Date: 2013-03-16
From: Visitors Center - Springer Mountain, GA

To: Springer Mountain Shelter, GA
Miles today: 0.9
Weather: light snow

Part one - Today was the start of my AT journey. Unfortunately, my behindedness continues to prevail. We arrived at Amicalola Falls too late for me to hike the approach trail. So, in order to procure the much needed luck of the Irish and start on St. Patty's Day, I decided to forgo the "no count" approach trail. My first official business as a real life hiker dude was to sign the AT register and weigh my pack. The pack came in at a trim 40 pounds. However, since the scale only weighed full pounds, I'll tell you it weighed 39.6 before we left, but who's counting? While we were at the visitor center using the $5.00 parking pass required to sign in for the trail, I met my first three hiker buddies. Greg "GB Man", Owf (not sure of the spelling) and her faithful companion I will call Arf, and Liz who came fully equipped but forgot to bring her trail name. Everyone admired my faithful companion, Elvis. He peed on the walkway. Elvis is 13 and senile, so he will not be joining me. I'll have to endure this journey alone with my 2000 hiker friends.Since I can't make it to Springer by dark via the approach trail, I am getting on the AT at the crossing at Big Stamp. That will put me .9 miles away. The drive to Springer was treacherous and very tiring so I don't feel too cheated by bypassing the majority of the no count trail that i don't get credit for. Plus, my feet don't hurt... yet. On the forest service road (FS 42) we saw our first wildlife - a female wild turkey. We almost hit her, but didn't because Debbi, who likes wildlife spotted her and said "watch out for that bird!".We've arrived at Big Stamp. Knutt.. out.Part two - My first brilliant move after being dropped off at Big Stamp, was to start walking north¢¦ the right direction for the trail, but the opposite direction for Springer Mountain where the Appalachian Trail begins. After all, I¢m so direction blind, I have a 60-40 chance of getting a 50-50 chance wrong. After turning around, the .9 miles to the Springer Mountain shelter was like no other mile I¢ve ever walked. That¢s only because I¢ve never had a reason to go straight up a mountain without a ski lift. This was my intro to the AT.Once I arrived at the shelter, it was nothing like I¢d imagined. There were tents everywhere and cables for hanging food so bears don¢t invite themselves to your tent for a meal or two. I went to the shelter to see if there was any space left to sleep, so as to avoid the whole tent set-up thing, enjoy the comradery of the thru hiker community, etc. The only thing was when I arrived, I was the only thru hiker at the shelter. There were boy scouts and college kids on spring break, and marines working and training to be U.S. Marine officers. They were all very nice people who addressed me as ¢sir¢, either as a sign of respect or age. They were telling war stories, (I am a veteran too), and were not telling AT hiking stories as I expected.   When I went to sleep, I was the only person in the shelter, which was strange and unexpected. When I woke up, the shelter was full, something else I didn¢t expect. ¢Any of you thru hikers?¢ ¢No, we¢re on spring break.¢ I should have known¢¦ thru hikers hike during the day. One guy told me a mouse chewed through his sock.   Ohhhh¢¦ that¢s why I was alone in the shelter the night before.