Blood Mountain, Ga Trip

“the trip itinerary is flexible and im always open to suggestions. i chose to start where i did because it yielded a moderate amount of mileage, not real high, and not real low. does everybody like the plan, or does anyone have anything different they might like to do? if we get a pack of ppl who like big mileage, we can always start further back.”

“i need to finish up from three forks to deep gap shelter. that's about 59 miles. the closest road is at dick's creek gap, though, putting it at 62.7 miles.
anyone want to do it?
i could probably stay until tuesday. i don't know exactly what you guys are planning to do, i didn't bother to go back and check the plan, but that'd be a fun one.”

“om mani padme hummmmmm”

“what happened to the yamster? she sounded so sure for this trip.”

“I just changed my status from maybe to yes. My schedule for this is a go.”

“cool beans”

“did you see there was another interestd party on the rocky mtn trip?”

“2scoops - stonedhiker, hee hee.
Hope he doesn't hike that way.
Do you know either of those guys?

I'm still a maybe for this. I sure do want to go out west. I have never hiked over 6000 ft elev.
I live at sea level so that might be a problem.”

“im going to start a new thread for rocky mtn, stove.”

“memorial weekend has turned out to be a bad time for me!! i am so bummed. i have several conflicting things going on over that weekend, and unfortunately this trip was something i have to cut. :-(”

“multi-task! the woods wont be as pretty without you”

“ah gosh darn 2scoops that's sweet of you to say.

multi-tasking has never been my strong point, unfortunately. and i'll never conquer the ability to be everywhere I want to be at one time.”

“I'm a go for this trip.
Vacation time for driving up Friday has been approved.

If there isn't going to be a lot of people on this trip, I may bring a nephew (16 to 17 years old, good hikers) or two with me.

2scoops - Got any problems with that? I will be the responsible adult for them.”

“no problem, if they get too rowdy, we can feed them to the bears”

“Hey OM...I have your trekkin poles..you might need them for this trip..Im not going to be able to make it..If my car gets to far from home it gets homesick..lol
I need your mailing address..Please”

“hey evergreen, will miss your presence on blood mountain trip...thanks for the offer to send poles, but.....please do not incur expense......i feel no particular attachment to those things and dont think i will be needing them at blood mtn. , maybe someone you know is in need of some poles. they got lots of good karma from llama rama, montanapalooza, lost cove, mt rogers etc........pass em on at damascus.....

translation ----> i have been lusting after a hiking staff with a camera mount....hee hee....this is the perfect excuse to go to the gear store....:)”

“GearHead! ;)
See you there!”

“Dang evergreen, I was looking forward to meeting you.”

“eg, if youre not coming, can you still send that cute widdle puppy you had at the red? she was so pweshious”

“Sat
May 24 Scattered Showers 73°/51° 30 % chance of precip
Sun
May 25 Sunny 74°/50° 10 % chance of precip
Mon
May 26 Partly Cloudy 75°/54° 10 %
chance of precip”

“Thanks for the weather heads up.

I'll be heading North Friday morning and should be in North Georgia late afternoon. May hit Amicalola Falls, drive up USFS 42, and dayhike to Springer plaque if there is still enought daylight.

Don't know where I'll stay Friday night yet. May camp where om said.
I'll be at the Reese State Memorial parking lot near Neals Gap 0830 Saturday morning.”

“You can have the puppy only if you take me too..





















Just kidding”

“ya know, i could use a maid at my apartment

: )”

“ha ha”

“I might spend Friday night at Springer Mt.
I should be able to make the Sat 0830 meeting in the parking lot, so don't leave me if I'm a few mintues late. I'll be there.”

“if i get off early enough, i may stay at blood mt shelter. but ill probably just end up sleeping in my car at neels”

“2scoops - The Walasi-Yi Center at Neals Gap has a hiker's hostel you could stay at if you don't want to sleep in your car. I think the website said $15 for a bunk, towel, and shower.
What time do you think you'll be in North Georgia? Om said she would be up late Friday/early Sat.
My nephews bailed on me again. You got anyone driving down with you? Crazy Mike maybe? ;)
Man, I'm getting pumped about the trip! Can't wait!”

“itll be really late when i get in (as late as 1230). can i get a room that late?”

“Don't know. Here's the website. The contact page has a phone number.”

“turns out, i will be driving up after work on friday...sooooo
no telling when i will get into the vicinity of the trailhead...
leave crumbs....k?
stovie....that campground is Deep Hole in Suches, it is where i like to crash when i get in that area in the wee hours....but i may not get up there til daybreak anyways..so....as usual....i cannot commit to a time.....therefore...yall carry on, i will track you down...:)”

“om, honey, do you know how to get to cooper gap?”

“i need to finish packing and i dont feel like it! i wish it was already done”

“I'm finished packing. Got to pay a few bills, put them in the mail, and I'll be ready to hit the road tommorow! Woo Hoo!”

“damn, i was doing really good, i wasnt letting myself get distracted, then boom, i come in here to get some tent stakes.....”

“2scoops - Get back to packing ya slacker! ;)
I know one thing, I'm not going to get hungry on this trip. I wish I could stop overpacking food.”

“have the little piles all over....will pack it tonite.
have you all left yet? heh.....
my intention is to make it to neels gap sometime tomorrow and start hiking your itinerary
hasta la vista .... vaya con dios...om shanti and all that jazz”

“om - We are going to start the hike at cooper gap and come out at neels gap. We'll leave a car at each end.

I'm hitting the road NOW!”

“plan b.......i kin do it!
this will be fun......”

“I'm back from the trip with 2scoops.
om never showed. You OK om?
Lots of pictures to follow.
Blood Mt is great!
Had a great trip.
More later....I'm crashing....”

“I was seriously considering an early rise on Sat, and heading south from Woody Gap by noon - thinking I'd meet youn's. But, alas, I was tired, and opted to vegetate alllllll weekend.

Hope all went well for yuse guys - especially om.”

“gojo - That would have been a nice surprize. Wish you had made it. We camped on top of Ramrock Mt. (I think that's the name) Sat nite just a couple of miles south from Woody Gap. We were hopeing om would catch us, but we never saw her the whole weekend.
I'm a little worried about her.
Anyone heard from her?”

“Ramrock is nice. Good views there, at least there were in the winter.”

“bit - The views were great from Ramrock. I was sitting on the big rocks and watching the lights come on in the valley below when a large rat snake crawled right by my foot and when into a hollow stump very close by.
I decided now would be a good time to go to bed. ;)”

“lol...I surprised my wife with a snake sighting this weekend. We were up at the local state park, at the amphitheater there, and my wife was heading for the middle of a row of seats, when I saw a snake sunning itself on that very row of seats. She was a little freaked, lol...”

“Yeah.
I cluttered the livingroom with my gear Friday night. I did some packing and repair work. When I awoke Saturday I was plain tired - still am a little. One more week. Just one more week, then... BAM! School's out!

My plan was to slack-pack down trail to y'all, then double-back to the truck, and my gear. I assumed you'd make Woody Saturday. My plan woulda been off the mark, as it turns out.

Y'all did Ramrock to Blood on Sunday? What's that, 10-12 miles?”

“gojo - We went from Ramrock to Slaughter Gap Sun.
Saw a GATC crew building a relocation of the AT below Slaughter Gap so the AT will bypass the Gap and go on to Blood Mt. summit. They want to cut down on the camping at Slaughter Gap.”

“Slaughter Gap did seem a little impacted when I hiked through it last October. So, lemme guess, the relo goes straight up the side of Blood Mountain, doesn't it? lol...”

“The relocation will make the climb up Blood from the south harder. The relocation starts at the first water on the AT south of Slaughter and looks like a series of big switchbacks.”

“Hmmmm...
I've seen that route on maps before, haven't I? If not that route, a parallel. Perhaps they're re-establishing an old corridor.

The AT is rather heavily travelled along that stretch. Last I heard, fires within 300' of the trail are a nono due to lack of wood.

Seems like they'd make an exception near "Woody" Gap, tho.
(yeah, I know - baaaaaad)”

“There are a couple of trails shown on the topo map of the area, but it sounds to me like they are cutting a new one to join up with one of the parallel ones.”