Date: 2006-02-14
To: Springer Winter Hike
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I am procrastinating from working out right now and figured I would write in my journal a bit as I was winter hiking this weekend. First let me say I applaud all of those crazy hikers who are starting in the cold and snow. It was brutal up at Springer this weekend...and driving up wasn't the safest thing to do unless you had 4wd which I did not. Dances with Mice never made it as he ran off of 42 and blew a tire. MinnesotaSmith also failed to show as his travel arrangements to the Approach got messed up, so after farting around for two hours I decided to at least hike to the summit and decide there if I was gonna campout or not. Now hiking in the snow wasn't that bad, but when I arrived on the summit there were alot more people up there than I thought would be there. 6 guys camping out, and another 7 in the shelter. Granted I advised 4 of them to stay on Springer vs. going down to Stover Creek. Anyways I chatted with the folks a little and they were all very nice. I decided with the conditions and the weather starting to get a little worse that it might be best to head home that night, as southerners with 4wd like to drive the forest service roads with snow as I saw more cars on the roads than I have driving up there all last year combined. All that driving had turned the roads to mud, and I didn't want to deal with it if it decided to freeze over night.On a plus side I have finally nailed down some of my hiking plans for this year. My plan right now for my next hike is a 3 day hike with a fellow teacher from Old 64 to the NOC. I already have my room reserved with Ron Haven, who you must stay with if you are passing through Franklin as he is truly a gift to the hiking community and will do anything to try and make our lives easier while passing through. My thought process is to knock out NC with week long hikes throughout the year or I should say 3-5 day hikes to satiate the hiker hunger within me. It's great to live so close to the trail and I can't wait to head out in April as it will be a decent shakedown for the gear I will carry in June.As of right now I am still heading to Va in June, and NoWorries might join me depending on how his cash flow is working. I hope he can join me for the month but even if it's a week it will be awesome to hike with him again. Oh yeah, I am gonna be one of those people. I bought a pair of Asolo 520s last summer for my November hiking, and although I have about 85 miles on them, there is a problem I have noticed. On my Tgiving hike I thought due to my sock bunching that I had swelling on the top of my left poppa toe, but since then and confirmed this weekend it has more to do with how the boot broke in. One of the the bolted eyelets presses into my toe whenever I hike downhill, this causes pain and swelling, so due to the amount of money spent on them I think I will be returning them to REI and getting a pair of XCR trailrunners for winter hiking. I hate doing it, but if I can't use the boots anymore and they're less than a year old I figure it's all good. Anyways, I hope to get out on some day hikes in the next month to meet some folks and might even do some magic one weekend, but we'll see how that all goes. Anyways, I gotta go see if I can rev myself up to work out and if not, as Scarlett says..."There's always tomorrow!"