# Questions about the Appalachian Trail and backpacking.



## Iam99x (Nov 28, 2012)

Hello, all. Myself and 3 other friends plan on having a Friday afternoon through Sunday backpacking trip.

Ideally, we want to drive two cars up there, leave one car at the end of our trail, drive the other car back to Springer Mountain, and hike back to the first car. We don't want to do a loop, so this is why we intend to take two cars.

My questions here are:

Can we park the first car somewhere close to the start of the trail, and leave it there for the weekend?

Where would a good spot be to put the 2nd car? We are looking to do somewhere around 10 miles. Doing about a mile or so the first night, set up a quick camp, and head out Saturday morning for about 8-9 miles, setting up camp, finishing off Sunday.

Would we be able to set up a camp anywhere on the trail? Of course, with light impact, and using existing camp sites if available.

I know this is an easy amount of distance to hike in a day, but this will be a first time for one of the guys...and I don't want to kill them.

Basically, what I really want to do, is hike somewhere that we can set up a camp anywhere we like, and is a trail that has parking available. It doesn't HAVE to be on the AT, but I really want to get on that trail. I've been itching to for some time.

Thanks, everyone.

Allen


----------



## Oconostota (Nov 28, 2012)

I'm not sure about your parking question, but yes, you can camp anywhere you want, on the AT.

If you do camp in one of those AT shelters, then DO use the strings hanging from the ceiling, to hang up all of your food.  See, even if you put your freeze dried food atop your stomach as you sleep, mice WILL chew right through the bags and eat your food, without you even knowing it.  Don't ask me how I know this.  

I did 30 miles on a 3 day trip once, around the Standing Indian Basin, just over into NC.  I walked 10-12 hours a day, for 3 days.  Sunup to sundown, and I was only able to average 10 miles / day.  Lots of it was brutally steep, though.  And so is the very beginning, from Springer Mtn (as I understand it).

Trouble was, my pack was 55 lb.  Always, always, always keep your pack 35 lb or less, in the mountains.  Not that hard to do.  One trick is, after your first trip, to make two piles of your gear.  In one pile, put everything you used.  In the other, what you didn't use.  That's a good way to start shedding weight, for your next trip.

And make sure you have some good, name brand hiking boots.  Timberlands are NOT good hiking boots (I learned that lesson on the above mentioned trip, and lost many toenails).  Neither are most typical hunting boots worth a flip for this task.  You want backpacking boots.  GoreTex is very, very well worth the extra money.  And "light" always costs money, but is well worth the price.


----------



## ospreydog (Nov 28, 2012)

If you want to do about a total of 20 miles you can do Woody gap to Springer. If you only want to do a mile or two on Friday afternoon I would do Springer to Woody then you can drop off the car at Woody gap then go on to Springer parking lot from there it's only a mile to the top of Springer. You will have tent pads or the shelter, good water and a privy. It's a great place to camp on the AT. It's about 13 miles to Justus creek from Springer mountain for your first day which will not be that hard at all on this section. That way Sunday won't be bad at all. Hope this helps.


----------



## Woodsong (Nov 29, 2012)

Check with USFS- trail around springer mountain has been closed earlier this week due to a fire but it is possibly already opened back up.  Parking @ the USFS road just a mile north of the summit of springer mountain is pretty far back in- would be a pain to drop a car there and another further down the trail. 
Easiest access and nice 10 mile hike would be Woody Gap to Neels Gap- almost exactly 11 miles.  You could start @ Woody Gap, hike about a mile in to Preacher Rock which has a good little camp site (no water so pack in water) with a very nice rock with great view (beautiful!), then hike about 7.5 miles to summit of Blood Mountain with a shelter that they just put a new roof on (again, no water so pack it in from base of blood mountain) with absolutely amazing views from several rock faces (2 big rocks in front of shelter plus some more nice rock faces just north of the shelter).  Then, about 1.5-2 mile hike down to Neels Gap.  Great stretch of trail.  I've spent over a year of my life on the A.T. so love being up there.


----------



## Woodsong (Nov 29, 2012)

Trail elevation profiles for GA:
http://joomla.georgia-atclub.org/publications/GA-AT-Profiles.pdf

Take your time and enjoy the hike- the Woody Gap to Neels Gap is a nice stretch of trail and a good stretch of trail.  There are some loops you can do from the Neels Gap area too if you want to park in one spot go over top of blood mountain and then around back to where you started.


----------



## Iam99x (Nov 29, 2012)

Thank you guys for the advice and help. 

Slight change in plans, we are okay with doing around 20 miles. We want to start at Springer, and end _______. maybe Neels Gap, Woody Gap, or Blood Mountain. Still trying to figure out distances and parking.


----------



## cheeber (Nov 29, 2012)

Without getting out a trail map, I am not fresh on the distances.  Just as a lesson I have learned when hiking car to car, plan for plenty of time to shuttle vehicles and remember you have to do it twice.  Travel on many of those roads is very slow.  For this reason, I've leaned towards loops over recent years, much more time on the trail.  We have hired a shuttling service before (see whiteblaze.net and call the local outfitters for contacts) and I thought it was well worth the service.  Driving a couple hours on forest service roads, then a couple hours on highway home after a 20 mile hike is certainly doable, but you probably won't be much good for work on Monday.

Check out the Coosa Back Country Loop from Vogel State Park.  Its a tough but good 12 mile trail and we added a several miles on the AT to see Blood Mountain and the area southeast of Blood Mountain.  The AT around Blood Mountain is very crowded (in terms of hiking).  We camped on the AT about 2 miles southeast of Blood Mountain and the whole area had tons of campers.  Two different groups pitched up right next to us, which I don't blame due to site limitations, but I do prefer a little more space.  Next time I do that hike, I will either accept the crowds and stay at the shelter on top of Blood (which is a neat place) or get back on the Coosa Loop before making camp.

Best of Luck,


----------



## Iam99x (Nov 29, 2012)

That Coosa trail would be awesome for a good workout, but we are wanting a moderate hike with good views. The one guy who's capabilites were questionable backed out when he heard that we were hiking and not JUST camping. So no bottlenecks now. We want a good balance of hike and views. 

I can't wait!


----------



## ospreydog (Nov 29, 2012)

Appalachian Trail Distance Calculator
atdist.com


----------



## Iam99x (Nov 29, 2012)

Awesome, thanks!


----------



## greg_n_clayton (Nov 30, 2012)

Don't forget to be coming up with you a trail name iffin ya don't already have one !! Everybody I have came in contact with introduces theirself with a trail name instead of their real name !! That may just be the hard core AT hikers, but it seems to be the trend !!


----------



## ospreydog (Nov 30, 2012)

*More info*

If you do this section you will love the Hemlocks at the Stover Creek area they are really big, I have done this section many many times and never get tired of it. Here is some more info.
Campsites: Mile 0.2: Springer Mountain Shelter; mile 2.5: Stover Creek Shelter; mile 7.6: Hawk Mountain Shelter; mile 16.1 Gooch Gap Shelter; Water Sources: Mile 0.2: spring at Springer Mountain Shelter; mile 2.1: stream; mile 2.5: Stover Creek; mile 4.0: Chester Creek; mile 5.0: blue-blazed side trail to Long Creek Falls; mile 5.5: small stream; mile 7.5: stream 0.1 mile before side trail to Hawk Mountain Shelter; mile 13.6: Justus Creek; mile 14: small stream; mile 14.3:- I AM A POTTY MOUTH - Blackwell Creek; mile 14.6 small stream; mile 16.1: spring near Gooch Gap Shelter; Ranger District: Springer Mountain to Cooper Gap: Toccoa; Cooper Gap to Woody Gap: Brasstown


----------



## Iam99x (Nov 30, 2012)

greg_n_clayton said:


> Don't forget to be coming up with you a trail name iffin ya don't already have one !! Everybody I have came in contact with introduces theirself with a trail name instead of their real name !! That may just be the hard core AT hikers, but it seems to be the trend !!



Haha I've been thinking of a few.



ospreydog said:


> If you do this section you will love the Hemlocks at the Stover Creek area they are really big, I have done this section many many times and never get tired of it. Here is some more info.
> Campsites: Mile 0.2: Springer Mountain Shelter; mile 2.5: Stover Creek Shelter; mile 7.6: Hawk Mountain Shelter; mile 16.1 Gooch Gap Shelter; Water Sources: Mile 0.2: spring at Springer Mountain Shelter; mile 2.1: stream; mile 2.5: Stover Creek; mile 4.0: Chester Creek; mile 5.0: blue-blazed side trail to Long Creek Falls; mile 5.5: small stream; mile 7.5: stream 0.1 mile before side trail to Hawk Mountain Shelter; mile 13.6: Justus Creek; mile 14: small stream; mile 14.3:- I AM A POTTY MOUTH - Blackwell Creek; mile 14.6 small stream; mile 16.1: spring near Gooch Gap Shelter; Ranger District: Springer Mountain to Cooper Gap: Toccoa; Cooper Gap to Woody Gap: Brasstown




I am so excited. I can't freaking wait to go!

Are there any good fishing spots, and is it allowed?


----------



## TreeFrog (Dec 1, 2012)

I always thought your trail name had to be bestowed upon you by your peers/enemies like an Air Force call sign.


----------



## greg_n_clayton (Dec 1, 2012)

TreeFrog said:


> I always thought your trail name had to be bestowed upon you by your peers/enemies like an Air Force call sign.



I ain't got a clue !!!


----------

