Well, it is June and that means the unofficial start of
summer. It has taken me a little more time to get this blog up because my apartment
flooded and I am now moving at the end of the month, so we are packing and
trying to get most of our stuff out of the bedrooms. The secondary one I have
started to call “the Swamp” because the floor is cracked and has a musty odor
when it has flooded the corner of the room (twice in a week). Without all of that it still would have taken
a little time as I had a plethora of great hikes during Spring-Thru ’15. Not even making the list were hikes to Amicalola Falls, the Hike Inn, Raven Cliffs and Dukes Creek Falls. As you
can see from my blog about Spring-Thru ’15 there were plenty of hikes and
miles. So, with that said here are the best-of-the-best.
Honorable Mention 1: Blood
Mountain Loop Hikes (March 21 & May 24, 2015) – This is one of my favorite
hikes to my number one place in Georgia…Blood Mountain. This spring Deb and I hiked the
six miles loop not once, but twice. These hikes couldn't have been more different. The trail
still looked like winter back in March, but in late May it looked more like
early summer with green lining the trail and on the summit the Mountain Laurel
and Catawba Rhododendrons was just starting to bloom. Oh, and Blood Mountain has some of the most wonderful
vistas in Georgia. The loop starts at the Byron Reese Memorial and takes the trail with his name, then taking the Freeman Trail
and then heads north on the Appalachian Trail up Blood Mountain. I will say I
think Deb liked the March better than the one in May, but both were great in
the own ways and because these hikes could take up two spots on this list (here and here is the extended blogs). 
Honorable Mention 2: AT Hiking @ Big Cedar Mountain (March 15, 2015) – This is another hike with Deb. I don’t like to rank these because anytime she goes out with me it is special and this was the case for this hike from Woody Gap. There were two reasons for this; the first is this was Deb’s first big hike of the spring. While we had been to Sawnee Mountain she hadn't ventured into the North Georgia Mountains. As for the second it was the start of AT Thru-Hiking Season. It is always fun to pass the hikers headed north to Katahdin. I know that only 1 out of 4 will make it the 2,000+ miles to the end, but Deb and I like to guess which ones. Because it was thru-hiking season Woody Gap was busier than I had ever seen it, people were parked everywhere. Overall, this hike is one of my favorites and it made for a great day in early March (here is the extended blog).
Number 5: AT Section Hike Georgia From Springer Mountain To Hightower Gap (May 30, 2015). This was my
second AT Section Hike and last one for Spring-Thru ‘15. It tells you how tough a list it is when this
one is fifth. Besides being a section hike
this was the first time I had taken part in a key swap hike, which is when you split
the group and one starts from say Springer Mountain and the other from
Hightower Gap. At some point you cross and swap keys and then meet back up.
When doing one of these might advice is to say stay with one of the drivers. Anyway, I got to
return to Springer Mountain for the first time since March of 2013. The other
big highlight was getting to take in Long Creek Falls. Overall this was a great
hike. 
Number 4: Hike Georgia On Arkaquah Trail @ Brasstown Bald (May
13, 2015). This hike was a long time in the making. It took four times to
finally get this hike in and it was well worth it. While our group was small,
just Beth and Kelly, the weather was near perfect and the wildflowers were in
full bloom. One of the surprises was the lovely Pink Lady Slippers which was a
rare treat. This is a great ridge-line trail, I will say the views, while nice,
are probably better in winter, but the views from the second part up to
Brasstown Bald Summit were amazing. It was a hike that was more than worth the
wait (here is the extended blog).
Number 3: Hike Georgia @ Woody Gap (March 31, 2015). I will
say this was a hike I have wanted to do for a while. The hike was an
out-and-back from Woody to Gooch Gap which is about eight miles round-trip. I
had done this hike to Ramrock Mountain, which has a nice vista. However, I had
never went beyond Jacks Gap, but I was surprised to find after climbing out of
Jacks Gap a vista even better than
Ramrock Mountain. This spot is not in any guidebook and I could find no name, so I
am calling it Jacks Cliff Top. Once at Gooch Gap we found these three cravings
on dead trees and stumps. One was an old man with and AT logo the second was a
bear and the third a frog. When we got back to Woody Gap we did some bonus hiking as I took
Mikki and Paul up for their first visit to Preaching Rock, it was a great end to
a great day of hiking (here is the extended blog).
Number 2: AT Hiking @ Camp Creek Bald & Big Firescald Knob (April 11, 2015). This was my annual Spring Break hike in
Tennessee. This year was a return to the Camp Creek Bald area. That year Glen
and I hiked from the summit of Camp Creek Bald down to the AT and out to Whiterock
and Blackstack Cliffs. On this trip, in April, we went from Jones Meadow, which is below
Camp Creek Bald and the site of the old Viking Mountain Ski Resort, and hiked
down the AT just below Blackstack Cliffs. Oh, on this trip Glen’s dog Charlie
came along. We headed north up the AT to the ridge-line of Big Firescald Knob
which provide incredible views of Tennessee and North Carolina, including
Greeneville. Also, Charlie found a huge mud puddle…good times (here is the extended blog).
Number 1: AT Section Hiking Woody Gap To Neel Gap (May 3, 2015)
– This is the section of the AT in Georgia I have wanted to hike the most. I had done just over
half of it, but I still had about four miles to complete. So, I had decided
to do the whole section at one time. I had planned to do it a number of times, but never
pulled the trigger. So, I decided to do it the first weekend in May. I had
planned to start from Woody Gap and have Deb come up and collect me at Mountain Crossing in Neel Gap
and shuttle me back to my car. However, I had joined this group on Facebook
called North Georgia / Backpacking Club and the guy who runs it, Gregg, said he
was interested in doing it on Sunday. I had planned for Saturday, but after
chatting with him I decided to head out with him on Sunday. It was a good
choice, he hiked at my pace and it was a beautiful day. When we arrived at
Jarrard Gap I had “officially” finished the hike. But, we still had the best
part of the hike over Blood Mountain. When we arrived at Neel Gap, Gregg’s
friend shuttled us back to Woody Gap. It was a great hike and I made a new
hiking friend…win, win (here is the extended blog).
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