Write Up:Warren Bare, Justin Smith, Armin Geissler, and Danny Llewallyn did a 23+ mile dayhike of the Duncan Ridge Trail, section 2. Justin camped out near Blood Mountain, and the rest of us met at the carpool at 5 AM to begin the trip to the Byron Reese parking area. We picked up Justin then headed to the trailhead some 30 miles away by car. Got underway around 7:40 AM which was a bit later than I thought we'd start, but it was still a good start time.
It was a long day of undulating mountains with names of Wallalah, Licklog, Rhodes, Gregory, Payne, High Top, Akin, West Wildcat, Buckeye, Coosa, Wildcat, Slaughter, and Blood. Up, down, up down, all day long.
The Duncan Ridge Trail is the most strenuous trail in Georgia. I'd say that's right.
Most of us hit the proverbial wall going up the steep side of Coosa Bald, but after taking a long break in the back of a trailer that happened to be parked at Wolf Pen Gap, we made the final ascents up Slaughter and Blood Mountains before getting back to the car parked at Byron Reese parking lot just before dark.
Total distance was over 23 miles. Total hiking time was over 12.5 hours of near continuous walking. Over 8,000 feet of elevation gain.
We agreed that we might do this again, but perhaps in the other direction :-)
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