North Georgia Weekend

 H9 Marathon and Blood Mountain Double Crossing

My wonderful wife allowed me to escape this weekend to the mountains of north Georgia.  I made a last minute decision to run in a small trail marathon out of Vogel State Park.  After seeing how nice the park was, I wish that the Kelli and the girls would have joined me on the trip.  The weather ended up being perfect and the girls would have loved all the activities at the park.  However,  the weekend started off fairly rough with a long 7 hour drive only to set up my tent and have a torrential rainstorm chase me back into the truck.  After a fitful night of barely any sleep, I got up and ready to run the H9 marathon with roughly 7,000 vertical feet of climbing over the 26 miles.  Most of the race was on the Duncan Ridge Trail and made 2 trips up and over Coosa Bald at 4,280 feet of elevation.  The race was fairly small but several really fast guys showed up.  I ended up finishing in 4 hours and 37 minutes and had a great time.  After the race, lunch and a bit of relaxation,  I went over to Neel's gap and climbed up and over Blood Mountain.  Blood Mountain is the highest point on the Appalachain Trail in Georgia at 4,458 feet.  I did another 10 miles on the trail up and over and back for another 3,500 vertical feet for the day.  After a long day, I enjoyed the low 50 degree weather back at the park that evening.

Stone shelter atop Blood Mountain

 Sign atop Blood Mountain Shelter

 There are several great rocky ledges and perches on top.

 View looking down on the shelter from atop the rocks.

 I met Shawn and Cecil on top of Blood Mountain.  They took a casual approach to the day.  Shawn was wearing a pair of loafers, corduroy slacks and a dress shirt.  Cecil was sporting a nice top hat and comfy sandals which I am sure were quite comfortable for the rocky and steep climb.  They did mention to me that they were not really prepared for what they just did (really?), but looked no worse for the wear.

 Down the south side trail off Blood Mountain,  I crossed paths with this 13 year old from Atlanta.  He was quite proud of his 50 pound backpack.
   

 If you have never been to Mountain Crossing outfitters at Neel's gap, what a wonderful place to visit.

 The Appalachain Trail runs right through the building, the only building it runs through on the entire journey from Georgia to Maine.

 Sign on the side of the building.

 My tent site drying out after the drenching on Friday night.

No glamorous meal here, but it did the job.  Once again, I would like to really thank Kelli for letting me have the weekend.  She is really excited about camping out with me on the next trip!!!