Wednesday, October 20, 2004
some tough ups and downs at times...i suggest packing lightweight for this section.
Monday, June 21, 2004
My son (age 10), my daughter (age 18) and I completed this section of the trail as a day hike. Although we have been hiking various trails for the previous three years, this was our first taste of the AT in GA. We had a wonderful experience and fell in love with AT's beauty. We continued on and completed section three of the trail the following day. Within five minutes of starting our hike from Wood Gap we saw a bear on the trail in front of us. This was the excitement that my son was hoping for. We enjoyed many breaks a long the way including a nice relaxing lunch. We were surprised to find a group of 10-12 Univ of GA students on the summit of Blood Mtn that day but enjoyed our visit there. The entire hike took us seven and a half hours. We found the most difficult part of this section to be approximatley the first mile from the summit toward Neals Gap.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
As y'all are aware, Slaughter Gap is officially closed due to over use-- but the Forest Service has build a GREAT new campsite close to water that "shortcuts" Slaughter, with plenty of low-impact tent sites on the southeastern face of Blood Mountain, headed towards Woody Gap and before you get to Bird Gap. If that doesn't suit you, there's a nice, wide open site at Bird Gap, which I like because the breeze is always coming through there year round. I was just through there three weekends ago, and was particularly pleased with the new trail that bypassed Slaughter. AT Club and US Forest Service did a great job on it.
Saturday, November 8, 2003
I made it up there from bottom to top on my sportbike in 3:48". That was the only time I bothered to time it, but I think I can do it in less time.
Monday, March 31, 2003
Just walked it last week. Beautiful but difficult. Blood mountain is quite a hike but sunsets are 110% gorgeous. My fav mt sunset thus far. pack light and do it!
Monday, December 2, 2002
12/29/02, I started at Neels Gap and headed over Blood Mt. My intent was to cross over to the Coosa Backcountry trail in Vogel State Park. Missed the connection and took the blue trail to Winfield Scott Lake Park and then road hiked 180 back to Vogel. Great hike even though I missed the change -- fortunately I knew where I was and where I was going, just not how to get to where I wanted to be! I was only afraid of running out of daylight and having my spouse report me as "overdue". Fortunately I made it back to Vogel before she headed to the ranger's office. This was a great hike up and over Blood Mountain - the spring at Slaughter Gap (intersection of several trails) was running strongly. The Blood Mountain shelter was clean and I visited with several other day-hikers while eating a quick lunch. There were quite a few day hikers out from Woody Gap and up from Lake Winfield Scott. I'll do this trail again but probably come in from Vogel State Park via the red-blaze trail and then up and over -- I need to see where I missed the cross-over :-)
Tuesday, June 12, 2001
June 10, 2001 Hiked from Woody Gap to Neels Gap as a day trip. Saw many beautiful wild azaleas and Mt Laurel in full bloom. Only a few rhodendron were still in bloom most were past their peak. There were also many wild flowers blooming at the top of Blood Mt. Be sure to enjoy the view from atop "Picnic Rock" at summit of Blood Mt. Wonderful day hike. tw
Thursday, June 7, 2001
I have hiked this stretch over 15 times at least. Not really a hard walk, but the last crawl up Blood can be a little tiring if you arenot used to hiking this far. Beautiful flowers in spring in the first 4 miles of this run.
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
Sun-Mon we hiked an 11.9 mile segment of the Appalachian trail. Landmarks were Woodys Gap, Jarrards Gap, Slaughter Gap, Blood Mountain, Neals Gap. We hiked about 5 miles on Sun. taking 4 hours. We started at Woody Gap at 3:00PM and camped about a half mile short of Jarrards Gap at about 7:00PM. The weather was beautiful, and a crescent moon was high in the sky early in the evening. Later that night, we had lightning and thunder storms. The lightning and thunder subsided by morning, but a steady rain persisted all of Monday. We broke camp at about 9:45AM in the rain. We skipped breakfast, thinking that we would stop and cook something when the rain stopped, but it never did so we only ate Nutra-Grain bars and Cliff bars on Mon. until we got out at 4:30 PM. The climb up and over Blood Mountain was treacherous in the rain. One had to be careful not to slip. Although the trail is 'maintained' by volunteers, it was early in the year, and the trail was partially overgrown in places, so you had to keep pushing past overhanging vegetation which was wet. That, combined with the steady rain, made for a wet day and miserable day. We even missed the views, which would have been spectacular on a beautiful day. All we were able to see through the rain and clouds was the faint outline of other hills/mountains in the distance.
Sunday, November 19, 2000
Temperature was 25 degrees and we experienced the first snow fall on Blood Mountain. The trail was iced. Cold and windy during the evening hours.
Friday, November 3, 2000
hiked from Windfield Scott up to the AT at Jarrad Gap then down to Woody Gap. Two days later I hiked from Jarrad to Neels Gap and completed the AT in Georgia. I was feeling pretty good about this-until I met two real thru hikers on top of Blood Mt-they had started in Maine on May 19 and were almost done with the whole thing! Amazing. The weather was cool, sunny, and its best to finish in Neels Gap coming down Blood Mt because the climb up is so steep.
Monday, October 16, 2000
Hiked this section with my 9 year old son from Woody Gap to Neels Gap. There's a really nice campsite at Woody Gap, less than a hundred feet off to the right of the trail. We camped here our first night, because we arrived just a couple of hours before dark on a Thursday evening. Big Cedar mountain was a good start to the next day. There were a few rock outcroppings with great views on the way up. We hiked the section from Big Cedar to Jarrard Gap at a snail's pace, because there was not a cloud in the sky and some great views of the fall foilage. We spent our second night at Jarrard Gap. There was a campfire ban from this point all the way to Neels Gap. It was an interesting night without a campfire, temperatures in the low thirties and only a candle lantern and two mini-maglites for light and warmth. We stayed warm overnight in our mummy bags, and after a hot breakfast and a cup of hot cocoa and coffee, we left for Blood mountain. Once again, we hiked at a snail's pace to enjoy the weather and scenery. The scenery at the summit was exceptionally beautiful! We camped here on our third night and we enjoyed a wonderful sunrise the next morning! The only unpleasant thing about the whole trip, was the number of Boy Scouts that were camping on the summit of Blood mountain. They seemed to think that they owned the place! I have nothing personal against the Boy Scouts. My son is a Webelo scout himself. I thought it was kind of rude of the troop leaders to race past us and other hikers, to the top of the mountain, before anyone else could get there, and take over most of the good campsites! I am a scout leader myself, but I think that they should have taken into consideration that other people want to enjoy this area and not be invaded by a group of scouts!!! I know it's first come, first serve, but they had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and then move the troop down the mountain to camp overnight! ( Hint, Hint! ).
Tuesday, September 5, 2000
I am seeking any archaeological information about the Cherokee and Creek Indian battle in the area between Slaughter and Blood Mountains. In the 1950s my grandfather found a stone axe head in the ditch across from the Walaseyi store; unfortunately it was lost over the years since. thanks for any information you may have john
Thursday, July 27, 2000
I hiked in the opposite direction, starting in Neels Gap. The only real strenuous part is the second half of the hike up Blood Mountain. Once you reach the peak, it is smooth sailing the rest of the way. This is a wonderfully beautiful hike and the hike up Blood Mountain is great for family day trips, but I recommend camping on top to see the sun rise.
Monday, May 1, 2000
From Woody Gap it starts fairly easy to moderate and continues that way until before Slaughter Gap. From there to the top of Blood Mountain is strenuous. Steep trails, many criss-cross sections, no water available (make sure you have enough before starting up to Blood Mtn.) The descent to Neels gap is difficult also, narrow-steep, rocky sections.
Monday, March 6, 2000
Seven of us (plus 3 dogs) hiked 7.1-miles from Woody Gap to the Lake Winfield Scott (LWS) State Recreation Area on 5 Mar 00. Weather was clear blue skies, 70degF, slight breeze - short sleeve shirts were perfect. It is definitely a moderate hike due to the up and down nature of the terrain. With three significant breaks for enjoying the views and snacks, we completed the 7.1-mile hike in 4-hours. We positioned one car at LWS to return the party to the Woody Gap parking area. The driving distance from Woody gap to LWS is excactly 7-miles.
Monday, January 31, 2000
Last weekend, my husband, 17 year old daughter and I hiked from Neel's Gap to the top of Blood Mtn. (Super Bowl weekend 2000) It was the most beautiful place on earth I have ever been. There had just been a bad ice storm through the Atlanta area. The trees were all iced.
Thursday, January 20, 2000
Great section for an older scout group or church group. Not for 4th graders, but middle schoolers and high schoolers should enjoy it
Saturday, October 16, 1999
This was my first trip to the trail and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I learned a lot of lessons about what to carry and what not to carry!
Thursday, October 14, 1999
the trail is beauitful and a fun hike
Saturday, September 4, 1999
We hiked from Neels Gap to the top of Blood Mountain. It was uphill all the way, but the view at the top was worth the climb. It is gorgeous.
Saturday, July 31, 1999
I have hiked most of this section in both directions. Hiking southbound, the climb from Neels Gap to the summit of Blood Mountain is tough. Climbing Blood Mountain from the north via Lake Winfield Scott is not as bad. Slaughter Gap is a favorite camping site for boy scouts. So, be prepared to be joined by dozens of others. I camped at the Blood Mountain summit, where the large amount of exposed rock surface gave beautiful views of the surrounding landscape; and provided great stargazing that night. The temperatures up there in mid-summer were only in the mid-70s while Atlanta broiled at 95 degrees. It was very breezy and cool at night with lows around 50. There was also a ban on camp fires from Slaughter Gap across Blood Mountain to Neels Gap. The trail at Woody Gap climbing north is tough near the top, but worth the view provided by a southern exposure rock. The trail is mostly non-descript from the Cedar Mountain summit to Blood Mountain. There are two trails that branch off to Dockery Lake, but only one is shown on my maps (the blue blazed one near Miller Gap). The other is between Big Cedar Mountain and Granny Top, was not blazed that I could see, but there was an old wooden sign pointing the way to Dockery Lake. It may meet up with the blue blazed trail, but I haven't checked it out yet. I noticed that there have been no ratings or descriptions of the Dockery Lake trail(s). Maybe I can hike it soon and provide such.
Trail Length:11.5 miles
Location: Lumpkin Union County
Features:scenic, AT, camping.
Last hiked:11/04/1995 | Type of trail:Point-to-point
Our rating:Hard
Your rating:Moderate (175)
Date added:01/01/1995
Trail Usage:
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