The first morning on the trail was freezing! I woke up to frost in my water bottle and frozen droplets on my tent. As we started our hike we began to warm up and thaw out, it was a beautiful sunrise!
It was about a 12 mile hike into Cooper Gap.
The weather was excellent and we got to experience our first round of Trail Magic, which is volunteers who come to the trail and offer up free food, coffee, beer, pop, etc. I even got to meet the legendary Ms. Janet!! She is known to just about every thru hiker on the Appalachian Trail. I got her phone number and can use her shuttle service if needed.
The next evening was spent at Woody Gap, before a very long day going up and over Blood Mountain into Neels Gap. Upon arrival you see the famous “shoe tree” where frustrated hikes throw their shoes over a branch. We had the luxury of staying in the Blood Mountain Cabins again and having a feast delivered by a local church group.
After leaving the cabins we spent the night in the woods at Low Gap. I got a very early start and spent about the first hour using my headlamp. It was my worst night of sleep on the trail yet since I had a popped sleep pad already! I have the worst luck with those, I think I am now on my 8th one. I’m hoping my new one lasts longer than a week at least! We had even more trail magic where I picked up a donated hat with a white blaze! I won’t be carrying it with me on the trail, but will enjoy wearing it when I get back to MN. We then made it to Unicoi Gap where we were picked up by a local VFW and brought to a motel and treated to an all you can eat buffet, I’m feeling very spoiled! It was our last day with the support of Warrior Expeditions, it was sad watching the van drive away, I will miss having them around!
I am ending this blog while sitting in the hotel lobby, we are taking a zero day today since there are high winds, lightning, thunder, and rain coming down like crazy! I hope to hit the trail bright and early tomorrow and make my way to the town of Franklin over the next 4 or 5 days….. See you then!
Hiking Through with Feather Blue 