Woody Gap to Neels Gap (10.6 Miles)

We did this hike on October 16, 2010.

When we had dinner with MuddButt on Thursday night she told us that things were changing at Mountain Crossing – she told us that somebody wanted to take down all the hiker boots hanging in the store!

We met Shoe at the McDonalds in Dahlonega and then we drove to Mountain Crossings at Neels Gap.

We arrived about 15 minutes before the store opened but Pirate was kind enough to give us a tour of the hostel. Shoe told us that Ms. Janet had really cleaned up the place and Pirate showed us a cardboard box that now replaced the stolen TV.

Once WinTON arrived and opened the store, we just had to look around! We have read about this store in so many thru-hiker’s books so it was really cool to finally be here. Dirigo bought a new down jacket and a polo shirt.

We drove about 1/4 of a mile to the parking lot for Neels Gap. Unfortunately, all the spots were taken so Shoe parked her car on the side of the road. We took Dirigo’s truck to Woody Gap and it too was very crowded! We were lucky to find a parking spot. There is a pit toilet next to the parking lot.

When we started hiking it was chilly and windy but once we got into the woods we warmed up really quickly. We stopped for a short break at Preaching rock – the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day; Shoe had to take off her long johns.

We were soon joined by a rather large group of senior citizens at Preaching rock.

We thought they were out for a leisurely day hike but later learned that they had gathered to spread the ashes of a friend.

We stopped for a break at Jarrod Gap and met several hikers out for a couple of nights.

Shoe told them that water was scarce along this section of the trail and recommended that they fill up here or at the base of Blood Mountain.

As we approached Woods Hole shelter, we could hear lots of banging. The tent sites were crowded and noisy. One young boy kept banging his axe against a down tree limb in an attempt to make fire wood but was not making ANY progress.

We decided not to stop at this shelter since it was 0.5 miles from the trail. There was no water at this shelter so people who stayed here had to hike to the base of Blood Mountain for water.

We took another break at the base of Blood Mountain and watched several people filter water at the spring. One lady in Paris Hilton sunglasses asked us “Where is the watering station?” and then told us they forgotten their water bottles. Shoe had several empty bottles and gave them to Paris and her friends. The fine Christians who were filtering water offered to filter some for Paris.

The climb up Blood Mountain was about 1 mile and in no time we were at the top!

There is a privy right before you reach the shelter and there were lots of people at the top. We sat on the rocks and enjoyed the view for about 30 minutes.

We took our time descending down the mountain and fortunately the rocks weren’t too bad.

We were all relieved when we reached Balance Rock because we had less than one mile to go.

The sun was setting as we reached Neels Gap.

When we arrived at Mountain Crossings, Cool Breeze gave Shoe a ride back to her car. When Shoe returned, she told us she got a parking ticket!