Day 3-3/13-Woody Gap to Neels Gap-10.5 miles

The Hiker Hostel staff was kind enough to pick both David and I up from the Super 8 while Bryan stayed behind to sort gear and ship items home that he no longer wanted to carry. This was my first chance to see the Hiker Hostel while we stopped to pick up other hikers on the way back to the trail. A very nice place for sure if anyone is looking to stay in the North Georgia mountains for a few nights. It took three vehicles to get everyone where they needed to go, and as ours climbed toward the trail head the rain started again, heavier as our altitude climbed. Once we were on our way down the trail the rain was light enough to keep me cool and not be bothersome.

 

Blood Mountain had a reputation for being very difficult,
but I was at the top before I knew it. The view was wonderful. I stopped at the beautiful shelter at the summit for a bit of reading, but the bugs wer already out in full force due to the unseasonable heat.

Decending Blood Mountain was more challenging for me, each step seeming to beat me up more and more. The payoff at the end was Mountain Crossings. The structure was built in the thirties by the CCC as far as I understand, and the trail actually crossing through a breezeway in the building. It is the only point along the trail that passes under a roof. The breezeway separates what it now an outfitters on one side and a hostel on the other.

The outfitters is famous for "pack shakedowns," where they will disassemble everything in your pack and tell you where you can save some weight. They are in the perfect location for this, catching hikers after several days on the trail and a relatively large climb, people are known to spend a thousand dollars to reduce their load. Though I did not do a lot of trip planning, my pack weight was where I spent most of time doing research. I was very happy with what I had and did not opt for the shakedown, already being about 10 pounds lighter than most people. I did resupply on some food and picked up a few items. My favorite piece that I got was a Buff (apparently of Survivor fame). It is basically a cylindrical synthetic bandana, but it is so versatile I've really fallen in love with it. I believe Bates owns one and had mentioned it to me before, but I am really sold on it now. Especially with the amount of sun we have been getting it allows me to cover my forehead, ears, and neck and prevent sunburn.

A stay at their hostel totalled $20 including a dinner for donations and breakfast. I did laundry again and got some stuff sorted. I determined that I had a leak in my inflatable sleeping pad but couldn't find it so it was replaced the next morning. This was my first hostel stay and others were really seeming to come together as a group. More and more trail names and less and less real names were being passed around. It really was a diverse group of people, a lot young but some older, with names like Wrongway UK, Dirty Girl, and Misplaced Moose. Sleep was not easy that night but early the next morning I shipped a few cold weather items I no longer need to McDugle and hit the trail.