Woody Gap to Blood Mountain Shelter

Day Four -  Monday, October 3
8.2 miles in 6.5 hours
Woody Gap to Blood Mountain Shelter



Wait-up on Preacher Rock.

We left Woody Gap in good spirits this morning after a restful afternoon and evening yesterday.  First hurdle, uh – mountain – Cedar Mountain.  We reached Preacher Rock and enjoyed a beautiful view from there. 

Had lunch on Burnett Field Mountain, then entered BLOOD MOUNTAIN FOREST…

 Ah, the day we have been dreading for some time now.  Blood Mountain rises 1200 feet above Jarrard Gap in 2.6 miles and looks ominous from below.  At one time, we had considered reversing our direction on part of the trail just for convenience but when we considered conquering Blood Mountain from the north and saw that it was even worse (1325 in 2.4 miles), we changed our minds.  On the shuttle ride up to Woody Gap though, Willie, who works at the Hiker Hostel filled us in on the trail and told us that although Blood Mountain is high, the climb is not steep but has lots of switchbacks.  That gave us hope, and thankfully, he was right.  (Thanks for all the information, Willie.)

We later found out that Willie is a local athletic celebrity. (http://natureboyhiking.com/)

Us at Slaughter Creek before climbing Blood Mountain.

On the way up, we stopped at Slaughter Creek Trail at the bottom of Blood Mountain to cook our supper.  That would mean less water weight we have to carry up the mountain! 

We are using water each evening to rehydrate our minute rice to go with whatever meat we have, tonight it is a packet of Starkist chicken. 

We planned to skip our oatmeal in the morning and eat when we get to the store and hostel at Neels Gap. 

This morning, I finally found the music on my Ipod.  As I dragged my feet through the trail, I got a second wind and picked up my pace to the music.  One song that meant something to me today was “Taking My Time” by Susan Ashton.  Made me think about all the things I haven't done yet.

The world is turnin'
Telling me to hurry on
You gotta run to get ahead
Try to take the things you want
But when the sun begins to set
So many things I haven't done yet

Oh, but I won't worry
‘Cause there's no hurry
The world's not passin' me by
‘Cause the Lord he knows
Just where each day goes
I know He won't leave me behind
And I won't be bringin' a single thing
That my heart can't carry inside
‘Cause I'm goin' home
And I'm only takin' my time

We made it to the top of Blood Mountain in record time.  Not a bad walk at all, many parts of the trail we called “Hiker’s Paradise.”  We had plenty of energy left when we arrived at the top.  Lack of water weight did indeed make a difference.  We could have continued the next 2.4 miles to Neel’s Gap, but I thought it would be neat to view the sunset from the highest point on the Georgia AT trail.  And it was neat.    But we regretted that decision several times later on because it put us about 2 hours behind for several days and cost us a day when we got to Unicoi Gap on Thursday morning instead of Wednesday evening.

The evening was spent on the tip-top of a huge rock watching the sun set.  It was a beautiful site. 



Enjoying the view from the highest point on the AT in GA

“Jaybird” flew in talking about his experience trying to find water where there was none at Slaughter Creek.  He had to get his water out of a puddle and it was NASTY. He boiled it and drank it anyway and continued on down the hill to Neels Gap to stay in the hostel for the night.

Sunset on Blood Mountain.

After the sun set, we went into the back room of the oldest shelter on the AT, made of stone, the Blood Mountain Shelter.  Another man had beat us to the front room.  There were no windows or door on the shelter.  We rolled our sleeping mats and sleeping bags out and went to bed.  There was a nasty cold wind blowing in the window which made us feel as though we were sleeping outside. Thank goodness for our warm sleeping bags!



Soon, Wait-up said in the dark, “Oh, I forgot about the mice.”  What??  “They said the mice were bad in the shelters and we need to hang our backpacks up so they can’t get to them.”  So he got up and did just that and we went to sleep.  In a few minutes I was awakened by the flashlight.  Wait-up had heard a mouse chewing and turned on the light to catch him chewing my backpack hanging up on the peg.  So much for keeping them out.  We slept fitfully, what with the mice, the wind, and the man in the front room snoring.  I was sure he would wake up in the morning with rat holes chewed in his socks, he didn’t seem to be aware that he was sleeping with mice.