GA Appalachian Trail - Sections 13-14 - Hogpen Hap to Neels Gap

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/30/2017	6.9 miles

Map and Guide Book: Appalachian Trail Conservancy, North Carolina-Georgia

Directions: Neels Gap to Hogpen Gap

After two back to back longer days, today we had a short day, doing the section we skipped over earlier. When I started working with a personal trainer, she had me bring a small foam roller ("The Stick") on hiking vacations and foam roll daily. We forgot to bring it, and today I woke up with very tight calves and plantar fascia. I took time to stretch this morning, trying to loosen up. I felt less exhausted today, but we still ended up hiking slowly. Today we had really good views!

The day after this, there were thunderstorms forecasted and heavy rain, so we took the day off from hiking. We were 1 day ahead of schedule, so it worked out well. I still read up to see if there was a shorter hike we could do in the afternoon, but I ended up feeling like my body could just use some rest.  We hung out in the hostel and slept. We gave a ride to a German hiker to the local pharmacy and Walmart. He's an engineer, and the company he works for gives it employees sabbaticals, so he's using part of his to hike the AT! Later in the afternoon, we took a tour of a closed down gold mine in town. It was a good rainy day activity.

Starting at Neels Gap

Panning for gold