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kolokolo
02-21-2009, 19:52
My son and I are planning a 7 or 8 day AT hike in mid-June. We have done a number of 4 to 7 day hikes in the past in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Midhigan. I have read the WB article about average days required by through-hikers to hike each state on the AT (7.7 for Georgia). I would like to hike all 75 miles of the AT in Georgia in 7 or 8 days, but am not sure if I want to go NB from Springer or SB from Dick's Creek Gap. My wife will be able to drop us off at the start, but we will have to get a shuttle at the end either to Atlanta or some other city. It seems like it would be easier and cheaper to get a shuttle from Springer to Atlanta than from Dick's Creek Gap.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience about which of these would work best? Thanks. :-?

jesse
02-21-2009, 21:39
It would be much eaiser to shuttle Southbound. Dicks Creek is a road crossing in the middle of nowhere.

bigcranky
02-21-2009, 22:03
Well, yes and no. You can easily hitch into Hiawassee from DCG and call for a shuttle; we did that on our Georgia section. Anyone who can shuttle you from Amicalola Falls State Park to Atlanta can just as easily pick you up in Hiawassee.

June is a great time to hike in Georgia. It's still relatively cool, and not very crowded (early in the month, anyway.) We had below freezing temps our first night, at Springer, and only saw two hikers on the AT the first three days. You can certainly hike it either direction. I might tend toward Southbound, just to end at the end, as it were. You can easily resupply at Mountain Crossings outfitter at Neel Gap, about halfway through the hike.

Just Plain Jim
02-21-2009, 23:45
Go south if you can get a shuttle. Don't forget that the state line is about 8 miles north of Dicks Creek Gap. Also, if you do complete the whole state, apply for the certificate of completion from the Georgia AT club. I'm looking at mine right now.

Frog
02-22-2009, 08:25
There is a dirt road that leads up towards standing indian shelter about 2 miles from the ga. nc line. With a little research you can find this road. But i think that might be pushing you for a 7 day hike. Remember ga has a lot of ups and downs and i mean a lot. If you dont want to push it i would suggest Hogs pen gap to springer. In june the posion ivy is in full bloom in ga and ga has a lot of this so watch out for it. Just a suggestion. I like to shorten my hikes a little so i can enjoy some of the trail instead being pushed to hike more each day. June can be really hot. Dicks Gap to spinger is 66.6 miles plus another 6 miles back to the parking area at the state park.

Egads
02-22-2009, 08:49
UHFox, You did not mention how old your son is or how many MPD you hiked before. The GA section should be easy to complete in 7-8 days for 2 hikers if you are fit and you keep your weight down.

There is plenty of water sources so you never need to carry more than about 2 liters. There is Mountain Crossings where you can resupply, and several road crossings too. You nearly always have cell phone coverage.

There are several shuttle services to chose from at both ends of the trail. It is generally in better take to take the shuttle before your hike while you are clean and you have more control over your schedule.

Have a good hike

Ekul
02-22-2009, 11:14
UHFox, You did not mention how old your son is or how many MPD you hiked before. The GA section should be easy to complete in 7-8 days for 2 hikers if you are fit and you keep your weight down.

There is plenty of water sources so you never need to carry more than about 2 liters. There is Mountain Crossings where you can resupply, and several road crossings too. You nearly always have cell phone coverage.

There are several shuttle services to chose from at both ends of the trail. It is generally in better take to take the shuttle before your hike while you are clean and you have more control over your schedule.

Have a good hike

Verizon has good coverage on the trail in GA. AT&T has pretty much zero coverage and your just adding weight if you carry it. My CNN crakberry friends took a few trips to gasp that. AMFSP to DCG took 9 days for me the nub averaging 8.5/day. MT. Crossing is also a cheap hostile for a shower and such if needed 4 bucks a night.

kolokolo
02-22-2009, 21:43
Thanks, Egads. Good question. My son is 16 and he and I have hiked anywhere from about 10 to 17 miles in a day. He plays basketball and is in pretty good shape. I run regularly and will be running a marathon in May.

Summit
02-23-2009, 19:12
If you really want to do all of GA and little more, here is Ron Haven's directions to Bly Gap:
If you are going to Bly Gap from Franklin.As you pass the Chunky Gal Trail crossing on US64 going west you will be going down a 4 mile grade of the Chunky Gal Mtn.At the bottom turn left on Vineyard Rd.Go 300ft and turn right on old US64.Go oppx 1 mile and turn left onto Eagle Fork Rd right at the Eagle Fork Fire Dept.About 6 miles the pavement ends.500ft before it ends turn left on Upper Eagle Fork Rd and you will go past a couple of old houses with fish ponds and you will see an old forest service rd turning to the left with a locked forest service gate.I think it is FS2153.

If you walk up thru there it is a couple of miles of good rd and it turns into an old washed out,grown up logging rd that hasn't been used in 30 yrs or more.It proceeds criss crossing back and forth up the Eagle Forks Mtn and as it is coming into Bly Gap it makes a left switch back and into the grassy field just a few ft north of the old crooked Oak Tree there that is Bly Gap.Many years ago this old rd bed crossed Bly Gap and connected into Hightower Rd before you cross the Tahullah River.There is an old logging rd there where they comes together turns left and comes up the backside of Muscrat Creek shelter and referred to as Case knife Gap and up around Kitchens Knob and will come into Deep Gap.

That is the old forest service logging rd there with the markings saying Deep Gap Trail.The Deep Gap Trail turns Left onto a blue blaze about 1/4 mile down that rd.This will intersect with the south side of the Beech Gap Trail to the left and Tate City,Ga to the right.This whole area is very thickly inhabited with bear.This is why you always find bear hunters trucks parked at Deep Gap in the fall of the year.One time I was hiking with my wife and twin sons when we came upon a cave.We counted 8 bears between the cave and branch crossing near Kitchens Knob.Another option would be to drive to Blue Ridge Gap (search on this - there's directions to it as well) and hike north first 3 miles to Bly Gap, then backtrack and head for Springer.

Ox97GaMe
02-24-2009, 02:32
UHFox,
Being originally from Michigan, I can tell you that hiking 10 miles on the AT will be a lot more challenging than anything you have done in Ohio or Michigan in the past. That is not to say you cant complete the trip in a week. Most thru hikers manage Springer to Dicks Creek in a week, and they have shorter hiking days than what you will have.
You are going during the longest days of the year, which will be to your advantage. you will have 14-15 hrs of daylight to hike with. I would suggest getting up and hike early during the cool of the morning. Then find somewhere to rest during the heat of the day (stream, shelter, vista). Finish up with a late afternoon/evening hike to your campsite. Doing this, you will conserve your energy and should be able to easily get in 10-12 miles per day.

Going south will definitely be more beneficial as far as shuttles into Atlanta, if that is where you intend to fly home from. The drawback is that you have to also hike the 8.5 mile approach trail to the state park visitor center. The trail terminates near a forest service road. Depending on what day/time you are there, it may be difficult to get a ride off the mountain from FS 42. That is not to say it cant be done. Just dont count on it being a reality. It woud be sweet trail magic if you found someone that would give you a ride to Elijay or Dahlonega from there. You might even find someone going back to Atlanta area. Anything is possible.

You can also consider flying out of Asheville. If you did that, then northbound and extending to Standing Indian campground would be a viable option. It is about 2 hrs to Asheville and 3.5 hrs to Atlanta from Franklin NC.

Another thing to consider..... hiking south, you will have several significant climbs your first 2-3 days. It will be more strenuous with loaded pack than hiking north would be. you will have significant climbs coming out of Dicks Creek, Indian Grave Gap, Unicoi Gap, Tesnatee Gap and Neels Gap. Sassafras, Blue, and Blood mountains are far more difficult hiking south than they are hiking north. You could be making your toughest climbs while your pack is at/near its maximum weight.

Resupply at Neels Gap is a great idea also. You could plan that so that you only had a 3.5 day load in your pack at max.

kolokolo
06-08-2009, 22:17
Well, we're going to hit the trail in about a week. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. The way this worked out best was for us to drive to NC and park the car there, get a shuttle to Springer, then hike north. I've only done a couple of miles of the AT in Georgia previously, but I am pretty confident that my son and I can do the entire state in 8 days. I know it's a lot of up and down mountains, but we're pretty good hikers and have hiked in mountainous areas before.

It looks like there might be a lot of rain in the area in the next 7 to 10 days, so things might be muddy. And there are probably a lot of mosquitos and other bugs, but such is life. If that kind of thing really bothered us, we'd stay home.

Hope to see some WBers on the trail.

SteveJ
06-08-2009, 23:22
I just got off the trail with my son - we did a 4 day hike northbound into NOC in Wesser. The word is that the ticks, especially in GA, are really bad this year. I treated all of our clothes with permethrin, (and the dog's pack), gave the dog a Hartz flea/tick treatment, and checked her ears every day. No ticks, at least until we found a dead tick on her fur on the way home. (Flea/tick bath tomorrow just in case)

If you haven't thought about treating clothes, especially socks and pants, with permethrin, you may want to consider it! I used this:

http://www.rei.com/product/734901

Have a great hike!

scope
06-08-2009, 23:57
UHFox,
Another thing to consider..... hiking south, you will have several significant climbs your first 2-3 days. It will be more strenuous with loaded pack than hiking north would be. you will have significant climbs coming out of Dicks Creek, Indian Grave Gap, Unicoi Gap, Tesnatee Gap and Neels Gap. Sassafras, Blue, and Blood mountains are far more difficult hiking south than they are hiking north. You could be making your toughest climbs while your pack is at/near its maximum weight.


IMO, sobo is the easier overall hike. If starting at either Amicalola for nobo, or Dicks Creek for sobo, I'd take the 4 miles uphill sobo from Dicks Creek over the 8.5 uphill from Amicalola nobo as an easier start. I'd gladly take Blood Mt sobo over Kelly Knob nobo. Other than that, the ups are fairly equivalent, except that Sassafras is definitely easier sobo. Oh, and after Sassafras sobo, the trail gets increasingly easier for the last 15 miles or so (incl approach trail to Amicalola), as opposed to getting harder after Unicoi Gap nobo.

MoBill122
06-09-2009, 10:54
Maybe they don't like me, but I hike the Georgia Mtns 2-3 times a week and I haven't seen a tick yet.

Nearly Normal
06-09-2009, 20:38
Check out the schedule for slackpacking at the Hiker Hostel site. It gives you a good idea for time frames/miles.

Or just start walking, stop when you want and finish when you do.
I always give myself a couple of days extra when I go so I can follow that routine. I never feel rushed, get to explore and enjoy it more.
I usually make 8-10 miles a day.
I don't take a watch either.

simplysql
06-11-2009, 16:08
we hiked Hogpen Gap to Neels Gap last weekend - had a tick on my leg by the time I got to Tesnatee Gap - be careful out there...