Date: 2005-05-21
From: Springer Mountain, GA

To: Between Stover Creek and Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 1WOW...finally. I thought tonight would never come. I'm somewhere between Stover Creek and the Hawk Mountain Shelter. Dungan and I finally got to Springer about 2:00 pm. I hiked to the plaque at the summit (about .9 miles each way). It felt great. I love my pack. I do have too much stuff, but it's what I have.At the top I took a couple of pictures (see my photo pages), and there a nice guy named Greg took some more pictures of me signing the log book. He also is one of the trail caretakers so he gave me a quick inservice about "leave no trace" on the trail. This means, what you bring in...you take out. He said that bears smell about 7 times better than blood hounds. Enough about bears already!!After signing the book I hiked back down to say goodbye to Dungan and Meggie (or should I say Long Way and Trail Dog). It was great to have them see me off.Then I just started walking. It felt really nice to do Springer and know that there was a car waiting, so if I wanted to, I could just take off after two miles. Maybe it felt great to have the safety net. I ran into Tri-Geek Bill, and said I would meet him later tonight. I never saw him again though. In fact, I have not seen another thru hiker so far. I heard some at Stover Creek, which was one reason I went on. I then ran into some other nice people. One older man was fly fishing and I stopped to talk to him. He said that I was such a tiny thing to carry that big pack. He also mentioned that "Mexico" had some pretty big mountains. Just one more person who thought I was from Mexico...not New Mexico.Made camp about 6 pm. I really wanted to go more, but my feet were tender. I was laughing so hard at myself using my bear bag for the first time. It looked like a Three Stooges routine - except there was only one of me. I had all my stuff to hang, and only found trees with branches that were too tall or too short. I finally found one and after 10 mins. of trying to hook the rope over the branch - including several times where I ended up pelting myself - I finally got the rope up. I started pulling and pulling (because my pack weighs so much) to raise my stuff up off the ground. I got it up and then got the extra rope all tangled around the tree and a rock. I finally got it tied off, stepped back to admire my work, and realized that Pooh Bear himself could reach the bag. Well that was what started me laughing so much I couldn't stop. So I had to take it all down and start the whole process over again...this time using a branch that was higher up. This was when I saw all of these big branches broken off on the ground - the remains of thru hikers before me.It's now about 8:00 pm and I'm in my tent. It's dark at about 9:00 pm here. So I have a little time to write this. It was a good day. I feel tired, but a "good tired." I'm thankful for Dungan and Meggie - WE MADE IT. I'm thankful for all the family and friends and their thoughts and prayers. Today I really made it our on the trail. I'm thankful for my body to be able to do this, and for having this wonderful trail to hike.