TRIP REPORT: I did a section of the AT this weekend. Woody Gap (21 miles from Springer) to Neels Gap (31.7 miles) and back to Woody Gap. I wanted to do it as a day hike. With side trails, it would have been about 22+ mile hike. It was my first time on AT with a full pack (35lbs). I've been exclusively a day hiker prior to this.

I started late because Thr night slept 2 hrs. Friday night I slept 4 hrs. I finally feel asleep at 3:30 am and woke up at 7:45. I wanted to be at the trail no later than 8:30 am. I got there at 10am.

I started at Woody Gap (21 miles) at approximately 10:15am. I made it to summit of Blood mt (29.3 miles) at approximately 2 pm. Messed around at the top for a bit and made it down to Neels Gap (31.7 miles) at about 3 pm. Made it back to summit of Blood Mt. (29.3 miles) 4:30 pm. I was officially starting to feel tired at this point, with drop in miles my miles per hour. Messed around for a little more and started descending Blood Mt. Got to Slaughter Creek (28.5 miles) for water resupply taking me to about 5:15 pm. Made it to Jarrard Gap (26.7 miles) at 6 pm. I got a second wind here and my miles per hour had a significant jump. Made it to Dockery Lake (23.9 miles) at 7:40 pm. I am officially zombie hiking at this point. I consider stopping here for night. I decided my car is 3 miles away. I got this. No quitting. I still have 1.5 hours of sunlight. I got this. I continue hiking. I notice I am going up . . . and up . . . and up .. . and up for a long time. I am dead tired. Another 1/2 a mile I pull out my AT guide and I notice it is all up hill for next 1.5 miles. I was deflated and losing light. I push on for another .3 miles and I see 4 guys setting up camp and they had a fire. I talked to them briefly and they (and my body) convinced me to call it a day. I had blisters, but nothing to awful. I've had worse, but they bothered me. Knees a little sore, but fine. My shoulders and traps though. Dear god, putting that pack down for the last time that day was an amazing feeling. It felt better than the summit of Big Ceder Mt. and Blood Mt. combined! I camped there for the night, and I was happy I did because we enjoyed talking around the fire pit until about 10 pm. We were all tired. They were on day 2 of a section hike of Springer to Neels Gap. We went to sleep. I did not sleep. . . at least not well and not until 4-5 am. We "woke" up 7:30. No breakfast. Packed up and I was on my way. Said goodbye and goodluck. I had about 2.2 miles left. Of which, 1.2 was straight up. I did the up easily enough. However, the last mile was the a brutal descent which took me forever. I went slow, my blisters were killing me. I HATE rocky step descents. I also stopped and talked to some day hikers who asked me for directions. I arrived at my car just shy of 10:00 am.

Day 1: 18.3 miles. a little under 10 hrs. Average hiking speed 1.8 miles per hour, including all stops.
Day 2: 2.2 miles. 1.45 hrs.

Overall amazing hiking. A little easier from Woody to Neels than Neels to Woody, but that may just be the difference of having just started vs just finished. Plenty of water sources at for the first 3ish miles after woody, then fairly dry until base of blood Mt. I was very disappointed in myself that I didn't finish it as a day hike, but overall I was happy I stopped and shared a campfire with those no longer strangers.

All smiles!