(click on the links in the text for more photos)
(click on the links in the text for more photos)
Photos and Text by Beverly Smith
Our AT shuttle service arrived right on time, and we were off on our two-day backpack from Woody Gap across Blood Mountain to Neels Gap in northern Georgia. We stopped hiking on several occasions to enjoy the incredible views of the Chattahoochee National Forest, although a lot of trees had been downed by ice storms and the 1995 Hurricane Opal. As the trail crossed from mountainside to side, we were intermittently dealing with still warm air or icy cold winds.
We set up camp at Bird's Gap with our tent facing a scenic vista and Slaughter Mountain in the shadows behind us. After hiking through sprinkles, we could feel the rain intensity pick up as we donned our rain suits and headed out to find water. We bypassed the first spring as suggested by several hikers and went to the second spring located just off the trail approximately ½ mile beyond Bird’s Gap. The spring is signed as the last source of water before Blood Mountain.
The rain and clouds disappeared by late evening, and the sky filled with millions of brilliant stars. The wind howled through the Gap all night and sounded like a train passing very close by; sleep was hard to come by. Every once in a while a big gust would hit our tent and we imagined that we were going to be carried away on the great Wizard of Oz adventure.
We broke camp by 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and headed toward Slaughter Gap, located at the foot of Blood Mountain. We noted a Blood Mountain bypass trail that circled around the base of the mountain for 1.8 miles versus the AT that crossed over the top of the mountain for 3.0 miles. As we began the steep ascent, we wondered how many through-hikers chose the shorter option. By the time we reached the Blood Mountain shelter at the crest, we were on the shady side of the mountain in several inches of snow. The terrain was rough and rocky with lots of scruffy bushes.
When we crossed over the mountain to continue down the AT, we discovered large slabs of flat, smooth rocks going down the mountainside. The sun was shining brightly on the rocks and all traces of snow had melted. Had the rocks been covered in ice or snow, the hike down would have been a real butt scooter; we now understood the reason for the bypass trail. The trail down to Neels Gap was steep, and we stopped several times to tighten our shoelaces, but we were grateful to be on our way down.
For the full-length version of Beverly's story, click here.
