March 4
End: Bull Gap
Miles: 28.2
Total: 1481.7
Bob dropped me off right where he had picked me up two days prior, at the bridge over the creek on County Road 56. The road walk started, and I made it into Weogufka, but not before someone’s dog came out to harass me near the Baptist Church.
I didn’t get to visit Caperton’s because it was a Sunday, or maybe because no one was available after the shooting contest Saturday. A car pulled over to talk to me and I met Rick, with the Alabama Hiking Society.
I attempted to discuss the yellow blazes I was following on the road. Our discussion just revealed what I already knew: that the hiking trails in Alabama are still under construction. He claimed that the Pinhoti does not start at Flagg Mountain, and that the yellow blazed trail on the road did not have a name.
Whatever the case, my Pinhoti adventure started up in the state forest and then did a road walk to the blue blazes. The yellow blazes made a wrong turn for my trail at one point, so I walked with no blazes for a few miles.
Later on I almost made a wrong turn, but backtracked to where the blue blazes entered the woods off of FR 603A, which is now blazed and near the start of the Pinhoti trail. There I met several hikers performing maintenance, including Rick, Mother Nature’s Son, and Lost & Found.
It was good to talk with other hikers, but after we took a picture, I headed down the trail and into the woods. The trail wound around for awhile before heading North towards Bull’s Gap. I loved being up high in the wooded hills.
I wasn’t able to make the Bull’s Gap trailhead by dark, so I stopped at a spot where I could pitch my tarp and set up camp. There was some wind at night, but I stayed warm for the most part.
