Day 4 – Lance Creek to Neel Gap

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68. Southwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. 

Up at 6:50. OK sleep. Drizzled a bit in the middle of the night but had a dry morning. Packed up and ate a small bag of Fritos for breakfast. All I had left, plus I needed the salt badly. Headed out at 7:40 to tackle Blood Mountain.

Side note…I had not planned on this heat so early. I did not bring any electrolytes this early in the trip. Mistake! I need to get a lot more salt in myself. I have been cramping a bit since last night.

Hiking with Mike and Eric again today. They both planned on bigger days today, but between the approach trail, Sassafras Mountain, and now Blood Mountain, they both are going to stop for the night at Neel Gap and share my cabin. Mike is leaning towards also taking a zero tomorrow.

Hiked 2.5 miles to Jarred Gap by 8:50.  Had a Snickers bar. Challenging but not too bad. The bad part starts now as we ascend Blood Mountain.

We hiked 4.5 miles to Wood’s Hole shelter at 10:00. The stupid shelter is .4 miles off the trail, but it has a privy, and all of us needed to use it! Had a second breakfast before ascending Blood Mountain. Two packs of trail mix, mostly for the salt. Topped off water and headed onward and upward at 10:45.

Passed several people on our way up the mountain. Some we recognized and some were new faces. Randi and Debbie shuttled to Neel Gap this morning and slackpacked the mountain in the opposite direction. We passed them headed down as we were coming up. We summited at 11:55. It was hard but not as hard as Sassafras. The storm for tonight is moving in. Between altitude and weather front, temperatures have dropped over 10 degrees and winds are picking up. Not complaining! We hung out for about 20 minutes. The views are amazing. My camera does not do it justice. The weather is moving in and the 2.2-mile descent is STEEP…plus there is frozen pizza waiting for us at the bottom!

So glad we started early today. The descent is harder than the ascent in many ways. Steep, long, slick rock formations, big rock steps. We lost the trail at one point and had to climb back up. We added about a quarter of a mile of nasty to our day.

Finished descending Blood Mountain and reached Mountain Crossings Outfitters at 2:10. We got a soda and Mike bought us two frozen pepperoni pizzas. Mountain Crossings cooks them for you! We explored the outfitter while waiting for pizza. This place is the best outfitter I have ever seen. The selection of gear, food, and equipment is outstanding. We will resupply tomorrow.

After inhaling two pizzas, all three of us took advantage of the resident expert to do a pack fitting. I knew my pack was not fitted perfectly, but I can’t describe how much of an improvement he made to my pack with a few simple strap adjustments. My pack now feels like an extension of my body. It is the same for the other guys. We are now calling him the pack wizard!

Eric and Mike also had the wizard fit them with new shoe insoles that made big improvements for them. I’m sticking with my custom orthotics.

We shopped for dinner, breakfast, and snacks. We loaded the food into our packs and hiked down the road about 8 minutes to Blood Mountain cabins. Rain started just after 3:00….exactly when the forecast predicted. We got wet but not soaked on the way to cabins. 

Turns out I rented the cabin the absolute furthest away…downhill then uphill then uphill 🙁 Stopped at the office and picked up the key they left on their door for me as they are closed today.

We got into the cabin about 4:00. Exploded our gear everywhere, relaxed, and nuked our dinners. My appetite caught up with me. I ate a lot tonight. Two big frozen burritos, chips, and soda on top of the pizza we just ate an hour ago! Showered and put on clean clothes. Feels great.

We are all figuring out our plans for the next trail stretch. Mike and I are going to hike together for at least 3-5 more days. We move at the same pace and are compatible. Reserved bunks at the Green Dragon Hostel for 3 nights from now. Plans set up to Hiawassee, GA. Eric is young and moves fast. He has to haul ass for a couple of days to meet up with friends. We will likely catch up to him when he does a double zero in Franklin, NC.

I researched backpacking and calories and came to the conclusion that the Apple Watch sucks at estimating calories for this level of exercise. Looking at several resources including the Mayo Clinic, at my body weight and pack weight doing strenuous hiking, anywhere from 5000 to 8000 calories per day is a generally accepted range. I’ll be using this chart going forward:

Cleaned up gear, back flushed the water filter, got laundry ready for tomorrow, charged battery banks, and went to bed about 9:30. Called Dana and talked for about 30 minutes. Thought about reading a book, but just decided to sleep instead. 

Technical Notes:

• iPhone 40%
• Watch 20%
• iPad 80%
• Headphones 50%
• Fritos 320
• Snickers 250
• Trail mix 270
• Trail mix 270
• Root beer 270
• Pizza 800
• Body armor 120
• Burrito 740
• Body armor 120
• Burrito 740
• Chips 150
• Fritos 160
• All in 4160
• Water 4 liters
• Miles 9.79
• Time 6:40
• Elevation gain 2302
• Calories consumed 4160
• Calories burned 5000