Day 3: 4/5/2016

We’re quickly learning that the temperature can swing wildly over the course of the day.  Last night got very cold,  I think I was testing the limits of my sleeping bag. We even started the hike this morning with all our cold weather gear on. However, soon into the day’s hike,  after a good bit of uphill,  we both had to remove all our extra layers.

We had a goal for today… make it to Neel Gap. From where we were camped out the night before,  this meant we had about a 16 mile day ahead of us, including a climb over Georgia’s highest peak… Blood Mountain.

Our first stop of the day was at Woody gap. There’s s nice little overlook,  some composting toilets, picnic benches, and best of all,  a trash bin.  It’s amazing how happy you can be to see a trash bin. When you’re hiking,  you have to keep all your garbage with you, so even though it’s just a few ounces,  it’s a bit of a relief to unload it. We enjoyed a nice big snack on one of the benches while watching the other hikers arrive and go straight for the trash bin.

After our stop at Woody Gap, it was time to climb Big Cedar Mountain. We had been leap frogging a group of hikers all morning, but at the summit of big cedar, we passed the rest of them, and didn’t see any of them for the rest of the day. We were on a mission.

The sun was strong again today, we had to reapply sunscreen a few times. I’m pretty sure I’m still burnt. We helped out another through hiker, Matt from Winnipeg, and let him borrow some sunscreen. We were also better with water today. We filled up at the start of the day, and once more before the climb up blood mountain. It took a few hours, and a couple stops, but we
finally reached the peak of blood mountain right around 4pm. The views were fantastic. It felt like we could see Atlanta from there.

There’s even a shelter on top of the mountain.

But, as the day was getting later, and our feet were already sore, we only relaxed for a short while before we made our decent into Neel Gap.

We’re currently camped out with a bunch of other hikers behind the Mountain Crossings outfitters and hostel. We got to do a small resupply, and use sinks with running water. We also finally got to meet some of our fellow through hikers. A few girls from Canada, a guy from North Carolina, a few other guys from New York, and another from Pennsylvania. Everyone seems nice, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of them.

That’s all for today. Thanks everyone your comments!