Blood Mountain or: How I Feel About Slack-Packing

11+ miles to Neels Gap sounded atrocious this morning after the beating we got yesterday and with the prospect of the dreaded Blood Mountain at mile 8.5 it was nerve racking. Previous hikers talked about Blood Mountain calling it "heartbreaking" and "treacherous". So we arranged for an old woman to drive most of our stuff down the road to Neels Gap to be there upon arrival for $10. Our packs lightened by about 15lbs each, we set off.

Blood Mountain? Bitch please. We expected it to take all day and we finished all 11.4 miles in well under 5 hours including a break for lunch.

Boy was it beautiful though. The views were stunning and the terrain relatively mild. With so many streams it was a cinch finding places to restock on water and fresh filtered stream water is just about the best thing in the world.

We got to Neels Gap just after 1:30pm and managed to get the last available cabin - the gods must have been thanking me for paying it forward by carrying some of Olive Oil's stuff. Poor girls pack looked to be at least 40 pounds with her 5 pound zero degree sleeping bag strapped to the back.

The first person I met, unbeknownst to me, was AT legend Baltimore Jack. He seemed to like our crew and managed to smuggle us 2 bagels, some earl gray tea and 4 beers which he forced into our pockets - not before offering us swigs from a flask of nondescript brown alcohol, I'm assuming whiskey. I'm a big fan of Baltimore Jack.

It looks as though the storm has gone around us so we may be able to get to Low Gap tomorrow if the weather holds. My fingers are crossed. Either way, one more night with a roof and a shower is alright for this AT/camping/backpacking newbie.