This was a pretty good hike overall but could have been much better had the weather cooperated. I love the Appalachian trail but when the heat gets up over 85 even at the upper elevations it takes away from the enjoyment of the hike. And when you throw in the bugs well no thanks!

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We knew going in that we were toward the end of the shoulder spring-summer season but figured we would be okay. To our surprise, the weather had ratcheted up at the last minute and was sizzling but we didn’t want to cancel. There was a heat wave that hit the South and we were got caught up in it unfortunately. Typical temperatures where we were hiking for that time of year should have been in the 70’s but it was in the 80’s the entire time we were there. Normally, I prefer little or no rain but I would have welcomed it on this hike.

This hike was originally supposed to be 93 miles overall from Springer Mountain to Timber Ridge Trail that intersects the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina. My hiking friend was missing that section of her current A.T. mileage to Pennsylvania and I simply wanted a long stint on the A.T. Up to that point the longest I had spent on the A.T. was about 4 days. Well I didn’t beat it this time but either way I got a nice hike in on the A.T. We ended up starting at Springer but stopping at Neels Gap.

So, the original game plan was to arrive in the area on 5/24/19 and camp at Standing Indian Campground for the night. The next morning we met our prearranged shuttle, whose name is Beverly and she drove us to Springer Mountain and drop us off so we could begin our hike. The plan was to hike to Standing Indian where our car was parked and then drive home. What actually happened is we ended up staying at the Comfort Inn in Franklin which was only 30 minutes away from the campground and drove there the following morning, lol. The reason being is that we got there pretty late and figured we might as well get our last good nights sleep before hitting the trail.

I had recently purchased a few new pieces of gear that I was anxious to try out on this trip. The first piece of gear that I just purchased and wanted to try out was the MSR Thru-Hiker Wing Tarp and the second piece of gear was the Altra Lone Peak 3 Polartec NeoShell Trail Running Shoes which were a closeout so only available on limited basis. The current model name is Altra Lone peak 4 Trail Running Shoes. Something else purchased was the Portable Charger Anker PowerCore 20100mAh – Ultra High Capacity Power Bank with 4.8A Output, External Battery Pack for iPhone, iPad & Samsung Galaxy & More (Black)” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Power Bank RAVPower 26800 Portable Charger. It’s a little heavy but it packs a lot of power and I thought I’d need it for all that time on the trail.

Now as far as the MSR tarp goes well I didn’t get a chance to use it because there wasn’t even an inkling of any precipitation anywhere to be seen. I intended to used it with my MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House 2 Person Tent with Zpacks Trekking Pole Cups which I’ve had for a while and it’s outstanding! I would have welcomed some rain to cool things off and to test my tarp but no such luck. So, I can’t speak for the success of the tarp. However, I will say I like the feel of the material and the workmanship(as with all of my MSR gear) because it’s topnotch. At 12oz and 104 x 96 x 114 in it’s probably my lightest tarp and I like that it’s tailored dimensions and not just a rectangle. This cuts weight off the tarp. Maybe I’ll get to use it the next time out.

With regards to the Altra Lone Peak 3 shoes well they worked out pretty well but I may relegate them for day hikes as opposed to backpack trips. I had my Merrell Moab Low shoes waiting for me at the Neels Gap hostel just in case the Altra’s didn’t work out. I will go back to my Moabs and Oboz for backpacking but the Altras were comfortable so I’ll keep them for day hikes or trail runs. They are extremely comfortable and packed pretty surprising support for their light weight the small amount of fabric they have. The soles are incredible and their traction is outstanding. However, their zero drop may have caused some extra sore calf muscles.

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Here is a list of some of my important gear.

• ULA Circuit Backpack
• MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House 2 Person Tent with Zpacks Trekking Pole Cups
• MSR Thru-Hiker 70 Wing Tarp
• Enlightened Equipment Revelation 40 Degree Quilt
• Altra Lone Peak 4 Trail Running Shoes
• Power Bank RAVPower 26800 Portable Charger
• Black Diamond Distance FLZ Trekking Poles
• Bahco 396-LAP Laplander Folding Saw, 7-1/2 -Inch Blade
• Drymax Trail Run 1/4 Crew / Turndown Socks
• Zpacks Groundsheet Poncho – Bathtub
• Zpacks DCF Rain Kilt
• Zpacks Medium Plus Pillow Dry Bag
• Zpacks Large Food Bag
• Black Diamond Storm Headlamp
• MSR Pocket Rocket Stove
• Vargo pot
• Thermarest Z-Lite Sleeping Pad
• Thermarest Neoair (older style)
• Vargo Titanium Long-Handle Spoon
• Drymax Trail Run 1/4 Crew Socks
• Vargo Ascent Titanium Tent Stake
• ATC Maps 1/2 & 3/4
• TOAKS Light Titanium 550ml Pot

I’d like to throw a shout-out to the two shuttle businesses because they were very accommodating first off – they went above and beyond for us. But also because they were on time; got us to our destinations safely; were fair priced and kept us enthused with good conversation and information. I would definitely hire either of them again.

• THE FURTHER SHUTTLE APPALACHIAN – Run by Donald Ballard & Mary Bastin. 772.321.0905 OR 706.400.9105 24 Hours a day
•  

One thing I wanted to mention after the trip is stopping for lunch. We went to Bogart’s in Waynesville, NC. It was pretty good food and the view when you step out of your vehicle or out the front door of the restaurant the mountains are right there. I’d go back for sure!

Here we go at the start of Springer Mountain, which is located in the Chattahoochie National Forest! It was about 8:30am, parking lot was getting full and we were stoked! So, let the hike begin! Oh, and you have to actually slingshot South up to Springer Mountain and back to the parking lot in order to make it official so that’s what we did.

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There was plenty of wildlife along the way – most being gnats, beetles mosquitos, flies, millipedes and no-see-ums but we also saw lots of birds of many varieties (including a baby bird) as well as butterflies, squirrels, chipmunks and bees! We also just missed a timber rattlesnake – the hiker about a 1/4 mile behind us advised us that he was on the trail that we had just hiked so he must have been in the weeds when we passed. I thought I heard the rattlesnake as we passed the area where he was but figured it was a small ground squirrel or chipmunk.

One of the advantages of hiking in the warm weather is the abundance of plant life because by far the most diverse wild life we saw was the plant life. Some of the trees I could identify included oak, hickory, walnut, cherry, hemlock, large-leaved linden, rhododendron, mountain laurel, witchhazel, pine, elm, balsam fir. Plumleaf Azalea(which is pretty rare), as well as numerous others that I can’t identify. The plants were even more numerous but a few of the plants I could identify were Blue Cohosh, Porcelain Berry, Bloodroot, Wildginger, Wild yam, Beetleweed, Yellow Woodsorrel, Zigzag Spiderwort, Viburnum Acerifolium, Loosestrife, Royal Catchfly and more.

We arrived at Gooch Gap and contemplated our situation. One – We didn’t want to start hiking up Ramrock at that point because we didn’t know where we could camp and the Woods Hole shelter was quite a ways off. Two – between the heat and bugs we knew we wanted to reduce the trip. So we made a call to shuttle drivers Don and Mary to plan a pickup. We got their name & number from the people camping at Gooch Gap and my friend gave them a call. We then arranged for Mary to pick us up at Neels Gap on Wednesday.

Leaving Woody Gap we immediately climbed up to Preacher Rock and Big Cedar Mountain. We found a nice spring after a few miles where we got the water we really needed. According to our maps there was water at Woody Gap but we couldn’t find a drop so we hiked on until we found some at mile 22.

 

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