Date: 2016-04-16
From: lance creek camp ground

To: blood mountian cabins
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

Day5- April 15, 2016Today we hiked from lance creek to Neals gap which was just about 8 miles and over Blood mountain. We woke up at about 6:15 and got on the trail by 8am. Mike received his trip name today. Due to his ongoing responsibility to drink the remainder the gross coffee water with leftover oatmeal bits in the morning that I will not finish,he has received the name "Dregs". Anyhow, the first four miles were up hill, peaking at an elevation of 4,461ft, our highest yet. Along the way we passed a few people we've been acquainted with, an older couple, red tornado and jack. Later we passed two other men on the trail. As we worked our way up the mountains the trees changed from large pines to mountain laurel that encapsulated us in a jungle of wild and wavy tree branches. Towards the top, the trail became bedrock. We reached the top of the mountain at about 10:55am and looked over an absolutely beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. We met a ridge runner, Bill, who pointed out our start point for the day. It looked so far away I couldn't believe we were just there a few hours ago. It looked like it could have been where we were a few days ago. The remainder of the trail for the day only took us another hour. We went straight down the mountain passing all the first day hikers coming in for a beautiful Saturday hike. There were tons of Boy Scouts that seemed to have endless energy coming up this tough climb, and their leaders fighting to make it up. Once we reached Neals Gap, we went to Mountain Crossing, a re supply store. Outside of the store was a large tree full of hiking boots from previous hikers. We went in and did a pack shake down to eliminate any unnecessary items and send them home as well as replace my leaky sleeping pad. We then walked down to the Blood Mountain Cabins and rented a cabin. It was 72$ for 4 people so it split down to $18 per person and had free laundry service. A much better deal than the $18 hostel cramped full of smelly snoring hikers who pay an additional $5 per person for laundry. We asked our new friends Maddy and Ben to stay with us and they were delighted. Once we got our cabin and ate two pizzas, we walked back up to Mountian Crossing to meet up with Ben and Maddy. Unfortunately, at Mountian crossing, we saw an ambulance and were told Red tornado fell just short of where we were and possibly broke her arm. We saw many of our other new friends hanging out at some picnic tables. There was Gains and his dad Brad, michelle- now Lightning with her dog Thunder, Brooklyn and Matt, Alex 1.0, and Lou. We chatted for a while and others showed up. Once Benji and Maddy showed up, we went back down to the cabins and got some more food. Our neighbors ended up being other friends of ours, Hoot, pad foot, rook (Zach from the first day), and grits. Maddy went over to the hostel where most other hikers stayed at and returned not too long after with bones. They said that the hostel seemed dreary and had no windows, in the basement of a building. We were great fun for our cabin. After chatting for a good while, we settled in for the night. Mike and I shared a full size bed that sloped towards the middle and was extremely uncomfortable but it beat our other option by a lot. We had a great time with some great people that we really hope to see again soon.