Day 4

Dockery Lake Trail (stayed at Hidden Pond Hostel) to Bull Gap tenting spots.
9.1 miles, 32.7 miles total.

Said goodbye to Rainbow (Olivia) and Johnny at their Hidden Pond Hostel and Pootz drove me back to the Dockery trail head. It was then mostly uphill 6 miles (in the fog, mist, and cool’ish temps) including climbing Blood Mountain before grabbing a quick Snickers bar lunch at the iconic Blood Mountain Shelter at the summit (4,500 ft).
The fog & clouds lifted suddenly providing some nice views. It was then straight down 2.4 slippery miles to Neels Gap & Mountain Crossing Outfitters for some pizza, burrito and coke. Never tasted so good!
I decided to head north uphill @ 1 mile mile on the trail to the Bull Gap tent site where 5 of us are spending a beautiful evening amidst woodlands with roaming sounders of wild pigs/boar.Read more