Springer Mountain to Unicoi Gap, Georgia

May 3-6, 2010
Southern Terminus of the AT - Springer Mountain, GA to Unicoi Gap, GA 

50.9 miles hiked this section, over 4 days
102.1 total AT miles hiked

Hikers - Jason and Kyle (broseph-in-law) aka Alien Snorer (aka Alien) and Tiptoe

Click here for pics from this section hike

Sunday, May 2nd
Milford, MI to Helen, GA - 676 miles

12 hours, Michigan to Georgia.  That's a lot of ipod tunes, politics talk and imitation southern accents.  Our destination?  Helen, Georgia in northern Georgia.  We drive 12 hours and find the Frankenmuth of Georgia?  No joke...check it out.  To preserve tradition, we bar hopped and met the locals.

Lessons learned:
1) lose the imitation southern accent while actually in the South
2) drinking too much the night before a big hike is not smart
3) do not order the the Black Pearl beer special (Natty Light) at the Black Pearl bar.

So after a night of partying, our planned 5-day hike begins.

Monday, May 3rd
Springer Mountain to Hawk Mountain Shelter - 7.8 miles + 0.9 miles up Springer Mountain from Forest Service Road 42 parking lot
We awoke to rain, but it looked like it will burn off my mid-day.  We dropped our car off at the road/trail crossing at Unicoi Gap, 50.9 miles up the trail from Springer Mountain, our starting point.  At 11:00am our shuttle driver, Bill, showed up and the hour and half drive to Springer Mountain started.  The last 10 miles of the drive up Springer are on a Forest Service road which is only maintained at the leisure of the U.S. Forest Service (so not often).  Add to that, Bill's car, is a mid-1990's Saturn Wagon.  Ground clearance?  Not so much.  To my surprise, Bill didn't even flinch when we bottomed out.  Drivetrain, optional.  I think Kyle was sleeping or at least fighting car sickness...see #3 above for pre-hiking lessons learned.

We finally made it to the top of Springer, well not really.  The way it works is the road reaches a parking lot and then you have to hike south 0.9 miles to the peak of Springer Mountain.  Then you re-trace your steps back to the parking lot and continue the hike north.

The hike up Springer went quickly.  This was historic moment for me, to actually be on the summit of Springer Mountain at the first white blaze of the Appalachian Trail.  Memories of hiking trips on the AT with my Dad filled my head.  Unfortunately we didn't get any views due to the rain and fog, but seeing the plaque and first white blaze was incredible.

After re-tracing our steps back down to the parking lot, we meet our first hikers of the trip.  A water-logged female thru-hiker and equally soggy brothers with their dogs on a 2-week hike north of the Smokies.  They told tales of the previous night's torrential rains that they endured in their tents on Springer Mountain.  It's true, tents can act as bathtubs in heavy rain.

The first half of our hike today is a gradual down slope, so all-in-all an easy first day.  We did take a short blue-blaze trail (blue blaze trails are side trails off the AT) to Long Creek Falls, which was well worth it.

Our destination for the first night is at milepoint 7.8, Hawk Mountain Shelter.  The shelter is occupied with around 6-7 hikers with another 8-10 tenting near the shelter.  We elect to tent behind the shelter...perhaps now is a good time to explain my trail name - Alien Snorer.  Ok, I snore.  Add to that a night of having a nasty cold and over-dosage of Nyquil and add the Alien part.  Thanks Kyle for my trail name!  Kyle's trail name is Tiptoe.  Long story.

Tuesday, May 4th
Hawk Mountain Shelter to Woody Gap (stayed at The Hiker Hostel ) - 12.3 miles today 
I actually slept pretty well, which I usually do not do on the first night of a hike.  After packing up (always takes longer than it should), getting water, treating water, eating breakfast, visiting the privy, putting on least smelly clothing, we start our planned 12.3 mile hike to Woody Gap.  Up first was a nice 650 foot climb over a mile up Sassafras Mountain.  Our first views of the trip!

We tend to hike at a 2-mile an hour pace, so we made it over Sassafras, Justus and finally Ramrock Mountains with plenty of light left.  Ramrock Mountain offered some incredible views, before dropping us down to Woody Gap and GA-60.  We met 3 hikers on Ramrock, who were kind enough to take our pic.

Upon reaching Woody Gap, we decided to hitch hike about 8 miles down the mountain to The Hiker Hostel.  Kyle's first hitch hiking, which he quickly commented that his mother and girlfriend would likely give him sh*t for.  No worries, I'm a seasoned hitch hiker from my days hiking with my Dad (thanks Dad for the valuable lesson!).  For $16 each we got bunks, showers, etc.  Incredible deal and a smart choice given the high temps and amount of sweat!  The owners, Josh and Leigh, thru-hiked in 2000, and were awesome hosts.  Breakfast the next morning gave us the best biscuits and gravy of the trip.

Another good day on the AT.  12.3 miles, feeling good and ready for more.  Weather forecast is sunny and 80's for the rest of our trip...surely something must be wrong?  Only blunder of the day...I lost my infamous deer hat, aka the ugliest hat in the world.

Wednesday, May 5th
Woody Gap to Neels Gap (or Neel Gap to the locals) - 10.6 miles
Miles planned for today - 10.6.  The challenge today was two big climbs - Big Cedar Mountain and Blood Mountain.  Upon arriving back at Woody Gap, my deer hat was sitting on a rock, enjoying a view from Woody Gap!  I just can't get rid of it.

The day started with a 600 foot climb up Big Cedar Mountain.  More incredible Georgia mountain views.  A hopeful thru-hiker from Chicago, Peter (aka Pedro or Sherpa), joined us on the summit of Big Cedar to enjoy the view.

The highlight of the day was Blood Mountain.  Blood Mountain is one of the most visited peaks in the South and the 6th tallest mountain in Georgia at 4,458 feet.  It is a long, gradual and rocky ascent over 1.3 miles along the AT.  In the 1500's, two Indian tribes called northern Georgia home, the Cherokee and the Creek Indians.  By the late 1600's, the two tribes were battling for resources and fought a bloody battle near Slaughter Creek on Blood Mountain.  The battle was intensely bloody, hence the name.  It is considered holy land by the Indian tribes (the Cherokee won by the way), which was the reason for a recent AT relocation several years ago around the actual site of the battle.  We drank from the cold water in Slaughter Creek, our tribute to the battle.

Reaching the top of Blood Mountain was exhausting but worth it.  At the summit, there is an old stone shelter built in 1934 by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp).  We had been hearing rumors of a bear that frequents this shelter, taking hiker's food bags.  Apparently the bear left a message in the shelter journal...

Plenty of views from Blood Mountain (see the link above for all of my pics).

What goes up, must come down!  After an extended break at the top of Blood Mountain, we dropped over 1,300 vertical feet over 2 miles to reach Neels Gap.  Neels Gap is 30.7 miles from Springer and the first real road crossing after leaving Springer Mountain.

Mountain Crossings, an outfitter, hostel and overall welcome sight, greets weary hikers.  We decided to spend the night in the hostel.  A few former thru-hikers, Moose and Lumpy, spent the night sharing many stories.  We didn't realize we were in Blumpkin County?  The search for the mysterious and elusive privy blumpkin continues.

Thursday, May 6th
Neels Gap to Unicoi Gap - 20.2 miles
The plan for the day was to go about 11 miles to Low Gap Shelter, but we ended up hiking the remaining 20 miles back to our car.  The day started with a nice 800 foot climb over Levelland Mountain, followed by climbs over Wolf Laurel Top, Cowrock Mountain and Wildcat Mountain.  Northern Georgia continued to treat us to non-stop views.

We reached our planned destination for the day, Low Gap Shelter, around 2pm.  Way too early to stop hiking, especially in good (albeit very hot) weather.  So we did what we always do...we kept hiking!  But, not after a nice break at Low Gap Shelter, including scarfing down our dinners...let's call a late lunch.  Mountainhouse Beef Stew = energy + excessive gas!

Let the fun begin.  Death march mode...on.  It's 3pm, we have 9.4 miles back to our car.  Blue Mountain stands in our way.  Of course, the AT always saves the best for last.  Even though Blue doesn't look too intimidating on the map, we are completely gassed.  8:00pm, sun about to go down, falling like two rocks off of Blue Mountain...good to see the car is still there!

An absolutely incredible section hike along some of the best that the AT has to offer.  We met tons of cool hikers (Mule, Coolbreeze, Lumpy, Peter, two brothers, etc) along the way.  That's what the AT is about, the people along the way.  The views are nice, but

We hiked 50.9 miles on some pretty rugged terrain.  That means I'm up to 102.1 miles of the Appalachian Trail officially under my belt!

Until the next time...very nice!  Leave a comment or two.  Check out the pics.  Let me know if you are ready to put on the backpack and step foot onto the Appalachian Trail!