Day: September 14, 2020

Today was a nice day. The temperature was pretty cool, but it got hot in the afternoon.  I got a late start because I’m trying not to go too far today so I purposely laid in the hammock for an extra hour listening to music and then got up and took off around 8 a.m.

First stop was the falls at Long Creek.  I remember stopping there 30 years ago with my dad and I remember them pretty vividly and when I got there they looked the same but they looked way bigger and the trail on the way to there did not look familiar at all.  It’s amazing how many things look the same and yet how many things look different. The trail leaving the falls also looked different and I thought I remembered that quite well.

I still can’t get over how different it feels in Georgia in the summertime with everything green versus every other time I’ve been here it’s been January through May and there’s been no leaves on the trees . There is some tree that has a weird smell and I can smell that for about a mile at a time and it seems to pop up about every 10 miles I have no idea what it is but I’d love to find out.  There are also a lot more rhododendron than I remember. North Carolina and Pennsylvania are the states I remember for Rhododendron tunnels but Georgia trees are shorter and have a different look.  They don’t arch over the trail the way they do in North Carolina but it’s still a neat place to hike.

The shelters I passed today Hawk mountain and Gooch Gap are still there but the shelters are very different now.  I think they both have been replaced.  The old shelters I remember only sleeping 6 but these new shelters were two stories and could easily sleep 12.  They were both in very good shape and look like they would be a good place to stay.

I didn’t meet as many people along the trail as I did yesterday but there were still quite a few. I can tell this is still holiday traffic but now that the holiday is over I expect tomorrow to be pretty bare.

The stretch from Hawk Mountain shelter the Justis Creek is a little over 6 miles and there are signs and posts warning that there’s no water and you need to carry plenty.  I carried a little bit over a liter and a half and I made it, but I was basically Out of Water by the time I got there. I also got there later than I thought by almost an hour and I was pretty thirsty. I made my coffee at 3:30 which I’m used to having it around 2  but after drinking a coffee and half of a Gatorade I felt great for at least the next 45 minutes to an hour I need to make sure I can get my coffee between 2 and 3 so that I don’t get tired in the afternoon.

I wanted to make about 15 miles for the day so I looked for a spot about that distance away and found that there was a mountain top that had a rocky out cropping and the comments said that there was campsites nearby.  It was later than I wanted it to be when I got there maybe about 6:30 to 6:40 and the spots were not great but with a hammock you don’t need a great spot. It’s not too hard to make your own great spot. But it was hard finding a tree to hang the bear bag.  But finally I found one even though it was a dead tree it looks to be strong enough as long as a bear doesn’t get too determined to get my food.

 I made my dinner out on that outcropping with the sunset going down behind the trees and it was a nice peaceful dinner.

I am only about 11 miles from Neels Gap and that’s where I’m going to resupply.  I counted the food that I have remaining to be prepared for tomorrow.  I have two breakfast one dinner and three lunches so I need to decide am I going to try and make it all the way to Wesser which would require five and a half days of food or should I try and stop in either Helen or Franklin and make a shorter trip out of it.  I haven’t decided tonight but I’m sure by the time I get to Neil’s Gap I will have made up my mind.

I feel pretty good physically. I’m tired, my feet hurt a little bit, my hips hurt a little bit from the hip belt.  But my shoulders are fine, my calves are sore but fine, my knees are fine, and my hip sockets are fine. Overall everything is pretty good. Only one toe is a little bit sore.

The weather forecast shows warm afternoons about like today 83 to 84 as a high through about Friday and then a higher chance of rain Saturday and Sunday. Maybe I will be farther enough North and have a better luck of weather for the weekend.  But the weekend is a long way away. Let’s just worry about tomorrow for now.

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What? Only four and a half miles?  Yes, but what is not told in the story is the eight mile approach trail.  I’m not counting the number of this trip yet, but there are always numbers to count.  I am purposely trying to limit my miles the first three days to 13 to 15 just to make sure I don’t overdo it too early in the trip and injure myself.

The day started at the hotel with a leisurely wakeup, a quick shower, and a brown bag breakfast since the hotels don’t want to deal with a buffet line during covid.  Suits me just fine.

I got on the road and hit a Starbucks since the hotel coffee was horrible.  Driving through the mountains was nice.  We ended up getting to Amicalola Falls about 10, hit the bathrooms, then sent Karen on her way about 10:30 and I was off.

The first excitement of the day started before I even made it out of the lodge parking lot.  I walked under a zipline and watched the people zoom overhead.  It looks fun.  I’ve never done it but would like to try it some day.

Since I started at the falls, I did not go through the arch at which you see everyone taking their picture.  I don’t even remember there being an arch thirty years ago.

At the top of the falls there were quite a few people milling about taking pictures.  I squeezed in and took a quick one and was on my way.

The morning was quite pleasant.  The temperature was not hot and a gentle breeze now and again kept me cool, but the uphill nature of the trail kept me sweaty most of the day.

I decided to try some cold soaking of ramen noodles for lunch.  I added dried shitake mushrooms and TVP and it dually improved it.  Twenty minutes is all it took.  I stopped to soak them then kept hiking and stopped again later on Frosty Mountain to eat them.  I will definitely be doing that more.

Later in the afternoon it got a little bigger but I took a break at the “new to me” Black Mountain shelter.  It looked just like the one I remembered being at the top of Springer.  After reading a bit, I found out it was the same shelter.  At some point they removed it from Springer in a disassembled state and reassembled it at the new site.  They also painted it a darker brown.  It is in a good location in it’s new home.

When I got to the top of Springer, it was not as I remembered it.  It seemed smaller, more closed in, and more forested.  The trees have grown for sure, but the rock itself looks the same.  I took a quick picture, talked to a previous thru hiker from 1992 and headed on.

I took the side trail into the new shelter down from the peak and it was a nice two story shelter that looked like it could sleep at least twenty.  One person was camped nearby and a couple I met on the trail had just arrived and were about to set up camp there.

I moved on and made it to the parking lot at the forest road and it had been expanded way larger than I remembered.  I remember it being large enough for only six or seven cars, but now it could hold at least thirty plus lots of parking along the road.  There was a guy all spread out there looking for a lighter.  He spooked me so I told him I did not have one and moved on.

From this point onward, the trail should be more sparse.  I was seeing a hiker every five to ten minutes up until this point.  Three Forks is where intended to head and there is road access there, but I don’t expect to see many hikers, just campers there.  My guess was right, as there were three large groups there at the forks.  Just a quarter mile downtrail, I could not hear the screaming kids, so that’s where I stopped for the night.  It was about six thirty, so I made camp quickly, got dinner cooking, and washed with the ample water from the stream.

One other unsuspected thing was finding out that Stover Creek shelter is no more but has been replaced by a nicer and bigger one.  I met another hammock hiker there who was fixing dinner, so I chatted a bit and had some water then moved on.

All in all it was a good first day and I am glad that nothing went wrong and the weather was good.  If I can keep a slow and steady pace for a few more days, then I should be ready to start pouring on the speed if my body will let me.  It is neat that I am camped at essentially the same exact spot I camped at thirty one years ago.  On almost the same day of the month too.  It is now September 6th versus May seventh.  It will be neat to compare how far I went each day back then with this trip.  I have a feeling this one is going to go much faster.  I am older, but also more experienced and have a much lighter pack and much better shoes.  It is going to be an interesting comparison.