Author: intothewoodsigo

Day 3 saw us wake up to another cool morning but dry. Today was a lazy morning at camp awaiting our shuttle driver Michele (Hot Chilly). We had breakfast and chilled around camp. To a couple little hike NOBO on AT to kill some time and enjoy last day on trail.

Hot Chilly picked us up at noon to take us back to car. Come to find out she was on trail 2 years ago same time Tater and I were on trail and literally were hiking by us unbeknownst to us at the time. They were section hiking as well and went a little further than us that time.

Got to car and popped into mountain crossings and saw one of my favorite thru hikers I followed on Instagram. https://instagram.com/savedbymtns?igshid=1g79925lwzjc4. Pretty cool journey he’s had. He now lives here and works at the outfitter. Still lots of hikers out on the trail and mountain crossings is one of the first resupply stops for them. It’s also where a lot give up and toss their boots into a tree out front calling it quits.

Made our way to amicalola for the chill part of spring break adventure. If you don’t know about Amicalola there’s a lot of AT trail vibe here. Many aspiring thru hikers start their journey to Maine by walking through the arches 8.8 miles along the AT approach trail to the start, mile 0, Springer Mtn.

First time staying in a cabin here and it’s awesome. We’re in one of the dog friendly cabins at base of falls across from visitor center and approach trail arches. Also right the creek from the falls. Perfect spot. And the cabin is great too. Nice wood burning stove. Got things nice and cozy fast.

So just being lazy now with the fire a couple of pooped kids and dog.

May just quarantine ourselves here!

Woke up to a wet chilly morning. All slept nice, dry, and snug last night. Rained on and off but stayed cozy in the tents.

We got up at 8 and was greeted by fog all around us. Took our time packing up camp because we decided to make it a shorter day. We’re liking the slower pace and longer time at camp.

As soon as we headed out of camp it started raining. Light constant rain for about an hour before turning into clouds and mist all around us. Neat in its own way but depriving of views. We finally got a view at top of Ramrock Mountain.

Got to Woody Gap and had camp set up by 2:30. Just relaxed and hung out. Got a fire going for dinner and called it a day.

Rolled out of Unicoi cabin around 8am to meet up with Michele our shuttle driver. Was a great ride to cooper gap. Chief was in back of her suv laying on a bunch of blankets she laid out for him.

Got on trail and immediately started going up. About a half mile in we needed to rearrange our packs a bit to get a little more comfortable. As we did that I checked Guthook app to see where we were headed for day. Glad I did because I started ya off going wrong way. We were headed sobo instead of nobo. Dang it.

Got back on track and ended up doing 6 miles for the day and set up camp at gooch gap. Tater tot and I scoured out this camp a couple years ago and said this would be a good place if we ever came back. Well here we are and have it to ourselves. Chief did great leashed during hike and has been running around camp off leash since we set up. He’s loving it! As am I! Ain’t gonna lie we’re all a little sore in places so glad we stopped here.

Not sure we’ll hit our original goal but that’s ok given the great camp set up for tonight.

Until tomorrow….

Back at it with the girls to pick up where we left off last year. Planning on Cooper Gap to Neel Gap. 20 mile section hike starts tomorrow. This year Chief is joining us. Added an extra day on front end this year and are on night two of our stay at Unicoi Lodge in their barrel cabins. Such a cool park. Highly recommend!

Due to us adding an extra day at Unicoi I had to scramble a bit to line up a new shuttle to cooper gap. Eventually found one that could get us there tomorrow morning. We’re parking at Neel Gap and are being shuttled south on trail to starting point at Cooper. Then hike NOBO (northbound) to our car. So will now do 3 days and 2 nights on trail. Shortened by 1 day/night because too dang comfy in this cabin! That being said were packed up and ready to go!

Gold Bond, Tater Tot, Mountain Dew, and Chief!

So even though we got off trail early we still immersed ourselves with AT trail life. Blood Mountain is the highest peak on AT in Georgia. We didn’t go up but spent some time chilling in cabin and hitting Neel Gap and Mountain Crossings. It’s an outfitter now but was built by the CCC. More info here…, https://www.mountaincrossings.com/aboutus.asp.

We ventured into Helen for lunch. Girls wanted to check it out. I’d be ok if I never went there again. It’s Georgia redneck mixed with EPCOTS Germany pavilion, I drive and Daytona Beach combined. Check that off the list.

We got back to cabin and had lazy night of watching ADAs play, The Way, and IU in NIT tourney. So not a bad lazy evening.

Today we checked in to Amicalola Falls Lodge. This place is awesome. It’s a special place for aspiring AT thru hikers as the approach trail begins here. Not officially the AT but it is where thru hikers register and get their tags. The Arch is where many start their journey to Maine.

Since our room wasn’t ready and we were still itching for AT life we hiked part of Approach. Arch to top of Falls which includes 604 flights of stairs up and around the waterfall. It was good to get some more hiking in. There’s hikers coming and going so fun to see their excitement to head out on trail.

We’re currently relaxing in room but may go down to ranger station to see if they’re hosting any evening events.

Cool to still be in and around AT life!

Day 2, Coldest day yet. After an early bed time the temperatures dropped quickly. Being Floridians we all have less insulation in our sleeping bags to take full advantage of Florida weather. Knowing this i brought along some thermal fleece sleeping bag liners. I knew it was going to be cold but even with liners and pants and puffy jackets on the 20 degree temperatures chilled us. We managed to get some sleep but was cold packing up today. The winds also picked up and chilled us even more. As soon as we had reception I checked weather and tonight is going to be colder than last night. Team decision time…. after weighing options we decided to get off trail. We still did our planned mile and got to Coopers Gap in time to meet our shuttle driver Sally. We did over half of our goal in 2 days and hit 12.2 miles total of AT. Couldn’t be more proud of them. They were champs! I’m sore, wind blown and still thawing out. Not one complaint from either of them. Tonight we rest in Blood Mountain cabins. We may get some more AT miles in tomorrow with a day hike up the highest mountain on AT in Georgia… Blood Mountain.

Our day started with a buffet breakfast at Unicoi lodge before we hit the road to our end point. There we met up with Ron (Ribeye) the shuttle driver. Good guy with a lot of knowledge of area. Took an hour on forest service roads to get to Springer. We did our negative mile to the summit Took some pictures at the top, signed the trail register and off we went. Temperature at start was 32 but we warmed up as soon as we started moving. Not as many people out as last year but still a good flow of both section and thru hikers. More thru hikers than section. Met a few thru hikers. Aaron, Buck, and Momma Squirel. Buck reminded Tater Tot and I of Crunchy. Even looked like him. He’s a cpl campspots down from us so may see them some more. Today was tough. Did 8.8 miles and hit our goal of Hawk Mountain. Liv did great. She was speeding up the trail ahead of Tater and I. Tater on the other hand struggled quite a bit. Feet are hurting but she made it. It’s 6:41 right now and girls are both in bed calling it a night. Supposed to be cold overnight so hope we fare well. We’re all in one tent so body warmth will help. The plan is to only 5 miles tomorrow then 5 on tues and 3 on Wednesday back to the car. Big climb tomorrow up Sassafras! Overall good first day.

We started off with a buffet breakfast and then drove to our end spot (woody gap) to meet our shuttle diver Ron (Ribeye). It was an hour drive on forest service roads to Springer. We did our negative mile to the summit. At top we took some pictures, signed the trail log and took off. Liv spent most of the day speeding up the trail ahead of Tater and I. She did great. Tater on the other hand was hurting some which made for some slow going. But, we hit our goal of Hawk Mountain. Put in 8.5 miles today. Going to take it a little easier rest of way. Plan is to do 5 miles tomorrow, 5 on tues, then final 3 miles to car on wed. Not as many people out her as last year. Did meet a few folk. 3 thru hikers doing about same pace as us. Aaron, Buck, and Momma Squirel. All retirees. Buck reminded tater and I of Crunchy from last year. Even looks like him. Not sure if we’ll be hiking with them or not tomorrow. With our reduced miles per day it’s unlikely we’ll have a little trail family for this trip. But ya never know. We got to camp at about 4:30, got more water then ate dinner around 5:30. By 6:30 girls were in bed. Supposed to get down to 30 tonight so we’ll see how that goes. Could be an interesting night. We’re all sleeping in one tent so extra body warmth should help. All in all a pretty good day. Super proud of the girls effort. Trail is just as beautiful as I remember it. Until tomorrow…..

We’re settled in at Unicoi Lodge. Enjoying the comfort of nice beds…. and a loft. Nice and warm at moment. We have some cold days ahead and going to be a trial for our Florida bones! If you haven’t hit the Georgia State park system you need to. Zip lines, archery, and other wilderness fun.

We roll out of here early tomorrow. Buffet breakfast then we drive to Woody Gap and take a ride to Springer Mountain from Ron our shuttle driver. The plan is to hike from Springer to the car. 21 miles in 4 days. We have some freezing temperatures forecast. So we’ll see how it goes. We’re prepared for cold and all of us are excited. Going to eat some pizza tonight and load up first thing in morning.

Into the woods we go!

So, here we go again! 3rd time setting off from Springer. Journey started with Derek. Then Ada and I tackled Springer to Woody Gap. Now Ada (Tater Tot) and Liv (Tech-No) are going to repeat last years journey.

Derek and I are going to do this thing come hell or high water. We’ll probably be 120 years old when we finish.

But I have some precious time to share this same experience with the girls. Tater Tot got her trail name last year from a thru hiker that completed trail. I got bestowed the name Gold Bond from our small trail family. Liv came up with her on trail name of Tech-No because she at her wise young age of 8 at the time said there should be no technology in the woods!

We hit the trail this Sunday and couldn’t feel more blessed!

Spending the night tonight at a KOA cabin. Tomorrow Unicoi lodge, then hit trail first thing Sunday morning!

P