Day 2 (10.5-31.3)

Restless night, ugh… woke up at 4am tossing and turning. The temperatures dropped into the high 20s overnight. Fighting to stay in the sleeping bag until sunrise. At 530 I hear the clanking and clatter of Freshground digging out his cooking supplies. Just a few more minutes I told myself. At 6 I emerged from my sleeping bag and wandered over to the van to meet the quite perky Freshground who had already cooked pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. I filled up my plate and gorged myself.  At 7:30 I was packed up and ready to go. First mountain was “sassafrass, up and over, what a butt kicker… fresh legs and lungs not prepped for higher elevation, it was a struggle. I pressed on. 12:30 rolled around and I found myself coming down into Woody gap. Lo and behold, Freshground set up again to feed hikers lunch. I OBVIOUSLY had to partake. Chili and pasta salad, 16oz of Gatorade and a vast amount of water, I was full. Met a few other hikers from Ohio and some passerby’s curious about the all the commotion and a lovely couple from Germany (bagging and gazelle) who were also hiking the trail. At 1:30 I set off again, my goal was to reach Neel Gap by the end of the day, a 21 mile stretch from where I started that morning. All up hill. By 4pm I reached Blood Mountain, the highest peak in Georgia on the Appalachian trail. I stayed for a short time, soaking in the views and giving my legs some time to rest, after all I still had 3 miles down the mountain. While resting I met a day hiker named “officer” who completed his hike in 2021. Officer informed me that there was pizza at the bottom of the mountain but the store closes at 5, it’s 430. I ran down blood mountain as fast as possible. Anyone who’s hikes blood mountain knows it’s a rock scramble the whole way down. I made it… 10 minutes late. Still determined to get pizza. I stuck my thumb out and waited. Eventually picked up by a nice man and his dog ran me into town for pizza and a bed…

















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