantage of. It felt great to get out of the cold rain and into a hot shower...And then there is a delima... I was kinda planning my milage to make it into a town to be able to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers kick the crap outta the Bengals in the playoffs...I found out that the game was on Saturday and not Sunday....this breaking news story did not fit my hiking agenda. I was planning on staying at the cabin Friday night, would get back on the trail and hike all day Saturday and Sunday, to get into town by game time Sunday night, to watch the Steelers win, and would get back on the trail Monday morning and hike happily ever after. I made an executive decision to arrange a shuttle ride from the cabin into Helen, Ga to watch the game. This would allow me to do the following: avoid hiking all day Saturday in the rain, get to check out an amazing little town, watch the game, and hopefully allow any thru hikers that are behind an opportunity to catch up to me. So here I am in Helen, catching up on the Journal..Go Steelers!