Date: 2005-03-14
From: Hiker Hostel - Dahlonega, GA

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: broken clouds

Miles hiked today : 10.17.8 miles of approach trail + 2.3 AT milesI woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m., though many times during the evening, I woke up thinking that I was late to wake-up and that I was going to miss breakfast. It turned out that I was the first to rise and so I checked e-mail until others were awake.We left the hostel and our first stop was the Springer Mountain parking lot, which is actually 0.9 mi along the AT. Three hikers departed here and had to backtrack to the actual summit of Springer Mountain. Holly and I opted to depart from Amicalola Falls State Park, which took an extra hour to drive to. Strange, since it was only 9.7 miles via trail.At the ranger station, we had our photograph taken and posted along with all of the other thru-hiker hopefuls. Just outside of the ranger station, I weighed my pack and was alarmed to see that it weighed 51 lbs. That meant that I was carrying more than 20 lbs. of food, which was way too much. Despite this, I signed the register, even writing down my pack weight without tossing any food. I was sure that I'd figure out which items I'd want to get rid of over the next few days. Josh drove us to the top of the falls, which cut off the first mile of the 8.8 mi approach trail. I had meant to start from the ranger station and didn't realize that we were cutting off part of the approach trail, but I didn't mind. What I really wanted to see was Amicalola Falls, which is the largest waterfall this side of the Mississippi. That and I didn't want to backtrack the first 0.9 mi of the AT. We began hiking at 10:15 a.m. and reached the summit of Springer Mountain around 4:30 p.m. The 7.8 mi of the approach trail that I did hike was difficult, especially since I had to hike 6.3 mi before I could filter water near Black Gap Shelter, the first shelter I would encounter today. Filtering water for the first time was fairly unique. As I sat by the stream, there wasn't much to listen to other than the stream. I also realized that this was the first of many times I would be filtering water.There was a group of around 10 people on the summit, the view was clear and it was very sunny. Although I didn't know it, I was soon to receive my trailname.While on the summit, a hiker named Sunshine asked if we would pose for a group picture. I replied, "As long as you don't use this against me when I'm a senator." Several cameras were used, though Sunshine noticed that her picture didn't turn out. She asked everybody to gather around again for another picture. I was taking my time looking at the picture on my camera, when another hiker said, "Hey Senator, hurry it up!" While that hiker is somewhere behind me and I've not seen him since, I like the name and have decided to keep it.We continued on to Stover Creek Shelter, crosing our first stream along the way, finally arriving around 6 p.m. Holly and I had enough time to filter water, hang our food on the bear cables, and pitch our tents before it was too dark to do anything else. Since it was too dark to try to cook dinner, I ate cold tuna fish and apple newton-like cakes before going to bed. I learned tonight that once the sun drops in the mountains, so does the temperature.I should also note that this was the first time I had pitched my tent, even though I'd purchased it several months earlier. As a result, I spent the night sleeping on a decline with my head pointed downward.The biggest thing of note today were the massive amounts of marble and quartz scattered along the path. I saw blocks of marble at least 1 cubic foot in size. I also really enjoyed the way the quartz glistened in the sun.