Springer Mountain to Wood Gap

[Parrott65]

Hey Everyone! I think this is the first time I'm posting here, although I've read through the threads from time to time. Anyhow, I and two friends are planning to hike from Springer Mountain to Woody Gap in an overnight backpack trip. We plan to drop a car off at both locations, by dropping one off at Woody Gap, then driving back to Springer to drop off the other car and start hiking. I was running the driving directions to get from one to the other and it's showing a 1 1/2 hour drive from Woody Gap back to USFS 42 near Springer. Is there a shorter distance that won't take so long to drop the cars off before we hike?

[Parrott65]

and that's "Woody Gap", not Wood Gap

[Trillium]

No, nothing shorter. There are longer routes too.

[daddytwosticks]

Hope you are in good hiking shape. That's alot of miles if you are new to backpacking. In fact, that's alot of miles in two days for a large number of experienced hikers, myself included.

[Parrott65]

Hope you are in good hiking shape. That's alot of miles if you are new to backpacking. In fact, that's alot of miles in two days for a large number of experienced hikers, myself included.

You think 10 miles per day is a lot?

[Trailweaver]

Depends. . . it's your experience, age, ability. If you are new at this, you might want to make it a three day. And keep your pack under the typical beginner's weight of 40 lbs or more. 30 lbs. would be better. It's not so much the distance, as the difficulty of elevation/distance.

The weather should be good though.

[Parrott65]

Depends. . . it's your experience, age, ability. If you are new at this, you might want to make it a three day. And keep your pack under the typical beginner's weight of 40 lbs or more. 30 lbs. would be better. It's not so much the distance, as the difficulty of elevation/distance.

The weather should be good though.

Thanks! I have backpacked before, but it's been years. I do day hikes mostly and I'm a regular CrossFitter (as are my friends), so I figured the daily average of 10 per day would be okay for us. I'm aiming to keep my backpack around 30 to 35lbs.

[FatMan]

I was running the driving directions to get from one to the other and it's showing a 1 1/2 hour drive from Woody Gap back to USFS 42 near Springer. Is there a shorter distance that won't take so long to drop the cars off before we hike?

It should only take an hour. The easiest route from Woody to Springer is to drive north on GA60 down the mountain about 1.5 miles and turn left on Cooper Gap Rd. After about 2.5 miles Cooper Gap Rd becomes FS42 and follow FS42 to the Springer parking lot. The best route IMO is to drive north on GA60 about 6.5 miles and turn left onto Gaddistown Rd. Gaddistown Rd wll become FS15 about 1.0 mile before it crosses FS42 at Cooper Gap. Turn right on FS42 and follow to the Springer parking lot. Both of these routes take about 55 mins to an hour. The Gaddistown Rd route will keep you on asphalt the longest.

[Tundracamper]

Remember that there is no parking at Springer. So, if you want to start at Springer, add in an extra 0.9 miles, which brings the total to Woody Gap at 22 miles. Sassafras Mtn is pretty steep. It was my first time hiking the AT and we did two nights, which was just about right. I think it would be a rough two days and one night.


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[scope]

10 miles puts you right in the middle of a dry zone with few good tent spots. You're better off stopping at Hawk Mt shelter the first night and doing the extra mileage hiking out.


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[pablo081002]

We did that last year in two and half. It was rough at first. Two days will not allow you to enjoy it. You can make it, but it won't be as much fun. We did hawk mtn and gooch gap shelters and ended at noon the next day.


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[Trailweaver]

There IS parking at Springer.

[scope]

There IS parking at Springer.

I think Tundra's point was while there is parking FOR Springer, it adds another mile to go tag it. Do that, and you're starting later in the day to do almost 9 miles to Hawk Mt shelter. It's a long 13 mi from there to Woody, but its easier to do that dry section in the morning, and the rest of the hike after Gooch is relatively mild.


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[Parrott65]

We did that last year in two and half. It was rough at first. Two days will not allow you to enjoy it. You can make it, but it won't be as much fun. We did hawk mtn and gooch gap shelters and ended at noon the next day.


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Thanks everyone! I think, based off of these comments, we are going to do 18 miles to Gooch Gap (including the 1 mile hike up Springer from USFS 42 parking lot). The plan is to leave our packs in the car for that first two miles up and back from Springer, then retrieve the packs to do the rest. We'll camp at Hightower Gap and then hike out to Gooch Gap the next day.

[FatMan]

Thanks everyone! I think, based off of these comments, we are going to do 18 miles to Gooch Gap (including the 1 mile hike up Springer from USFS 42 parking lot). The plan is to leave our packs in the car for that first two miles up and back from Springer, then retrieve the packs to do the rest. We'll camp at Hightower Gap and then hike out to Gooch Gap the next day.

Not very good camping at Hightower Gap and no water. You would have to get water at the Hawk Mtn Shelter so you might as well stay there instead. Hightower Gap is only about a half mile further.

[CoconutTree]

There are several informal hilltop campsites after Hightower Gap, within a mile or 2. I would stay there rather than near a road.

i also think if you are crossfitters, and you like some challenge, you might be just fine going to woody gap. There are some hills, but nothing too bad.