Date: 2012-05-16
From: Approach Trail (Frosty Mountain)

To: Day1
Miles today: 21.7

Hit the ground running today I tell ya. I was packed and on-trail by 11:00 AM, which is actually really good for my first day back. I plowed thru the 4 miles to get to the top of Springer Mt. and the start of the AT. Springer kind of snuck up on me too, I could barely even tell that I was climbing. It was more of a hill than a mountain in my opinion. I guess I'm just used to the huge mountains in the Northeast. I hung out on Springer for a while, did 1st lunch and took some pictures with some day-hikers who were there. I reflected for a little while about what I've been through and my journey to come. I kissed the very first white-blaze on the AT. And I took off, glad to be walking north again! (NoBo or No Go)   I must have passed a dozen people today. Gone are the days of solitary confinement due to hiking south I guess. I'm trying to give all of these guys a break because most of them are on their first day of hiking but, sheesh, there is just no excuse for how slow these people are moving or how much weight they are carrying. I'm reminded of when I started the AT last year with a 50+ lb pack and how it took me over two months before I started breaking 20 miles a day. I'll bet the NoBo's who passed me last year got a kick out of me, carrying a pack as big as I am, and my barefoot heavily-armed friend Omar.    The highlight of the day was running in to a couple of fellow Florida Gators who are out on a 2-month-long section. They noticed my Gators bandanna and immediately called me out. We stopped and ate a snack together, chatted for a while and reminisced about Gainesville. I've already got this fanciful idealized image of what Gainesvelle is even though I was there just a couple of weeks ago. I also intensely miss Belle... all over again. After a while I got up to leave. When I told my new pals that I was planning on truckin' all the way up to Gooch Gap today, they politely predicted that I would never see them again and we said our goodbyes for good.    The rest of the hike was mostly uneventful. I barely even noticed Hawk Mt. Sassafras Mt. Justus Mt. or Gooch Mt. These little dirt hills in Georiga don't even deserve to me named, let alone named and labeled as 'mountains.' I did make it to Gooch Gap eventually. It was well in to dusk by the time I got there because I broke-camp so late this morning. As soon as I found a spot and started to make-camp I heard a very distinct very familiar sound: the tell-tale sound of young people partying. So I decided to skip dinner and go make friends instead. What I found was a group of townies about my age from Suches, GA, which is just 3 miles from the nearest road crossing. These kids were nice enough, they immediately broke the ice my smoking me out. I eased my way in by mentioning the Grateful Dead to see how they would react. It took about 3 more sentences for our conversation to navigate its way to Wide Spread Mother-Fucking Panic. It figures, I'm in Georgia after all. As soon as the Spread-heads found out that I've been all over the country on tour and that we've been to several of the same festivals they immediately inducted me into their family. We sat there and drank beer and smoked weed generally acted silly until after dark and I made my peace. Not a bad first day back on-trail methinks.