Date: 2009-03-20
From: Amicalola Falls State Park, GA 

To: Springer Mountain Shelter, GA 
Miles today: 0.2
Weather: clear sky

Mark the Fabulous and I woke up bright and early (6:00) and started the day. After getting mostly packed, we went down and had some breakfast. I had a little bit of everything -- don't want to get hungry. After stuffing myself, we went back up to the room and I finished packing up my bags. It was about 20 miles to the Amicalola Falls State Park and their website said the visitors center opened at 8. I have to admit that when I saw the mountains in the distance yesterday, it scared me a little bit. So I wanted to get started early to give myself plenty of time to make it to the top of Springer. We made it to the visitors center a little after 8, but they were not open. Bummer. We walked around and took a couple of pictures. My pack weighed in at 40 pounds and I was the 284th person to sign in as a thru-hiker, but that seems a bit low to me. Mark walked with me to the arch which begins the approach trail and we said goodbye. Part of me thinks that may be the hardest part of the trail. Yak was there and he made it a little easier for me as he walked with me for a bit and showed me the correct trail to start on. I was having a hard time, so didn't talk much with Yak. I was expecting to see those 605 steps right away, but just had a leisurely walk up the trail. I was starting to think I had gotten on the wrong trail, but eventually I made it to the steps. Those steps were probably the hardest part of the trail today. But up I went. There were a lot of landings, so I stopped to enjoy the view A LOT! Ha. One nice thing about walking that close to the falls was the sound of the water crashing down drowned out the sound of me gasping for air. After getting to the top of the falls, the trail leveled out and I enjoyed the views and the trail. I hadn't seen any other hikers yet, but all of a sudden I noticed that it had gotten extremely quiet. I no longer heard the falls and I started noticing the birds. The trees are still pretty dormant and not a lot of green and I'm so looking forward to seeing the woods turn green as I continue my way north. How exciting that will be!I finally see some other hikers, Stud and Mike, who are taking a break. I decided to sit and take a break with them and ended up walking with them for most of the rest of the day. Stud thru-hiked the trail in 2002, I think, and is a wealth of knowledge. We walked together and talked and I had a great time with her today. She had me looking for acorns that were already sprouting roots as she wanted a picture. We did eventually find some, but they were not what she was looking for. It was fun and we pointed out different things we'd see while walking. Somewhere in the last mile below Springer I lost them, but made Springer Mountain. I was so excited to get there. Many Sleeps, the ridge runner, was there and he took pictures of me at the summit and gave me the low down on the shelter, privies, water source and gave me a book of matches with the leave no trace principles. The view off of Springer was fabulous. I was so excited to see the first white blaze and I took a picture of it. I continued to the next shelter which is only 0.2 miles from the summit. I did walk 9 miles today, but 8.8 miles was the approach trail and only 0.2 miles was actually on the AT. Tonight is my first night in a shelter and their are 6 people here tonight: Me, Stud, Mike and Yak on the lower level and two upstairs, but I didn't catch their names. I was glad to see Yak again and we talked for quite some time. I'll let you know what I think about shelter sleeping tomorrow.