Wanted to share my experience for the first AT trip of the year.
Where: Springer nobo to Neels (Total 33.3 miles for the trip)
When: March 15th to March 17th (Friday night to Sunday)
Who:Gambit and his good hiking buddy
Why: To see what the hussle and bussle is all about in the Middle of March in Georgia
Conclusion: I used Ron Brown for my shuttle from Byron Reece Trailhead to Springer. Pickup time was 8:30pm. Ron has no cutoff on shuttle times, and no shortage of breath when it comes to talking. The man talked for an hour and half straight mostly about how his transmission was giving out on him. Ron has logged over a million miles shuttling hikers and says hese gunna take every shuttle he can until he physically cant do it any longer. Ron had lots of opinions about us getting on the trail as follows:
Need to carry extra water bc there was a water shortage in that section: False, Water was flowing out of every crack and cranny the entire way. I carried 1 liter for the entirety of the trip other then 2 liters for dry camping.
Did you bring a bear canister? Gotta have one for this stretch: False, Only need it for the last 7 miles of the trip, in which we were not wanting to camp on.
Anyways, I digress, I guess in conclusion to the shuttle: Ron will get ya from point a to b with good communication prior to shuttle and at a reasonable price
We arrived at springer mountain trailhead at about 10:30pm...BRRR. Mad dash up to the summit, take picture, back down we go and on our way to Stover creek camp site(Just before shelter). Get there and have some good conversation over a couple BL's and off to bed at midnight.
Up at 8:30! late sleepers we are. On trail at 9. Stover Creek Shelter was full the night before and full of tents. Expecting this we stopped at the creek .1 before the shelter, it was empty - no problem finding a tent spot as soon as we wanted it Friday night.
Saturday - Made it to Gooch Gap Shelter at about 3pm. Prior to Gooch Gap Shelter we had experienced trail magic at Hightower gap that consisted of bottled water and colas. And then again at Horse Gap that was a full spread: Campfire, sandwiches, colas, cookies etc. I had a bottle of water that first, and a sandwich and lots of other goodies at Horse gap. I was starving and appreciated the food fuel up. At Gooch Shelter we caught wind of a St patties day party at Gooch Gap, and with 4 hours of daylight left we were both ready to push on. We arrived to gooch gap shelter to the sound of music and laughter. We were offered a cold busch light and some cookies. Miss Janet was pulling up just as we were heading out, I had never seen her so that was fun. After partaking in beverages and cookies we were off again. Made it up to MM 18.6 Saturday night and camped at an outstanding tent site with a great view along with 4 other hikers. 2 of those hikers were hammock hanging on their first night of a week long trip. The next morning they both reported it was the coldest night of their life and they had to make a change and neel gap.
Sunday we hiked on to woody gap where we experienced trail magic #4 of the trip. Hot fire and breakfast hot dogs. After a hot dog we were back on our way. I would say the toughest part of this stretch was from Woody to Neels. Just IMO.
We probably saw, and passed 150+ thru hikers. Never did I feel there were too many people out on the trail, never did I feel that there wasn't space for everyone but yes the trail was busy. And yes the shelter sights most definitely attracted all the hikers. Gooch Gap Shelter was like a magnet Saturday night. So if you choose to camp away from the shelters, you wouldn't even know it was thru hiker season in the area.
In all actuality the climb up Blood mountain NOBO was 10 fold easier than when I did this trip sobo. I was to the top in 10-15 minutes from slaughter creek with minimal huffing and puffing. That being said, I definitely felt the winter fat this this trip and for all the climbs except blood, I huffed and puffed. The whole time thinking, I better be in better shape before the whites or that trip is not going to go well. That happens every year though, first trip is a huffer puffer and every trip after gets a little easier and easier.
If others who are new to hiking were planning to do this trip I would suggest 2.5 days instead of the 1.5 that I did it in.