Date: 2014-03-05
From: Wood Hole Shelter

To: Hogpen Gap
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day 4 March 5th. Today we walked up Blood Mountain. Legend has it that the mountain got it name because of a battle between two warring Indian tribes. It was so bad the streams were red with blood. It was a pretty good pull up the mountain, as this mountain is the tallest mountain in Georgia but well worth it. It was granite rock with clear views. Right now we are stopped for lunch at Neels Gap for lunch. We will get off the trail Saturday for a shower and laundry.So far the trail has been well groomed. If you don't like ups and downs them this is not the trail for you. I think the point of the AT is to cross as many peaks as possible. Paul says it is Gods stair stepperFor cooking we have been using a jet boil. Easy to use, heats fast and works well in the wind. So in more puking news; last night Cooper puked on Paul. Rightfully Paul was not very happy with either of us. I apologized and made promises about the future. Just then a little waif of a girl comes and asks if Cooper could have a little bit of honey bunny and Paul yelled at the poor little thing in his big bad Army voice and said "NO"!!! Well Coop got the honey bunny and Paul and I had our first bit of trail tension. P.S. I think Paul was already mad but the waif offering Coop a honey bunny and not him might have pushed him over the edge!!Ok enough for now we have to walk. Yak at you soon. Day 4 March 6th Continued - Prior to leaving Nels Gap a young man came up to us with a box. He had to get off the trail due to a torn knee, but wanted us to have whatever we wanted from his drop box. I thought that was great; we got Snickers bars, Pop Tarts, pepperoni and I took a Top RomanUpon leaving Neels Gap we strode through the famous two buildings and headed up the trail. About two hundred yards up we see a darned old red blaze! This did not make sense as AT blazed are white and this trail seemed so RIGHT! Sometimes, most times, the white blazes are everywhere, but wouldn't you know it not here!! It Took at least a MILE to finally see a white blaze!!! Alas we didn't have to retrace steps and that was the important thingWe were going to walk to Whitley Gap Shelter but Cael informed us that the shelter was 1.2 miles off the trail and the water source .3 more miles. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Who in there right mind would do that I asked? Which brings me to a story...I would have just a few months ago:During all my reading of the AT for some reason I thought it was a rule that you had to stay at the shelter. Then I was reading a FB post from a gal, Karen, who had just finished hiking and she talked about tenting. I thought tenting was all "Stealth" and stealth sounds bad and against the law! Well, I went back and consulted "The AT Guide" by David "AWOL" Miller and sure enough there are tent sites all over up the AT and most have water sources! With that in mind, we moved on to Hogpen Gap. Prior to getting to Hogpen Gap we had to climb Wild Cat Mountain. It was about 700 feet in 1/2 mile and it was a hard way to end the day - if this were the Olympics it would have been equivalent to 3 twisels at the end of a ice dancing routine!! Cael and here Uncle UG joined us. Paul build a fire and Cael kept it going.