Day 7: Double Zero, Pictures and Videos

Last night after McDonalds late lunch/early dinner, I made the call to stay in town an extra day. It kind of worked out well because the weather is nasty today. I realize I can’t plan my hike around the weather, (unless dangerously severe of course) but since I was already here and still had stuff left to do, it worked out as a nice bonus. I will now head out the morning of Friday, March 20th.

As promised, here are the pictures and videos from Day 1 through Day 5. I’ve opted to post these in Medium size for a couple reasons. First, it will make the page load faster on your end. Second, it’s easier for me to caption these seeing as I’m using a tiny little mini-laptop with limited resolution. Click the images to see full resolution.

Day 1 – Friday, March 13th

This was the day I was shuttled to Springer Mountain. I intended to stop at Stover Creek Shelter, but hiked on to Hawk Mountain Shelter. These are photos from the summit of Springer Mountain.

Mike Kelly took the following picture of me.

Springer Mountain has a sign in book. Here, I wrote a short entry which in hind-site was maybe a bit silly but hey – I was pressed for time. I had ground to cover!!!

Normally, this would’ve been a glorious view to the west from Springer. Owing to the weather, however, we have thick grey soup in the distance…

After hiking back down Springer, here are some photos of the parking area where the shuttle left us.

After hiking for about 20 minutes, I came across the first case of abandoned gear. Some hikers take too much gear. Instead of responsibly waiting to ditch extra weight at an appropriate place, they abandon in right on the trail. The trail maintenance clubs have to clean this up. Shame on you gear-ditching-on-the-trail folks!

And here is what will undoubtedly by the first of many stream crossings.

After stopping at Stover Creek Shelter for lunch/snacks, I continued on. The highlight of the day was Long Creek Falls. Here are some photos.

Oh! And here is a video of the falls! Enjoy!

After the falls, I was back on the trail headed to Hawk Mountain Shelter. No more photos from this day.

Day 2 – Saturday, March 14th

This was the first day of short mileage. I only covered 3.4 miles from Hawk Mountain Shelter to Sassafras Mountain, where I camped about 50 yards off the trail in a clearing. Not many photos were taken this day, and no video.

Almost to the top of Sassafras Mountain, the clouds partially cleared so I was able to get a shot of the mountains through the trees. Also a selfie of yours truly.

At about 6:00pm I found this cool spot on the top of Sassafras Mountain. With tent pitched, I would be going to sleep soon. Also another selfie with rain hood back on since it started raining again.

That’s it! No more pictures from Day 2 for you!

Day 3 – Sunday, March 15th

This was the second low mileage day. I only covered 2.9 miles this day, hiking from Sassafras Mountain to Justus Creek Campsite. Here’s me after breaking down camp, loading up and ready to go. You can see it’s now sunny and warm out, giving me a chance to try out my cool new shades!

Just short of a mile into my hike, I arrived at Cooper Gap where a lot of other hikers were taking breaks. Most of these folks had started from Hawk Mountain Shelter, so they were about 4 miles into their day.

Leaving Cooper Gap, the trail ascends Justus Mountain. Here are some photos along the climb and at the peak.

After climbing down Justus Mountain, the trail crosses Justus Creek and then arrives at a group of tent pads about 0.1 north of the creek. This is where I set up for the night. In the background are a group of hikers I started with. They collectively call themselves “Team Turtle” owing to their slow hiking pace.

After I set up camp, I went back to the creek to collect 4 liters of water to last the evening and following morning. Whenever possible, I collect my water well upstream of where everyone else does. (Sometimes not possible due to terrain) Here’s some photos of Justus Creek.

And that’s it for day 3!

Day 4 – Monday, March 16th

This is the day I started doing respectable mileages again. I was trying to get out of camp to hike with White Wizard for the day and reach Lance Creek Camp which would’ve been a 10 mile day. I got out after White Wizard, tried to catch him, got delayed by trail magic and ended up camping at Woody Gap for the night.

Here I am all ready to go!

Here’s an example of a log bridge over a creek.

Here’s Captain Kip and his wife at Gooch Gap who were serving up trail magic in the form of hot dogs, water top-offs and trash removal. Thanks guys!

Here’s their campfire where they were cooking hot dogs. (Where’s Ragin Cajun at???)

While here at Gooch Gap I ran into Mike Kelly – the guy I met up on Springer Mountain several days earlier. We chatted about gear and shared some experiences we’d had. Here’s a photo of him, and of me.

Later in the day, the trail climbed up Ramrock Mountain where I took the following video and pictures.

Here’s a few guys I was taking a break with while on top of Ramrock Mountain. Two of them are “Whistler” and “T” who I ended up camping with this night. The other was called “Photo” which I never saw again.

After arriving at Woody Gap and setting up camp, I walked out to the parking area to take these photos.

That’s it! No more for Day 4!

Day 5 – Tuesday, March 17th

This was the best day of hiking I’ve ever had. 10.9 miles in 7 hours over some of the most difficult terrain.

First some photos at Woody Gap of me and the camp, seeing as I didn’t take any last night.

 

After hiking for 20 minutes, I took this video while hiking. Apologies if unsteady.

A few minutes later I arrived at Preaching Rock and shot this video of the view.

Then I arrived at the top of Big Cedar Mountain to take these photos.

At 2:00pm I was at Bird Gap where I had to make my big decision about skipping Blood Mountain or not. Here’s some pictures where I took that break.

And here’s a video I shot just before leaving.

Finally at the top of Blood Mountain, some pictures were in order. I found some nice folks that took this photo of me. In return I took a photo of all four of them.

This is Blood Mountain Shelter which I wrote about in the Day 5 post. It is amazing!

Here are some interior shots.

Here’s a video from the top of Blood Mountain panning a full 360 degrees.

And here are some stills from the same vantage point.

I regret not taking a few pictures and video of the decent down Blood Mountain – it was some unique trail conditions. But remember, I was on a tight deadline – I didn’t feel I could afford the time. I wanted to get off that mountain before 6pm! In hind-site, I had plenty of time. Oh well.

Finally, here’s two photos of Mountain Crossings at Neel Gap – my destination for the day, and for this first leg of my thru hike.

So that’s it! I hope you enjoy the photos and videos from Days 1 through 5.

Tomorrow is Day 8, when I will head back to Neel Gap and continue this journey.

 

wandering on…

Kelly