Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s Notes:
Day 1 – May 10, 2009
Travel:
From: Amicalola Falls State Park, GA
To: Stover Creek Shelter, GA
Beginning:1pm
Ending: 6pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail -3.1
b) Other -8.5
c) Cumulative -11.6
Weather:
AM: Sunny on the ride up
PM: Started to drizzle around 3pm
Condition of the trail: Some of the nicest trail since it was at terminus.
People: “Two Lions” (had a stuffed lion strapped to the outside of his pack, stayed the night with Sarah and Eric who will hike up until the end of Virginia.
Animals: Giant wild turkey crossed our trail and did not seem to care that we were there.
Money spent: $0 (day), $0 (cumulative)
Notes of the day:
AM: Was up until 4:15am and was awoken by dad at 4:30am. We stumbled into the car at about 5:00am and were off to GA. I tried to sleep some in the car but it was not comfortable. Stopped at Shoney’s for a breakfast buffet. We ate like it was our last meal…
PM: Dad dropped us off at Amicalola Falls State Park. We took some pictures in front of the sign and we said goodbye. The approach trail included the hike up to the falls which consisted of multiple flights of stairs totaling 600 steps. So before our hike even begins our muscles are already burning. But we powered up the approach trail passing at least 9 other groups of hikers. This boosted our confidence and we surged to the top of Springer mountain where we met “many sleeps” who works for th ATC. His name came from his thru hike where he thought it would take many sleeps to get the hike finished. He took our info in his notebook and took our picture at the southern most white blaze (the white blaze we will follow to Maine). It was fun when people asked us where we were headed to and we responded “Maine”. We moved on to Springer Mountain shelter where we met “Two Lions”, fueled up with some snacks including my mom’s granola bars, and filled up with water at the spring. It had started to rain just before we got there so we put on our Marmots and threw on our pack covers. When we said goodbye, everyone was surprised that we were leaving. The shelter was already crowded by 5pm, and the next shelter was only 2.8 miles ahead, about an hour away. The move payed off in a big way, there were only two people at the next shelter and it could hold 16 people. Big floor with a loft and covered picnic table. Ate food, brushed teeth, bear bags up, and in bed by 7pm. Time for some real sleep.
Main Concern of the day: Hiked 2.8 miles more than planned. Feels good to be ahead of schedule…