Blood Mountain - Traildames hike

I left the house early this morning to meet the Traildames at Neels Gap to hike a 6.2 mile section of the AT from Jarrard Gap to Neels. I pulled into the Byron Reece parking lot around 9:00 and found Mandy there waiting. Joan arrived a few minutes later and we left their cars there and headed over to Lake Winfield Scott to meet the rest of the dames to begin our hike. Soon SHOE and Kristen arrived, and shortly thereafter Linda pulled in. We all donned our gear and headed up the Jarrard Gap trail to access the AT.

When Lacey and I left the house it was still raining..it has rained on and off all week, and it was cold. As we started our hike, the rain finally tapered off, but it was still cold and windy. The trail was wet and muddy, but not too bad. Joan, Kristen, Mandy and Linda hike a bit faster, so soon we lost sight of them as they headed up the trail. Lacey and I hung back and hiked with Shoe, I hadn't seen her since Christmas, and we were catching up on things. Just a little over 30 minutes later, we hit Jarrard Gap and turned north on the AT. The others had stopped to wait for us, so we stopped and chatted a bit with them. Well, I started getting cold, so I headed up the trail while they were all talking. I have had a crazy bad week at work, and really needed the healing powers of the AT to help me work through some stuff that was really weighing heavy on my mind.

I hiked a good mile and a half, then remembered that I had Lacey's water, so I found a nice place to sit, and waited for the others to catch up. I was feeling pretty good, usually on a hike with ups, I have been forced to stop every 50-100 feet to catch my breath. So far, I have hiked just a little over 2 1/2 miles, and haven't had to stop one time. Now I am not setting any speed records, but it felt good just to be able to walk without gasping for breath. I guess the combination of weight loss and exercise is really beginning to pay off. I had been bit bummed when we started the hike, because this was Lacey's first trip up Blood Mountain, and with the rain, fog and clouds, I knew she was going to miss the full effect because there wouldn't be much of a view. Well, lets just say that God decided to release the fog and clouds, and allow us to continue the hike in sunshine. Up ahead of us, loomed Blood Mountain. I mean, it looked like we were going to have to climb forever to get to the summit. I hung back a bit this section to chat with SHOE some more, and the others headed on up. As we neared Slaughter Gap, I started noticing rocks and trees that I had sat on of previous hikes to rest...now I just kept going. It was feeling so good to be able to hike like a normal person. We got to Slaughter Gap and took a short snack/rest break, then moved on.

Maybe 45 minutes later, we were at the summit....all alone. I have never been up on the top of Blood Mountain without a ton of other people, but this time it was just us, the Traildames. The fog was gone, the clouds had thinned out, the sun was shining, and you could see for miles and miles. We checked out the shelter, climbed up on the rocks and just felt the energy that old mountain was sharing with us. It was beyond incredible. And I think Lacey felt the same way.

The trail down was wet, slippery and rocky, but we made good time down, passing quite a few people on their way up. We split off into two groups at the junction of the freeman trail, Lacey,Mandy and I headed to Neels..neither of them had done this section, and I really wanted Lacey to see Balancing Rock, while the others headed to get the cars.

Joan shuttled us back to our car putting an end to another excellent hike. It was a great hike, the weather ended up being perfect, the company was great and I got to take my kid on a hike. Life is good.

Until next time...........

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through- Rosalyn Carter.