Date: 2003-04-12
From: Amicolola Falls, GA

To: Springer Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Well, here we are, at the start of the trail. We pulled in late last night, myself and my mother, well after the park had closed (around 11:00 PM). Apparently, the tent sites were not open at this time, so we cowboy camped in the back of my mom's truck. It was chilly last night. I was filled with such excitement and anticipation for this trip, though, so sleep did not come well. The sky was beautiful. The air was crisp and clear, and no distant towns of a city were to be heard. I went wandering around the Visitor's Center, and heard the faint snoring of those who had made it in earlier, in order to get a spot at the shelter behind the center. I also found the sign-in sheet for the AT, and signed in. There were a couple of people that also signed in that day, but not many. I didn't know what I was getting myself into...'maybe just 2 or 3 people start each day' was the thought going through my mind. Shortly after, I settled in and fell into an uneasy sleep.The next morning, bright and early, I awoke, and saw a couple of people toting backpacks into the Visitor's Center. By the time I got my pack ready and took mine inside, they had departed. I got a cup of coffee to start the day, and chatted with one of the rangers inside for a moment. I then took my pack (which I was barely able to lift) out to the scale, where me and my mother struggled to lift it up and have it weighed. 55 pounds! I'm not carrying 55 pounds! So, we ambled on back to my mother's truck, where I took everything out, and started going through it again. I got rid of the shovel (I'll find something to dig with), and the extra pair of clothing, cut my vitamin cache in half, took out some extra batteries, unpacked a few tapes, cut my toothbrush in half, removed the extra iodine bottle for water, and kept cutting little things here and there until I thought I had rid myself of a few good pounds.I went back to weigh it, and it was now 50 pounds. Still quite a bit heavier than I had anticipated, but the day was moving on (it was almost noon), and I needed to get moving. Not only that, but I couldn't think of anything else to cut. My mom had decided to walk me up to the Falls, so we departed.I started getting my first blisters on my heels not even half a mile up the trail, so I stopped, took my shoes off, and looked at my feet. In all the excitement, I had failed to put my hiking socks on, and just had an old pair of socks (that I had worn to the park) in their place. So, I taped up my heels, and we continued on. Halfway up the steep decent of the forest road, I stopped and started rifling through my pack again. I found a few more things to hand to my mom that I didn't think I would need (one thing being a binder that I was storing my maps and hand book in. A BINDER!). Then, we continued on. We arrived at the Falls, where I had assumed we had to have gone at least a couple of miles, and we hung out for a bit. We enjoyed the Falls, my mom talked to me a bit more about the hike, and gave me a hug. I realized, at this point, that she had started crying, which almost made me do the same. I then said goodbye, turned, and walked into the woods. I didn't look back, either. Of course, I thought of turning back when I got to the first sign, proclaiming that I had only gone 9/10's of a mile, and still had about 7 to go for the day. Those were 7 hard miles, too. Quite a few people passed me by on the way up, and I had to stop a few more times to re-tape my feet. I was tempted to stay at the shelter just below Springer, but I pushed on. I think the hardest climb of the day was that final spiral up Springer. I stopped a few times, telling myself that if this wasn't Springer, then I was going to find a tent spot. Sure enough, though, as I rounded the final curve, I came upon a group of hikers sitting on the rocks, watching the sun (as it was about to set within the half hour). I asked one person where the shelter was at, and she mentioned that it was a couple hundred feet to the right, but the sun was about to set, if I wanted to stay and watch that. I opted for the sunset. I got a few pictures taken of myself on top of Springer, and sat down to enjoy the first nice view on the official AT. It was beautiful. I was taken back by this group of us, just having left civilization as we knew it, sitting silently and watching this view as if it were a hit television show. The whole scene was amazing. After sunset, we all walked back to camp, and got settled in for the night. I couldn't sleep, though, and sat by the fire for a while, talking to Lee, another thru-hiker, about what we came up here for, what we expected, etc... Then suddenly, we heard some clanging noises by the bear cables. We didn't think much of it, and continued talking until the next set of clanging noises. We turned on our lights, and looked around, only to find a huge bear! First night on the trail, and we already had our first bear sighting! We both jumped in the shelter, and mentioned the bear to a few others, which stirred them too. A few of us got back out and started looking around for it again, but it had wandered off to the tent sites. I decided that was enough, and crawled into my sleeping bag. The next morning, Lee told me that a second bear, more enormous than the first, came walking up right by the shelter. 2 bears in 1 night! Wow. So, the adventure begins today...