Date: 2008-01-01
From: Springer Mountain, GA

To: 1/2 Mile S of Horse Gap, GA
Miles today: 9.5

Today's walk actually started at midnight...New Year's Eve. That was because my good buddy Chief wanted me to stay up and sign in the register on Springer Mountain at midnight. He said that I would be the first nobo of '08.I couldn't promise him I'd do that because I wasn't sure I could stay up till midnight, but I told him I would try.Ed Speers and POG met Superstar and me at Mountain Crossings and gave us a ride to the forest service road about a mile from the summit of Springer Mountain.It's always good to see them. Thanks Ed and POG! :-)We spent the late afternoon at Springer Shelter...just .2 miles from the summit. I didn't want to go to the summit till midnight, or in the morning if I couldn't stay awake.There were probably 30 to 40 people up there this year to celebrate the New Year.One sobo by the name of All Good finished up his walk. I also saw Shadow and Numb Toe who were up there last New Year's.They started and completed their walk of the AT this year.I also met Geek who I'd heard about, but had never run into him before.Brave Friend, Alpine, Squarel, Youngblood, Spirit Wind, Peanut, Mr Parkay, Tina, Skids, Subman, Marta, Dave and Trekkin Girl. I know I'm leaving a bunch out, but I can't think of everyone right now.Superstar and I stayed up till about 7:30pm. We were both getting cold, so we went back to ours tents. I told Superstar to wake me up if she got up first and I would wake her up if I got up first.I heard her standing outside my tent calling my name at about 10pm. :-)I did get up and went back to the shelter till about 11:30. Superstar and I walked up to the summit and about 15 others came up to.I signed in the register at midnight and officially started my '08 walk to Maine. :-)It was a good group up there. There was some yippin' and yellin' and some pictures taken. There was also some fireworks off in a distant town below.I started my walk north when I left the summit. I walked .2 miles and decided to take a break. :-)I stayed up at the shelter area till 1:30am.I was sound asleep when Superstar got back to her tent. She told me later that she stayed up till 3am. That's one reason why it took us till 10:30 this morning to start adding to the .2 miles we walked earlier. :-)We also had to say goodbye to everyone who was left on the mountain.It was windy and 20 degrees when I got up. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a walk!We walked down the mountain and stopped at the new Stover Creek Shelter. We got there on the new relo. It seemed strange to walk to the right off the trail to get there. You had to go left off the trail to get to the old shelter.We weren't in any hurry. Superstar has 3 days to make it to Neel Gap, then she has to go back to work and I'll keep walking for a while. :-)We walked on and stopped in about 3 miles and ate a snack.We sat there in the sun and out of the wind enjoying the day.Our next stop was Hawk Mountain Shelter. I have never seen that shelter before today. I always walked by without stopping, but today we needed water and decided to eat an early dinner.I had chicken noodle soup and it was good. :-) I also signed the register, then we walked on.It was about 4pm and it was still very windy and cold. I was glad to have a climb to warm up with.We started looking for flat spots for our tents that were out of the wind. It took about 1 1/2 miles before we found the flat spots that didn't have too much wind.My fingers are going numb, so I'm going to end this entry now. :-)This was a great day for a walk on the Appalachian Trail!!