[at-l] Weekend Trip Report - Blood Mtn Area

[TRich@FDIC.gov (Rich, Timothy D.)]

Good Morning,

Took my two older boys for an overnighter Fri/Sat up around Blood Mountain.
Thanks to each of you who provided information last week on this area.  The
trip was great.  My office was relocating in Midtown Atlanta over the
weekend.  The phones and servers shut down at 11am, I was packed, so I broke
away from work early on Friday.  The boys and I made for our local hiking
food store (Super Walmart) and proceeded to buy enough food for Sherman's
Army.  The first 45 minutes of our drive was in hard rain, and then it
tapered off and quit by Blue Ridge.  

We parked at the USFS Lake Winfield Scott campground.  It's a beautiful 18
acre lake with a beach and camping loops, bath houses and the like, well
maintained.  We parked at the parking area and proceeded up the Jarrard Gap
Trail, then north on the AT to the side trail for Woods Hole Shelter.  Saw a
very new fawn no more than 10-15 feet off the trail, in plain view - really
neat.  I explained to the boys about shelters and both boys decided that
they'd rather tent than stay in a shelter, so we camped at the gap at the
trail to the shelter - I believe it's Bird Gap.  Extremely windy and cool
overnight and we woke to brilliant sunlight and a beautiful day.  The boys
took on the climb up Blood Mountain very well with only one rest stop at a
switchback.  As the boys are sitting on a rock on the inside of the
switchback, I was facing them.  I heard a few small noises behind me, then
louder, and I turned around and there's a small bear about 20 feet away.
After a second or so pause and stare, the bear exploded down the mountain
away from us.  Definitely an exciting moment for the boys and me - I'd hiked
over 1,800 miles of the AT without having seen a bear, and when I see my
first I can share it with my boys.  The views from Blood were wonderful,
just a few folks up there.  The mountain laurel was a little past its prime,
but the flame azalea/bush honeysuckle was in full bloom all around.

We headed back south down Blood to the intersection with Slaughter Creek and
Duncan Ridge trails and took Slaughter back to Lake Winfield Scott.  I met
the AT Ridgerunner on the summit Blood, and he said that all the of trails
will be relocated away from Slaughter Gap sometime next summer.  That area
is suffering terribly from overuse.

The hike back down was uneventful.  Slaughter Creek Trail is an easy walk,
much of it on an old woods road.  My truck was safe at the parking lot, the
food at the Riverside Diner at the sprawling Pappy's Place compound south of
Blairsville was satisfactory, and the drive home was nice.  

I used this hike to test my new pack for my upcoming hut to hut hike in the
Whites.  I bought a Kelty Redwing 2900 and loaded it with about what I'd
take, including about a gallon of water (a 96 oz. nalgene collapsible bag
and a quart nalgene) and it performed very well.

All in all, a wonderful trip.  Fathers Day came early me.

Take Care,

Tim