2016 Lovett Senior Project J. Smith: April 14th, 2016

Today we woke up around 8 after another good nights sleep. We used the propane and burner to heat up some water for our precious Starbucks Instant Coffee, and packed up the tent really quickly. We were both excited because today we got to climb the highest mountain on the trail in Georgia and then resupply food at the bottom at Neels Gap. In the morning the sky was very overcast as we hiked the 2 miles we were supposed to hike yesterday to Woods Hole. We got to the bottom of Blood Mountain, a towering 4600 ft tall, around 11 am. We trudged up Blood Mountain after snacks at a hefty pace, almost crawling on our knees when we reached the top. The views on top of Blood Mountain were so beautiful that they looked like paintings. The graceful Georgia Mountains were colored with varying shades of green and far away the now minuscule skyscrapers of Atlanta shimmer 2 hours away. We met an older man named Tim at the bald on top of Blood and interviewed him about why he was hiking the trail. Unfortunately the Go-Pro that we had been using to film hiking and views, turned out to have a full memory. This is probably the only thing besides the tent that we didn't prepare well for because now we will have to use our phones to film. We figured we might see Tim again and hopefully get another interview. We left the top of Blood Mountain after a lot of staring at the beautiful view and got to Neels Gap around 6. However, 6 happens to be the exact time that the food store at Neels Gap closes. Ford and I didn't know what we would do for food because we had expected to resupply for dinner tonight. Thankfully, we got extremely lucky because Cleveland Baptist Church was catering free lasagna and salad at the hostel at Neels Gap. This was our first real encounter of what people on the trail cal Trail Magic. Trail Magic is performed by Trail Angels whom are people that have already thru hiked the Appalachian Trial and periodically give out free food and water to hikers on the trail. Tonight Ford and I experienced Trail Magic at the most perfect time and ate our fill at the hostel before walking a few hundred feet to a nearby campsite. Tonight we have decided to use the tent as a ground tarp and sleep on top of it in our sleeping bags because it is warm down in the valley under Blood Mountain.