Date: 2017-05-01
From: Woody Gap, GA 60

To: Hogpen Gap, GA 348
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: broken clouds

One leftover note from yesterday: Bill and Arlene saw wild boars!I turned my phone off last night, forgetting that my alarm wouldn't work if I did this.  However, people started stirring at 5:55, so I got up.  It was about 60 degrees but very foggy.  It had rained most of the night, so my tent was quite wet to pack.  I stayed toasty and dry inside though.We started hiking at 6:35.  Not long after it started to rain.  At first I didn't mind because it was warm (60 degrees), but after a while 40-50 mile an hour winds came up.  The wind was so loud it sounded like a low-flying airplane.  The day started out with small ups and downs and then a steep climb up Blood Mountain.   I hiked with Lizzie again.  By the time we reached the top of Blood Mountain we were totally drenched and cold.  There was a stone shelter at the top.  We went inside to eat lunch.  By the time we finished eating, about 10 minutes, I was chilled and shivering uncontrollably.  There were two male hikers at the shelter taking a break, so we asked them to take our picture (see above photo).  There was a long downhill from the top of the mountain.  The guys in the shelter had told us that the storm was supposed to break up in about an hour (12:30) so we were hopeful that we could warm up soon.  The rain did stop around 12:30, but the wind did not.  We were still very wet and cold.  We weren't producing much heat hiking downhill.  My pants and jacket started drying out from the wind.  Just when they were starting to get dry a torrent of water blew off a rock onto my left side, drenching me again.  I began to shiver uncontrollably and started to worry about hypothermia.  Neither of us had brought any extra clothes.  There was an outfitter at Neel Gap.  We went inside to get snacks, and I intended to swap out my wet clothes for some dry ones. Scott, Rennie, and Terri from our group were already there.  Scott had had atrial fibrillation all the way up and down Blood Mountain, so he was waiting for a shuttle to take him to hospital.  Terri had ordered a pizza, and she shared it with us.  Then I bought some warm dry clothes to wear back out into the wind -- a wool long underwear top, a fleece pullover, a pair of wool socks, and a fleece hat.  Then I hit the snacks and bought a ham and cheese sandwich and a banana to eat for supper.  We were at the store for quite a while.  When we came out we were relieved to see that the sun had come out.  Within the first quarter mile we started putting some of our wet clothes back on to dry them out.  After Neel Gap, there were only 7.2 more miles.  They were difficult ones, though.  We went up and down one mountain after another finishing the day with a very steep one, Wildcat Mountain.Once the sun came out our spirits lifted considerably.  There were masses of trilliums, and the woods we walked through were lovely.  It was light woods with lots of tall green plants and flowers on either side of the trail.  We got to our stopping place shortly before 7.  I'm now organized to go for tomorrow and tucked into my purple sleeping bag named Eleanor.  It's still very windy and cold.