March 31, 2015
| Today, we hiked the Appalachian Trail southward from Gooch Gap to the rock cliff overlooking Cooper Gap and back. We met 51 thru-hikers on their way to Maine. 27 states and three foreign countries were represented – Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Australia, Germany, and Canada.
HIKERS: Suzanne Belflower, John Bellamy, June Bellamy, Karen Brown, Joe Collins, Pam Euliss, Tim Hale, Bill Hunt, Bob Magee, Dick Metzgar, Trushna Nadig, Jeanne O’Connor, Tony Presley, Jack Wintle and Carole Wintle. TRAIL INFO. – This portion of the Appalachian Trail is in excellent shape and offers very nice mountain views along the way. The terrain is mountainous and includes a couple of nice mountain streams. Over-all difficulty rating is moderately strenuous. Total round trip hiking distance today – 9+ miles DIRECTIONS: Take Hwy. 129 N from Cleveland, GA for about 15 mi. then turn left at Turner’s Corner and travel several miles to Hwy 60 (rock pile) turn right and drive past the top of the mountain and the A.T. crossing continuiing to the bottom. Turn left onto Cooper Gap Road which becomes a gravel Forest Service Rd. 42 and continue 2.7 miles to Gooch Gap. Another great day for a hike! Fair with temperatures ranging from 58 to 68 degrees F. WILDFLOWERS IN BLOOM: Cut-leaf Toothwort, Round-leaved Yellow Violet, Halberd-Leaved Violet, Purple Violet and Bloodroot. BIRDS IDENTIFIED: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Goldfinch, Towhee, Cardinal, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pileated Woodpecker, Chickadee, Junco, Tufted Titmouse.
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