Salvation at the Neel Gap store

Today was tremendously discouraging. When Jessie and I woke up, we had Blood Mountain, the highest point on Georgia’s Appalachian Trail, looming ahead of us.

We made sure to start earlier so that no one would pass us again on the way to Neel Gap. We managed to be the fifth group of people to leave camp (but who’s counting?) and completely crushed the uphill climb to Jarrad Gap.

From there we ran into a nice older lady who seemed to be admiring Blood Mountain in the distance. He said he was gathering strength to face the escalation. This mountain had been touted by almost everyone we knew and it was starting to scare me a little. Far Out’s elevation map would make you think you’re about to climb Everest.

Just before we left camp, Jessie and I took some ibuprofen to ease the pain in the arches of our feet until we could get to Neel Gap and get some shoe inserts. The fear was not so much of Blood Mountain itself, but rather of our over-the-counter painkillers disappearing during the climb.

Luckily, on the way up, we ran into a familiar friend that we met the day before on the way and we were able to distract ourselves with a nice conversation on the way up. By the time we realized we were out of breath, we could smell the Blood Mountain Shelter toilet.

The shelter itself was a fairly impressive piece of stone masonry, and the rocks above it offered some great panoramic views of North Georgia. We celebrated at the top with the last of our pop tarts and began the dreaded descent.

You might think that going downhill is the fun part, but we’ve learned that downhill highlights every weak joint and sore area of ​​your body. The downhill portion of Blood Mountain was a pretty steep, rocky, and overall not-so-pleasant experience that, frankly, hurt like hell.

At the end of the Blood Mountain segment was the famous Neel Gap store. This is the place where many people abandon the path and throw their shoes at the tree in front. Jessie and I chose to leave the tree because we still have a long way to go to Maine, and leaving it didn’t seem appealing yet.

Instead of giving up on everything, we went in and met Bill. He was a pretty impressive man to watch work. I watched him do a couple of gear tests with other hikers, and it was absolutely clear that he knew almost everything about the gear and how to use it.

I asked someone in the store about shoe inserts and they said Bill would help us when the shakedown was over. I took a look at the price tag and decided that my feet might hurt a little more until I could go to Walmart and buy some cheap foam inserts, but that store makes sure you leave with what you need.

From how Jessie described it, the entire staff came to get me while I was in the bathroom. When they couldn’t find me, Bill found Jessie and told her to bring nothing but her feet and shoes. When I finally found themHe had a lighthouse pointed at his feet and asked him all kinds of questions.

He pulled out a couple of inserts for Jessie to try. When he stepped on them, the relief he felt immediately showed on his face. She asked him how much they cost and his response was «it doesn’t really matter» and he started cutting the inserts to size. At that point I guess Jessie HAD to buy them.

He also showed off a pretty unique way of lacing shoes called a heel lock, which pretty much fixed every problem I had with my shoes (minus the non-arch support). As Jessie stood with her new insoles, it was clear that everything was about to get a whole lot better. (Or so we thought, I’ll write about it in a few days).

The Neel Gap store was a complete godsend. It’s not just a great replenishment, it’s a great place to get advice.

We were so rejuvenated by the whole experience that we decided to continue another five miles to Baggs Creek Gap. We were happy to find that most of our friends had already arrived.

We had the usual nice chat over dinner and had the rather entertaining experience of watching Scooby and Molly attempt their first bear hang. Tragically, the stick became tangled and it looked like their food would be lost forever.

We all managed to get together and poke it with large sticks until it was untangled and hung up again the correct way. It was a lively afternoon. I actually got a trail name from the ordeal.

“Mongo” because “Mongo carries a club.” It was just a passing comment I made while dragging a young cedar tree to help hit the bear piñata, but I guess it stuck! I’ll try it on for a while. Admittedly, it feels very strange not to simply introduce myself as Russell to everyone. I have to give in to the culture at some point though!

This is the flattest place we have camped so far. Looking forward to sleeping amazingly tonight. Only 2 more days of hiking left until we can finally shower and do laundry!

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.