Date: 2017-10-14
From: Neels Gap Hostel

To: Tent Site Near Cooper Gap
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up sometime after 6 a.m. at the hostel at Neels Gap. Stewart and I took our time going about packing and breakfast. There were about 10 other people at the hostel last night. This included three ladies in their sixties who referred to themselves as the Three Grandmas. They decided to tent outside where it was nice and cool rather than sleep in the muggy bunk room. There were also several young people in their 30's from Florida, and they were doing a short section hike from Springer to North Carolina. The latter group got up about the same time as Stewart and I, and we chatted during breakfast. After it got light, about 7:30, Stewart and I hiked across the road and started up Blood Mountain. There is a story about the mountain on the plaque visible in one of the pictures of Neels Gap that I took yesterday. I zoomed in to read it and learned that the mountain was one of the places featured in Cherokee mythology. It was home to the Numni, the immortal people. This reminded me of the legend I related last week regarding the warning given to Union soldiers about a town in southern North Carolina. According to that story Union forces bypassed that town and burned everything else between there and Atlanta. In that Legend the Cherokee had alerted the Union soldiers about the Numni and they steered clear. Anyway, there were some great views near and at the top of Blood Mountain. (Pictures) I could see for miles and felt like a small creature in a big world.Yesterday afternoon, I had received a message from my cousin Jodi B., saying my Uncle Bruno (age 97) was lucid and recognized the name from the Mount Greylock 10th Mountain Division ski trip plaque that I had sent her back in the Spring, and he was telling stories about it. My Uncle Bruno was assigned to the Fort Drum, NY unit during WWII. She recommended that I give him a call, so I did that this morning, just before 9 a.m. I had a great conversation with him. He spoke very highly and fondly of Rudy Konieczny. Said they were in the same company, that Konieczny was a "fireball," always carried a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), and when they found him in northern Italy, he was surrounded by the bodies of about ten Germans. It was F Company, some part of 87th Infantry, 10th Mountain Division (Ski Troop). We also talked about hiking in Arizona. Uncle Bruno promised to look for and send me maps and information from his records regarding his hikes in Arizona. He spoke with some passion about hiking in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness Area in particular, and he described significant disappointment in his Arizona senator who had apparently hidden earmarked legislation in some obscure bill, selling off parts of that for development. He said the bill promised a 2 for 1 acre exchange that as far as he knew had never materialized. I told him that someday I hoped to hike there and along the Arizona Trail. He also congratulated me on retirement from the US Army.About 9:15 a.m., I started down the south side of Blood Mountain, after Stewart. While on the descent, I contacted the Amicalola Falls State Park Visitors' Center and then the lodge by Amicalola Falls itself, and made a reservation for tomorrow night. The room charge is a little pricey there, but I feel like that environment will be more conducive to quiet personal celebration than another night in a tent after I've completed the trail.Passing through Girard Gap about 10:30 a.m., Stewart and I were maintaining a nice and steady 2 mile per hour pace. About 30% slower and easier than a had been hiking for the last month. Conditions this morning at Neels Gap were about identical to the previous two mornings with the top of Blood Mountain being sunny above the white blanket as higher points in last two mornings had been. Now south of the mountain, I was once again under and inside the fog and cloud, and the trail was damp and cool. However, this was perfect hiking weather from a physical comfort perspective, and I knew that this afternoon would likely be hot and humid as it had been the previous two afternoons.About 11:45 a.m., just south of the Dockery Lake Trail, Stewart and I passed 2 adults and 2 children who were stopped for a break off the side of the trail. I waved as we were going by. Then the man and his wife recognized me as GI Joe and reminded me that we had met twice previously- just north of and then again in Daleville, Virginia. They had been section hiking, but had to get off the trail in order to go home to prepare for hurricane Irma. He was Papa Bear and she was Puffs. This time they were doing a section of Georgia with their two nieces. The two girls, probably around 9 and 11, were seated in small camp chairs, and they looked tired but also like they were enjoying being in the forest. As I thought back on it, I realized that would have been the third and 4th of September. It was also the day before Wesley, i.e. Mr Lippy, and I had met Stewart for the first time, on Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob. Small world out here on the AT.About 12:30 p.m., we stopped at Big Cedar Ledges for lunch. Very nice views. (Pictures) At about 1:30 we reached Woody Gap where I was able to dispose of some trash before we moved on. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot which corresponded to the number hikers we had seen on the trail today. At least a hundred maybe two.We arrived at our planned destination for the day, the Gooch Mountain shelter, just after 4 p.m. I filled my water bottles and we sat, took a break and discussed whether we should continue or stop for the day. We decided to continue and do another 3 miles or so. We would camp at the Cooper Gap area. That would leave us a little more than 12 miles to complete tomorrow in order to get to the summit of Springer Mountain. In my case, I would need to add about 8 miles onto that after summiting, in order to reach the Amicalola Falls Lodge. So, around 4:15 p.m., we headed south again.Sometime after 5:30 pm we arrived at Cooper Gap, 12.3 miles north of Springer Mountain. We picked out a campsite just south of the two roads which crossed at the intersection with the trail. I set up my tarp, hung a bear bear bag line and then made dinner. Stewart and I chatted as we ate. After dinner we hung our food on the bear bag line for the last time on this journey, and at about 7:30 p.m., it started getting dark. Bedtime.