I'm starting my thru in less than a month, and I plan on doing the Approach Trail. I'm just trying to get an idea of where I should camp out that first night, and logistics of getting around Blood Mountain without having to carry a bear canister...


Here are my feelings on the three most likely candidate locations for the first night:

Black Gap Shelter: Short day with Approach Trail, and the next day would be my first day on the AT itself
Springer Mountain Shelter: Camp out on the AT this first night. This is the leading one so far, I think.
Stover Creek Shelter: It's possible, but I don't think I want to push myself that much the first day.

I feel like I'd rather appreciate Springer Mountain at nightfall and dawn than get the extra couple of miles that first day.


What really complicates things is the bear activity around Blood Mountain. Therefore, I'm thinking of camping at Springer Mountain Shelter the first night, Sassafras Mountain the second night (don't want to push myself to Gooch, I know I'm in for the long haul), then Lance Creek the third night. Resupply in Neels Gap on what would be my 4th day, and continue on, probably setting up camp at Wolf Laurel Top.


I'm carrying a light pack (total weight is around 13lbs without food/water, that's including the stuff I'll be wearing, though), I'm young, and I'm in good shape, though, so I dunno if Stover Creek/Gooch Mountain is a realistic itinerary or not. But even then, I'd be looking at 15 miles to hit Neels and get outside the bear canister radius, which might be asking a bit, so it's not like pushing myself to those spots would really benefit me much more, since I'd still need an extra day before resupply anyway.