Date: 2020-06-03
From: Amicalola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mountain shelter
Miles today: 0.2
Weather: broken clouds

We woke up in an interstate rest stop near Andersen, South Carolina, groggy and a bit stiff. Felt better after some breakfast sandwiches. We arrived in Dawsonville, Georgia by 10 to return the rental and meet our shuttle. Got a real deal on the rental - just $40 to drive it from Pennsylvania to Georgia, no drop fee. Probably a Covid special.Bret Eady picked us up and drove us to Amicalola Falls State Park where the Approach Trail starts. He greeted me with a hearty handshake, capping off a road trip that showed us people, at least outside major cities, are increasingly just getting on with their lives.  I've used Bret a few times before. He thrued in 2017 and lives with his family in the north Georgia mountains. Business fell off a cliff in late March after the ATC asked hikers to get off the trail. The national forest service in Georgia had blocked off some AT parking areas for awhile but opened them up a couple weeks ago. The forest service in North Carolina had also announced trailhead closures but never physically closed them. But it was the action of one county in North Carolina, where Fontana Dam is located, that drove a lot of hikers off trail. The county barred any outsiders from entering, whether by car or foot, an unusual step even among the unprecedented lockdowns. That eliminated a critical resupply point for thruhikers entering the Smokies. Many decided to go home after hearing about it further back on the trail. At Amicalola Ethan and I had our picture taken at the arch and headed up the Approach Trail. Many families were visiting the park: hiking, at the fishing pond, and gazing at the falls. The falls are the longest cascade east of the Mississippi at 729 feet. We climbed 600 steps to reach the top, which took a lot out of us given the humidity. It was tempting to jump in. After a break near the lodge above the falls we hiked on, leaving the tourists behind. A few backpackers leap-frogged with us. The trail was easy walking but kept climbing and the humidity took its toll. We took frequent breaks and a long lunch before tackling Frosty Mountain. Surmounting Frosty turned the tide a bit and helped us push on. By Black Gap shelter Ethan had a headache, possibly a sugar crash after a bunch of Jolly Rogers. Vitamin I fixed him up. We struggled with water. Our two Sawyer Squeezes are a bit clogged and took forever to filter a liter. Leaky water bags didn't help. By late afternoon we reached Springer's summit and laid hands on the first white blaze. Two amatuer radio enthusiasts showed up, backpacking to Neel Gap. They had a device that would broadcast their coordinates by radio wave to communicate with other enthusiasts following them on a map. There are other ways to do this, of course, but this was for fun, not efficiency.At Springer shelter a few tenters and hammockers were set up, including a couple from Massachusetts. All were hiking sections of Georgia. I looked through the logbooks today for other thruhikers starting. A couple named Beast and something else started earlier today. Looking back, a handful of thruhikers started in late March and April, sounding defiant in refusing to give up their dream in the face of mass panic. More entries in May, but mostly dayhikers and section hikers becoming active again. I'm sure I will run into a few thruhikers up the trail, but it is obviously quite late for most to start a northbound thruhike since Katahdin typically closes for winter in mid-October.After a hearty dinner of rice and Spam(TM) we struggled some more with filtering water, chatted with the radio guys from Florida, and went off to sleep in the shelter loft. Nice sleeping weather. Supposed to storm tomorrow.