20250611 – Canyonlands and Arches NPs

We dismounted the camper for the couple days while we’re here. There’s a power hook up so we can turn the air conditioner on and leave the pups here. Remember that the national parks are not pet friendly, so there’s really no allowing them off of pavement or concrete, and at 95 to 100° here that gets too hot for the dogs. The campground is nice and shaded, though, and they sleep most of the day anyway.

Kathy and I went to Canyonlands first thing in the morning. This is one of my favorite parks, if not my favorite park. It’s not necessarily from the Mesa where the tourists drive, but it’s because of the White Rim Trail that traverse is down to where the Colorado and the Green rivers nearly converge. That is one of the best camping/overlanding routes. I’ve done it three times, and although we’re not taking Howie down there, it still is a wonderful place to visit. This is actually the first time that I made it up onto the Mesa and drove all the roads and looked at all the vistas.

The way national parks are now you have to have a reservation order to drive in, and Arches National Park is no different. I got on the website when we arrived here and the only times that were available were afternoon times on any of the three days that were here. So I paid the two dollars reserved at 3 PM slot for today. You can enter the park before 7 AM, or after 6 PM without an You can enter the park before 7 AM, or after 6 PM without a reservation, beginning, moving out early in the morning is its own feat. After coming back from Canyonlands, we had a nice nap, some lunch, and then headed up to Arches.

Arches National Park is one of those kind of surreal places with a very dynamic landscape. It’s a great place for hiking, especially if you’re here in the spring or fall or if you’re out early in the morning. It’s also a great place for stargazing and night hikes. While we were there at 3:30 in the afternoon, and it was about 95°, we did a little hiking, but mainly spent the time driving. There are a couple of roads in Arches National Park that require four-wheel-drive and display some additional places in the park. We took one of those roads, turned at the “beware four-wheel-drive road”, and proceeded up a fairly technical, 4/10 type of trail. Now I’m not in my FJ cruiser, but rather this 3500 Ram 1-ton truck, so I’m still getting used to four wheeling this thing. It did exceptionally well. They’re only a couple of spots that I had to get out and look for a line, and I only scraped the tail pipe once. I did have to remove the camper tie-downs because they stuck out just a little too far.

Overall the drive took us to Whales eye arch as well as near tower arch, where we saw the marching men. It was about a 2 1/2 hour side trip, but we did get a little hiking and had some fun.

Here is a photo album for today.

https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250611-arches-and-canyonlands-nps

AT Day 8 and 9

Danny took a 0-Day today and we stayed in this nice hotel on a lake. Before all of this we grabbed some hot dogs, buns, brownies, chips and some beer and did some trail magic. Met some cool folks from Maine that turned out to be friends if friends of Moose’s. And Lily the trail runner was there too. We last saw her at Hawk Mountain. The trail runners watch over the trail and hikers. Hard job yet coveted.

Ate some fried chicken and beans and catfish for dinner. Got to bed around 9 and up at 6. We left Danny at the trail at Dicks Creek Gap at around 8. Happy Trails my friend. (Follow Danny here)

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AT Day 7 – Unicoi Gap to Dick’s Creek Gap

We slack packed today. Lightened our load to about 10 lbs and knocked out 18 miles today on done pretty tough trails. It would have taken me two days to finish this section with the pack. It looked flat, but at the end on the day we had climbed over 5000 feet. Again we ended up in town due to rain. Not much tent time on this trip it seems. I was going to do the last 9 miles today to get to the border, but I’m not feeling it. Moose is getting off the trail and offered a ride back to Atlanta. I’ll check if that’s today or tomorrow. I have a plane flight back at 3 tomorrow. It’s been a fun week. Official AT trail miles is 69.2. Actual trail miles was 86.4 miles and 18.5k elevation gain.

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AT Day 6 – Poplar Stamp Gap to Unicoi Gap (Helen, GA)

Got a good night’s sleep, although it took me until about 11 to fall asleep. I probably could have walked 3 more miles before setting camp. Oh well. Today we did a short 10 mile day and bumped out to Helen, GA. It’s a cute German themed town. I sat in. Biergarten and enjoyed a Paulaner Octoberfest beer. We stayed at another hotel tonight.

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AT Day 5 – Neel’s Gap to Poplar Stamp Gap

We started today clean and refreshed and resupplied. My pack weighs 36.5lbs with food and water. I’d like to shave about 6 lbs off but I bought enough food to get me off of the trail Friday. Todays hike had some steep sections, but overall was another beautiful day on the trail. The last two miles were a warm hike along an old road or train line. Tomorrow I’m shooting for Deep Gap Shelter, but that’s a bit far at 21 miles. I will see how tomorrow’s hike goes. Either way, I’ll be getting to Dick’s Creek Gap on Thursday morning. If I get in early enough I can get a slack pack in to the North Carolina border and then head home Friday.

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AT Day 4 – Granny Top to Neel’s Gap to Blairsville.

We were all spread out today. Professor and DJ hiked by my tent about 7. Which means they left about 6:00. I think I figured out where Moose camped, but he was on the trail by 5. I left at 7:10 and then had to go back to far my hiking poles. I ran into Dannyboy at around 8. Today we attacked the dreaded Blood Mountains. They are about 1500feet of climbing over about 5 miles with a sharp downhill. I made it to Neel’s Gap at 1:00 for a 9 mile day. It was a perfect day to hike. We got a couple of rooms in Blairsville to shower, restock, and wash clothes.

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AT Day 3 – Hawk Shelter to Granny Top

We hiked a pretty leisurely morning. We stopped a couple time for snacks and water. There were a couple of stops that had trail magic, and it was really nice to have a soda and some fruit. We were going to try to make it to Woody gap, which would’ve been 12 miles for the day. But they weren’t very good camping spot so we hiked on the trail. We ended up splitting up again. Carl and DJ stayed back a ways. I made it to a place called granny top, and I think Moose and Danny boy are at. Lance Creek. We are all meeting up at Neels gap today. And the best I can tell I’m about 7 miles out.

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AT Day 2 – Springer Mountain to Hawk Shelter

Found my group at about 9 this morning. We shoved off about 9:30. Stopped at Hawk Mountain campground and decided to stay. Finished the day at about 4pm. Hawk Mountain campground is big. There’s probably room for 50+ tents. Nice pit toilet. Slept well. Got up around 7:30 and started day 3 at 8:45.

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AT Day 1 – Springer Mountain – Southern Terminus

Started hiking the approach trail at around 12pm. Somehow I passed my group and it’s too wet and cold to stop. Had a break at 2 and again at 4:30. Made it to the top at 5:20. The official northbound start of the Appalachian Trail.

I waited for my crew for about 75 minutes and watched the sunset. Decided to just go to the campground and set camp. It was cold and really windy but the tent setup was easy and warm inside without the wind. I was soaked from the waist down and peeled my clothes off and out on warm dry thermals and socks. Went to sleep at 7:30. Woke at 3:30 to pet the bears, and then woke again at 7:30. Breakfast was a mountain house skillet and coffee. On the trail at 9 and waiting again at the summit.

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Approach – Day 0

Stayed with Moose’s uncle outside of Atlanta. Interesting man, great conversation. Now off to pick up the last guy and head to Amicalola falls.

Definitely a nice place for coffee