Date: 2016-03-24
From: Woody Gap

To: Neel Gap
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: overcast clouds

The weather was on everyone¢s mind today, a storm system was racing toward us from the west - the classic confrontation between warm wet air and a cool front. Rain and potentially severe weather was predicted to arrive in late afternoon, extending into the evening. We had a short hike on tap, just under 11 miles, so we figured we could be finished well before the weather deteriorated as long as we kept moving. But one of us was going to have to hike over Blood Mountain at the end of the hike, the highest peak along the AT in Georgia at 4,450 ft. The problem with that is that the peak has exposed, rocky sections that are not a good place to be with the potential of thunderstorms. We planned a ¢key swap¢ today, I drove Princess to the northern end of the day hike where she started SoBo (at about 7:15 am) and then drove the car to Woody¢s Gap, parked it, and started hiking north a few minutes before 8. Yesterday this gap was filled with Trail Magic and hikers, today it was deserted, except for one hiker who was trying to figure out the distance to the nearest town. Initially the weather was delightful, mid-50¢s and warm enough for a running shirt, light arm-warmers and biking gloves. For me, the trail was pretty easy - there were some stiff climbs, but they didn¢t last long and most of the trail was well-maintained and easy to walk. I didn¢t see many other hikers at the outset, but quite a few tents just off the trail. An hour to two later the traffic picked up. Since I only have a lightweight slack pack, I can typically move faster than most other thru-hikers since they¢re carrying full backpacks with several days of food. So as others broke camp and joined the trail, I would pass them - especially as they are chugging uphill. Not that I¢m that fast, but in several weeks the backpackers will have ¢trail-legs¢ and they¢ll be passing me. Anyway, I saw a lot of people again today. I only mention this because it¢s quite different than my experience the last 2 years when I would only see perhaps a half-dozen hikers on a stretch of NoBo. I had several good conversations, one with Matt V., who has worked with a space-based Search & Rescue satellite system and we had a number of things in common. I hope to see him again, he looks like a strong hiker and likely to make it through. I passed a lot of folks, but mostly didn¢t slow down to chat because I was worried about finishing before the storm.I passed Princess just shy of the midpoint for the day. Obviously we don¢t actually swap a key, but ¢key-swap¢ makes it easy to understand what we¢re doing. She said that she had passed a lot of hikers since she was hiking SoBo and the wave of hikers is moving NoBo. She said that everyone was concerned about the weather and many were hoping to stay at the Neel Gap hostel. We were both in good spirits, the sky was still clear and we moved on our respective ways. Most of the rest of my hike was pretty easy, until the last 3 or 4 miles, as I started up Blood Mountain. It started as a series of small ups, but eventually became a steeper climb over a series of rock steps. I passed 3 or 4 thru-hikers who had stopped to catch their breath. Also, by now it was apparent that the weather was changing, some clouds had rolled in and the wind was picking up, but nothing threatening. I think Blood is interesting because it¢s the first mountain on the NoBo hike that has a distinctly different terrain around the peak. After climbing through open woods, it changes to laurel and rhododendron groves that close in on the trail. And the footing changes to inclined sheets of rock. There is a stone shelter at the top (with a privy), but the fireplace doesn¢t work, the window openings don¢t have windows and it¢s surrounded by large rocks that mostly block the view. There were perhaps 15 or 20 hikers milling or sitting around the shelter, but I don¢t think there is that much space in the shelter and rain would blow in through the window openings. It¢s an old shelter, perhaps the oldest along this section of the AT. I moved on quickly, the wind was stronger at the top and chilly since I was damp from the climb. The downhill (NoBo) side was much steeper that I remembered, it went down in 2014, but I did it SoBo last year. There are some steeply slanted rock faces near the top with some good views of surrounding ranges, a lot of steep stone steps that are hard on knees, and a section through some jumbled rocks that takes patience. I followed another thru-hiker from FL down most of it and he moved pretty quickly through it. I wasn¢t fast enough to try to pass. Later when I talked with Princess, she said it was a much tougher ascent (SoBo) than she remembered from last year and took her longer than she expected. The last mile or so is a gentle descent down a wide, easy path to US 19 and Neel Gap. There is an outfitter in an historic stone building complex at this gap, and Princess was waiting in our car when I crossed the road (although she confessed that she had not been there long). We spent some time in the store, picked up a few things and learned how small the AT world is. Last year, we met 2 other hikers in Connecticut and ended up hiking the rest of the way to Mt. Katahdin with them (Spartacus and Focus). Spartacus is a good story-teller and along the way he often spoke of Silent Bob, a younger hiker he walked with earlier in his thru-hike. As we were talking to Pretzel (one of the staff), another staffer came by and thought that he recognized Princess¢ name. It turned out that he was Silent Bob. We reminisced a bit about Spartacus and we gat a text from him just recently that he is in Australia for a few months. We took a photo that we¢ll text to Spartacus. We¢ll be passing through Neel Gap again tomorrow, so we¢ll likely see him again.Pretzel, the other staffer shared some info regarding the John Muir Trail (we¢ve just received word that we made it through the lottery to get JMT passes later this year). Pretzel was interested in our slack packs and he also took a photo of us to include on their Facebook page since we¢ve been working several ways to hike the AT.I didn¢t intend to write this much, but it was an interesting day for us. We¢re hoping the rain will quit by starting time tomorrow and we¢ll just have to deal with some mud. The temps will only be a little cooler than today.