Springer Mountain to Dick's creek gap

Hello all,
New to the white blaze site but not new to the trail. I hiked many parts of the AT and have a fair amount of experience with it. That been said, this is the first time I am attempting a hike alone. I already have the shuttle reserved and made the plan but wanted to see if there is last words of wisdom to take in account.

I know shelters aren't opened and I am planning on tent camping and bear bag. Plan is to hike from Springer mountain to Dick's creek Gap in 5 days starting Sunday 6/21/20
After a lot of study this is the plan I came up with

Sunday: Springer to Gooch mountain (15.7 miles)
Monday : Gooch to wood's hole shelter (12 miles)
Tuesday: Wood's hole shelter to whitley gap shelter (10.3 miles)
Wednesday: Whitley gap to blue mountain (12 miles)
Thursday: Blue mountain to Tray mountain (7.7 miles)
Friday: tray mountain to Dicks Creek Gap (11.2 miles)
I am also planning for an extra day worth of food in case something happened and a delay wasn't expected. Forecast doesn't look the greatest either.

Thanks
Joe

That looks like a good plan. One thing you might consider is caching food at either Woody Gap (mile 21) or Neel Gap (mile 32) or possibly both. That would save you from having to carry all that weight. Both are located on a highway and your shuttle driver could probably help you out.

Have a great time. There has been lots of rain so water should not be a problem.

Whitley Gap Shelter is over a mile off trail downhill if I remember correctly. You would be better off camping on the ridge before the shelter or to move past it.

You'd be best to stop at Lance Creek. And stock up on water when you leave, as there will be none until you get to Neel gap. Woods Hole and Slaughter creek are unreliable this time of year. A long walk to find out their dry.

Nobody goes to Whitley gap shelter, too far away. But so is Low Gap shelter if coming from Neel gap. There are lots of places to camp in between, but water will be an issue since there isn't much along the ridges. It will hot and humid, so having enough water is important.
You can resupply at Mountain crossings in Neel gap. You only need a couple days worth of food to finish from there.

We have a similar run planned. Only we scheduled mostly single digit days due to driving, and the potential for resting during the humid heat of the afternoon and maybe a swimming hole. I have never been on the GA trail with the leaves on. Happy Hiking.

Where do you camp if not at the shelter area? can you camp by the trail? I see there is a tent and water mark at Baggs creek gap maybe that's where I would land for the night

That is very true about the food, I was not planning to go into town though. Plan is to stay on the trail the whole time. Hopefully I don't regret that decision.

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Originally Posted by youyou2910

Where do you camp if not at the shelter area? can you camp by the trail? I see there is a tent and water mark at Baggs creek gap maybe that's where I would land for the night

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You can camp wherever you want on the Georgia AT. You can still camp in the areas by the shelters even if the shelter itself is closed. I hiked the Standing Indian loop last weekend in N.C. and there were people sleeping in the shelters. I doubt it is ok but they were doing it anyway.

I have never heard of Baggs creek so cannot comment on that one

the wife and i hiked from springer to winding stair gap last week and water was no problem.hopefully you can still catch the mountain laurel and azalea in bloom it was sweet. oh ya and watch out in horse gap we walked right into an ambush by the army rangers,scared the hell out of us.

That is good to know. I did read about the army doing fire drills there. I bet that would scare me too

I just got off that section last week and there was plenty of water on the trail. Anything that said "seasonal" was flowing well, and there was plenty of water coming down in places that weren't even mentioned on Guthook. Your plan is ambitious, for me, but I'm pretty slow and out of shape, so god bless if you can do that many miles in the heat. Definitely would skip Whitley Shelter unless you want to add an extra two miles to your trip. Maybe try to make it to Low Gap Shelter? That section between Hogpen and Unicoi is the easiest in GA, so I'd plan on making up miles there instead of the 16 on day 1. I'd stop at Justus Creek instead, and camp down along the river instead of up on those tent sites up the hill. Justus Creek was my favorite spot in Georgia and would make a great stopping point. I also thought Jarrard Gap was a nice spot with water nearby. So maybe consider something like the following?
Springer to Justus Creek - 14 miles
Justus to Jarrard Gap - 12 miles
Jarrard to Baggs Creek - 12 miles
Baggs to the campsite at mile 49 - 14 miles
Mile 49 to Steeltrap Gap - 11 miles
Steeltrap to Dicks Creek 9 miles

Maybe split up those last two days, because for me, that section from Unicoi north was a bear. Out of the 5 miles north from Unicoi, maybe 100 yards of it was level. At least thats how I remember it....

Edit to add: The water at Steeltrap is down a pretty long and steep trail, that kind of sucked. Also, I've stayed at all the spots I recommended except Baggs Creek. I do not know/remember anything about that spot other than what is in the White Blaze book and on Guthooks.

on Whitley gap, your days aren't that long before and after, and Whitley is a very nice shelter. Plenty of water, nice area, you won't have crowds. It's one of my favorites.

your first day is a long one, lots of ups and downs. I'm assuming you'll spend Saturday night on Springer with the ability to get up and moving fairly early? If you run out of steam on the first day, the Justus Creek campsites are about a mile or so before the Gooch Mtn shelter and you could make up that distance the next day. Day 2 has a couple of tough climbs after Woody but it's not a bad day.

Don't worry about the Ranger students. Just chuck a handful of candy bars and run for it.