Appalachian Trail - Hogpen Gap to Neels Gap/Walasi Yi + (White County, Georgia)

 

I'm taking advantage of the President's Day holiday to continue my quest to hike all sections of the Georgia portion of the Appalachian Trail. Today, I'm going to knock out a pretty tough section and as I have been doing for most of these hikes, I posted it as an event on the Meetup group that I occasionally lead hikes for. Four other brave souls decided to join me. We'll be starting at Hogpen Gap and hiking southbound (actually west directionally) along the AT. We'll pass through the old stone hostel (now a store) known as Walasi Yi at Neels Gap and continue the climb up Blood Mountain until we reach the junction with the Byron Reese Trail. At that point, we'll turn around and retrace our steps back to the cars.

It's a cold, windy morning at Hogpen Gap. I arrived about twenty minutes before the start of the hike and the others start showing up shortly thereafter. We do our customary round of introductions and I go over the plan with everyone. I make sure they are aware, both through the description I posted for the event and through my verbal description to them now, of what they are getting themselves into. Everyone claims to be good to go.

We hit the trail and immediately start a steep incline and then back down the other side, which is even steeper toward Tesnatee Gap. That climb back up is going to be challenging on the way back. The air temperature is around 28° and depending on our position on the mountainside, the winds might blow up to 30-40 mph, which makes for a frigid start. The icicles dangling from exposed rock faces attest to the cold. There are also many examples of what I've termed "ice strands" on the ground along the trail. These are small filaments of ice that have frozen into some that looks like a hair brush. I assume they form as water droplets are blown from the ground and frozen in mid-air, but I'm no expert. They are quite pretty though.

From the parking area at Tesnatee Gap, we begin the ascent of Cowrock Mountain and stop for a nice view once we reach the top. From here, we can see far off into the distance with the Southern Appalachian range filling the frame all the way to the horizon. It's pretty stunning. Already though, these steep climbs are starting to get to some of my hikers and a couple of them start falling behind a bit. Hopefully, they'll catch up.

During the next four miles or so, the trail undulates the steep ups and downs of the ridge, until eventually dropping us out at Walasi Yi. This stone structure was built in the 1930's by a logging company and has been used for many functions over the decades. Currently, it serves as hostel and resupply store for AT through-hikers. We decide to stop here for lunch, as it provides a wind break for us. We also take time to visit the store. I didn't really need to buy anything, but I'm here and wanted to see what it was all about. 

After a short break, we begin the hike up Blood Mountain, the highest point on the Georgia AT and sixth highest peak in Georgia. I have summited Blood Mountain by means of all existing trails, including from the Byron Reese Trailhead, which is about a half-mile up the road from here. Unfortunately, there is a small section of the AT between Walasi Yi and the junction of that trail with the AT that I had not previously hiked. So, this was my best opportunity to knock this small section out. Everyone was on board with this plan when we started, but one of the ladies that was hiking was struggling to keep up a little bit and decided to turn back from the store. We wished her well.

The rest of us began the ascent. It's only about mile up and back, but it's fairly steep. We knock it out pretty quickly though and then start on the return journey. We're all pretty tired by this point, but as a joke, I tell the others that they are welcome to summit Blood Mountain if they want, but that I won't be waiting for them. My comment gets a couple of laughs.

Our hike back is fairly uneventful, though the other gentleman that was hiking with us fell far behind and raised some concern. I explained to the others that I wouldn't leave the trailhead parking area until either he had made it back or I had called for help. That last climb was very challenging as expected and it tore all of us up pretty well. Arriving back at the parking area, we ended up with 15.1 miles and nearly 3,900 ft of elevation gain and loss. This was definitely a butt-kicker, but I'm glad to have it done.

The others thank me for organizing and start their drives home. I hop in my car and begin to listen to an audio book while I wait for the last gentleman. I would have probably started hiking back to look for him, but my legs are shot at this point. After about twenty minutes, he showed up. Apparently, he decided to road walk around the mountain from Tesnatte Gap to here to save time. He thanks me for waiting for him and check to make sure he's okay before departing. Now, to head home and relax.