Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 114 – Back to Blood Mountain
17th November 2023
Low Gap Shelter (2155.6) - Gooch Mountain Shelter (2182.7)
Daily miles: 27.1
Total miles: 2171.5
Something woke me up last night at 1:30am. It was either the intense huger, the need to pee, the pain throbbing in my foot of the discomfort of the deflated mat.
I got up to pee and blew up my mat and went back to sleep. I sleep so much better in my tent.
Getting up in the dark
My alarm woke me up at 6am and I ate a bar and packed up and was out of camp by 7am. Safety and Sidequest were camped up near the junction again so they get to talk to everyone on their way out. It was about 4.5 miles to Hogpen Gap where Maggie was meeting us so we could slack pack.
The Appalachian Trail
At the gap F*ck Yeah Guy Bri rolls up on his bike! – he’s a Canadian guy we met a couple of days ago and he is doing a big cycle tour.
Makes me want to go on another cycle tour
We all remove everything we don’t need form our packs and put it in Maggie’s car. I just carried my waterproofs, fleece and water and some snacks in my fanny pack.
It was then about 7 miles to Neels gap where Maggie would meet us again. I hiked with Toe and May Queen and they slowed down on the uphills to ensure I could stay with them! We hiked together and chatted, it threatened to rain but it never came to anything thankfully. We saw another hiker - Chief - who is friends with Robin Hood and he had been trying to catch us up.
Low hanging cloud
Fast and light
Neels gap is a milestone. Mostly for NOBOs. This is where a lot of people quit because they think the trail is too hard. There are lots of shoes in a tree that people have thrown up in there.
We arrived about 2 minutes before Maggie came back from town. She had brought lots of snacks. She also went to Chick Fillet and got chicken biscuit sandwiches and to McDonald’s and got loads of double cheeseburgers and some fries.
I ate a chicken biscuit and 2 double cheeseburgers and a handful of fries. I was hungry so that food (which is normally gross) actually didn’t taste too bad.
Neels Gap
We also had to resupply from the store to get us through the next day and a half. The options were limited and it was a struggle. I picked up some chocolate bars and some small bags of chips and a mountain house meal as a ‘treat’ although I’m pretty sure I’m going to hate it.
I also picked up a new headlamp. Was it necessary to get a new headlamp on the penultimate day of the trail? No. But I’ve wanted a rechargeable one for a while and one that is brighter than mine which is about 5 years old.
Safety gave me a lesson in the button combos because it’s the same one he has, there are so many functions on this thing! I packed out the instructions in my fanny pack even though that’s not very ultralight!
We hike out and we have a 2000ft climb up to Blood Mountain. The climb wasn’t hard at all but I got a stitch almost immediately and Toe and May Queen got ahead as I struggled to take a deep breath. There were so many day hikers I was passing people constantly. They stopped to talk to some day hikers so I was able to catch up and we got to the top together. Shortly after lots of other people in our group arrived.
The ascent to Blood Mountain
These two weirdos
We have come a long way together over the last 77 days
Blood Mountain shelter
Inside Blood Mountain shelter
Blood Mountain summit gathering
The next section from Neels Gap to Woody Gap was 10ish miles and we were still slack packing. I hiked mostly with Toe and May Queen until we were caught by Robin Hood, Howard and Jet and we hiker trained for a while. I said to Howard that I had hardly hiked with him at all and then about 2 minutes later we came to a water source where we filled up and then Howard and I got to opposite ends of the hiker train so we still haven’t really hiked together!
Hiking with Toe and May Queen
The mist descends
Thigh High joined the train and we hiked down to Woody Gap together. I was in the lead for the, maybe second, time. I hope everyone was happy with the pace but no one complained! The weather got worse for a bit, it was drizzling pretty hard and there were no views.
Hiker train to Woody gap
We made it down to Woody Gap where we were met by Maggie again and we had some drinks and snacks, and then it was 3 more miles to Gooch Gap where Maggie would meet us one last time so most of us hiked without any pack at all. 3 miles without anything is fine. So I had my Fanny pack and trekking poles and I was wearing my fleece (which was a mistake because it was too hot!) and I had my new headlamp ready on my head.
I hiked out with Howard and we had a great chat and I felt I got to know him better which was nice. Cal caught up to us with about 0.4 to go. Headlamps were on by this time and I took us off trail twice on the way. The leaves would get crunchier which was how I knew I wasn’t going the right way!
At Gooch Gap we had to get all of our stuff out of Maggie’s car and pack our bags again she is leaving in the morning. There was the leftover food from Neels gap laid out so I grabbed a double cheeseburger to have for dinner as I’m pretty sure I don’t have enough food.
Putting my full pack on again wasn’t nice, but it was only 1.3 miles to the shelter. I hiked with the Howard again and we got there quick enough. There is no one at the shelter, although there were clothes hung on every peg. There is enough room for all the people who want to go in the shelter and there are some people camping. A guy who is camping came up to collect all the clothes he spread around the shelter.
We collected water, thankfully there was water at this shelter because Georgia had been pretty dry so far.
I ate the burger. It was gross. Nothing worse than cold McDonald’s! But it filled a hole.
Cold McDonalds for dinner
I was one of the first into my sleeping bag. Priority for me is lying down. My blister was unproblematic today until I tripped on a rock and now it’s very sore. I fell twice today. I cannot wait to walk normally and not have to worry about tripping on hidden hazards with every step!
It’s 15.7 miles to springer mountain tomorrow…
