Julie and I are hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US from Springer Mt, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine, in the north, a distance of almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km). Our journey will start in early May 2023 and is expected to take about five months. We will be mostly camping, carrying 3-5 days of supplies to get us between resupply points, where we will be staying in hostels/hotels/motels where we can. I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail back in 1986 so it will be interesting to see how much has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

Appalachian Trail - Day 002 - Justus Creek to North of Neel's Gap

Day: 002

Date: Wednesday, 26 April 2023

Start:  Justus Creek (AT Mile 14.3)

Finish:  North of Neels Gap (AT Mile 31.8)

Daily Kilometres:  29.8

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  55.2

Weather:  Rained most of the day, cool to cold.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts & trail mix/Energy bars

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Pop tarts & trail mix/Trail mix

Aches:  Dave very tired.

Highlight:  Packing up just before the rain started.

Lowlight:  Dave really struggled for the last five miles of the day, which involved summitting Blood Mountain (4442’) after an interminable ascent, followed by a gnarly interminable descent.  We arrived at Neel’s Gap too late to organise a cabin nearby, though since we couldn’t contact the camp on any of their phone numbers, maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference.  Very wet and tired, we were looking forward to a dry cabin but, instead, had to hike a bit further on and camp in our tent.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It rained a bit during the night, but was dry when we got up at 6:30am and began packing up.  We were again slow as we worked out better ways to pack our gear, and our tent fly-sheet was wet, but we were away by 7:45am.


Soon after it began to rain and it stayed that way for most of the day, wth a few brief dry periods in the afternoon.  The woods were often misty and there was no wind, just the gentle sound of the rain falling, an occasional bird, and a very quiet forest.  It was enjoyable despite the conditions though, gradually, everything became damp, includng our feet.


We saw a few hikers in the morning, but almost no-one in the afternoon, and suspect some of our fellow hikers were sheltering in place.


When the trail followed a ridge, it was very pleasant walking but, more often, we were ascending or descending on often rocky wet trail. Although Dave managed the morning OK, he gradually faded in the afternoon and the climb up Blood Mt was the final straw.  His pace really slowed and he couldn’t trust his muscles and joints on the descent, making it a slow last part of the day.


Having failed to get the hoped-for cabin for the night, we walked on past Neel’s gap and found a tent site beside the trail.  Despite dry bags and pack covers, we have some damp gear and are not looking forward to packing up in the forecast rain tomorrow.


As I write this, Julie says she can hear something growling around our bear barrels (containing all our feed) about 20 metres from the tent.
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