Date: 2015-05-05
From: Fontana Dam

To: Springer Mtn
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

The final two weeks of my thru were filled with ambivalent thoughts and mixed feelings, and typically tough yet rewarding knobs and gaps in NC and Georgia.4/22 Fontana Dam Shelter (the "Fontana Hilton"), mile 166I opened my tent flap this am, before 6, to flakes of snow...get me out of here, I thought. The day consisted of a knee-crushing descent out of the Smokies, where the spruce and fir forests make way for northern hardwoods (maple, birch and beech) at around 4,000' and then to southern hardwoods (oak, hemlock, locust, poplar) below 2,000. The TVA runs a very interesting welcome center at the dam on the history of flood control (and hydroelectric power generation) in the region. I did get to re-supply at this pricey resort's general store, and get a shower (sans towel) at the TVA's terrific hostel on the edge of Fontana Lake. I bought an 8-pack of hot dogs and rolls for the gang of NOBOs there, and ended up eating three of them myself! A great sunrise over the lake, but a cold night to follow.4/23 Brown Fork Gap Shelter, mile 153I saw a scarlet tanager today...wow! I thought it was NOBO discarded clothing, such was its day-glo redness. I met a very funny and interesting NOBO, Bull, here who counsels (among others) the sex offenders within the Ohio correctional system; we had an interesting chat on their so called treatment and disorder, a recent research topic of mine. His wife of some 46 years recently passed to stomach cancer, and thus we also talked of grief and the restorative potential of long-distance hiking. I sincerely wished him the best with his thru.4/24 Nantahala Outdoor Center's "Base Camp" Hostel, mile 137A tough 16 up and over, but mostly up, beautiful Cheoah Bald, where at the summit I cheered and was cheered by a resting group of NOBOs. The 5-mile descent to the Nantahala River went on and on, but the gorge is gorgeous and NOC has got it going on! BBQ and craft beers right on the river, where you can watch kayakers of all levels navigate a slalom course. They offer courses for all, and while the scene was cool, I was too tired to hang for long, though I did chat with Archaeopteryx, a Kiwi with strong connections to the FTA and LDHA a local, and Kelly, whose wife was offering massages on site and whose Dad played some sweet guitar for us. Kelly and his wife, a young couple, have big plans for a hostel and agritourism business down the river, and I hope that they eventually provide an alternative to NOC. It's cool, but not especially hiker-friendly. Their bunkhouse was shite, and a blowhard, bigoted, fundamentalist in the next room kept me from sleeping, but $19.38 can't be beat, and location is everything and they are right on the trail.The rain hardly stopped, but the following morning, after eggs with a few NOBOs, I declined the $7 "coercive offer" to hop an NOC up-river to see expert kayakers run the Cascades on the upper Nantahala and was heading down the trail, when an employee of theirs, Sean, with the day off and plans to run these very cascades offered to get me to their very top. Sean explained how it was one of five "release weekends" at TVA's Nantahala Dam, which feeds into Fontana, which they use to slowly release spring snow melt and to stimulate recreational uses of the river. The Upper Nantahala's typical flow is 250cfs (cubic feet per second) but for this weekend it may reach 600cfs, so world-class kayakers were there to run the temporary Class V rapids. It's a really unique place, as visitors like me can watch the "carnage" from a road that runs along the creek. It was intense, and I watched in horror as one kayaker was pulled back into the hole under "Big Kahuna" and forced to abandon his boat after it was flipped keel over bow. Bystanders threw ropes towards him, but he swam to the shore, though they never recovered his oar.Another spectator gave ne a ride back down to NOC, and we shared a couple of beers.The elevation changes in the last few days are surprising, and I tell NOBOs who ask that they won't face terrain like this until NH.4/25 A Rufus Morgan Shelter, mile 136This was basically a NERO day, as I got a late start out of NOC. Shared the shelter with "Swanson" a farm boy from Indiana who has to get home to work.4/26 Wayah Bald Shelter, mile 121Tough climb out of NOC and over Wesser Bald, along Copper Ridge, and up a more sturdy observation tower. Virginia pines dominated the ridge, and it afforded some great views. Wayah Bald Tower, built by the CCC in the 1930's was a highlight, but it was still in the low 30's when I got there for the sunrise.4/27 Gooder Grove Hostel, Franklin, NC, mile 109A new hostel in this cool town, though for now it's more like his house. Colin's a really good guy, perhaps too nice to own a hostel, as he drove us all over town. was here with Wood and his Okie buddy Chris, as well as Third Eye, an Idahoan whose birthday was one day prior to mine, but she looks ten years younger than I. We went to a diner for breakfast, an internet caf© (the Rathskellar) for coffee, Walmart, and then chatted about the dao for a while.4/28 Long Branch Shelter, mile 102A full shelter, as rain is coming in, but an easy climb out of town, for a change. The number of NOBOs seems to have dropped off, despite the full shelter.4/29 Standing Indian Shelter, mile 86A nice climbing day over Albert Mtn (another cool fire tower) and Standing Indian itself, though the clouds got in the way of the latter.I share this shelter on this cold night with three senior TN female sectioners, who were nice, but farted and snored as loudly as anyone, as well as a group of cool NOBOs from Ann Arbor. A two year-old belonging to some trail junkies joined us in the shelter, and then cried her eyes out when forced to leave. Cute scene. I get to cross my last state line tomorrow!4/30 Top of Georgia Hostel, Hiawassee, GA, mile 69Another tough 16 miles over Georgia's knobs ("hillocks") and gaps ("notches"). Even though GA is only rated 3-4 out of a difficulty score of 10 by the ATC, whereas NH and ME are classed as 8-9, and VA is 5 (as I recall), there are no flats here, and the 300-400' elevation gains and losses add up to pain.Mellow, a SOBO from the fall who summited Springer with Rhodie, Magellan, etc., in December, works here, and is cool, as is the owner, but other staff make this perfectly located place uptight. I bought eggs to hard-boil to carry out with me tomorrow; their breakfast was sad. 5/1 Tray Mtn Shelter, mile 58A beautiful campsite on an oaken ridge, allowing sunset views tonight, and sunrise tomorrow.5/2 Low Gap Shelter, mile 43Great weather finally, and an easy 15 miles after Unicoi Gap and Rocky Mtn were behind me. I am getting out of GA's high Blue Ridge now, though I still have Blood Mtn ahead of me. I saw an indigo bunting today, flashing as brilliant a blue as the Gulf of Mexico at home. The Huntsville, AL sectioners here saw a copperhead on the trail today. A beautiful babbling brook beside my tent tonight; I am relishing my final few days out here.5/3 Mountain Crossings at Walasi-Yi, Neel Gap, mile 31An easy 12 over pretty Cowrock and Levelland Mtns to this classic (state-owned, and (therefore?) badly managed) hostel and gear shop, known for its boots tree out front. (Hikers have laden a huge oak with worn-out boats for years now.) It's crowded with anxious NOBOs, starting late and freaking out over anything. The absentee staff aren't helping, but it is Sunday.Blood Mountain is across the street, and I plan on hitting it with a headlamp by 6 in the a.m., so as get to the summit for the sunrise.5/4 Gooch Mountain Shelter, mile 16An easy day, after coming down off Blood, which has great ledges on its north side which I never discovered before. (I have done other trails around BLood Mtn Wilderness, but not the AT down to Neel Gap.) Preaching Rock above Suches was pretty.I was standing in Woody Gap wondering whether I should walk the couple of miles down into Suches and its lone "country store"--which AWOL lists as selling beer--in order to perhaps procure an adult beverage with which to celebrate my arrival on Springer forthwith and henceforth, when a dude dropping his son back off on the trail offered a ride. I hopped in and soon bought us an ice-cream at said store--the beer delivery could be "a few weeks" (wtf?)--and as I got out of his truck he offered me some wine and gin that he brought along for the road trip with his son, as he drinks neither. Such magical trail magic. I gave the wine away at Woody Gap, but stashed the ounce bottle of Tangueray, only to discover it days later, long after Springer.The funniest scene yet occurred just now. The shelter fits 14 people, and while it is trashed with NOBO detritus, only four are there when I arrive around 5: Bad Dinner, a funny perennial sectioner with a big mouth, two locals out for some cross-training, and an Army Ranger who won't shut up about carrying 130lbs up Himalayan ridges in Afghanistan. Ranger Rick warns that "the family" are on their way here, and will want some space in the shelter. I'm tenting nearby, so don't care, but the others start griping about making room for this "family." I'm about to ask what's the story with "the family" when I hear a kid yell, "Grandma, the shelter's up here" and another kid yell for some trail mix. An hour later, this troop of five start to show up. Three girls, ages 10, 11, and 13, their Momma, and finally, as darkness falls, Grandma. The kids are carrying their gear and clothes in shopping bags in both hands, as if they're exiting a mall after a successful back-to-school shopping trip. Momma arrives too late to stop the kids from raising a ruckus and generally stressing out the current NOBO residents. She is carrying their sole flashlight. Grandma, who's apparently dreamt of hiking the AT for some time, immediately starts scoping out space in the shelter, but no one is yielding an inch inside. Momma efficiently tasks the kids with getting water, and eventually, I help them set up their flimsy tents, as this is a first for any of them. Grandma is chopping veg, and chicken meat (!) for dinner, and is still cooking in the shelter as I write this. She is griping (quietly, to the kids) about its residents being "ignorant" and Momma is losing her patience. The youngest daughter is singing like she's in church, another one like she's on "America's Got Talent" or whatever. I ask the Mom how far they are going, expecting to hear Woody Gap or the like, and she says Maine! "My Uncle dropped us off at Springer, and he ain't picking us up 'til Katahdin," explains the older kid. I say to Mom: "Really?" and she admits that she has a sister...in Maryland! Shaking my head, I go to bed, thinking: some of these NOBOs don't belong out here, and others really don't belong out here. I wish "the family" nothing but the best on the trail, and wish the (racist?) residents of the shelter an early exit off of it. Grandma had no right to expect space in the shelter, but it could have been granted them.5/5 Max Epperson Shelter, mile 0.0, Amicalola Falls State Park.Though the southern terminus of the AT is atop Springer Mtn, at 3,782' elevation, I had to re-do the annoying 8.8-mile "approach trail" beyond it in order to catch a shuttle out of the park and on to Atlanta for the bus ride home. So I ended my AT adventure with a 24.6-mile day, exhausted, but soon rejuvenated with a burger and Sweetwater 420 at the park's lodge, which is sadly inhospitable to hikers. (It's run by the state, so it sucks ass, basically.) I did cook my last meal on top of Springer and signed the register stashed in the rock there, but as a thunderstorm was rolling in, didn't dally as much as one might expect.The Three Forks area, at around mile 4 of the trail, was a highlight of the day, with gorgeous waterfalls along Stover and Long Creeks. I received lots of congratulatory words from the few NOBOs around at this late date in their season, and passed on my remaining hiking pole and Aqua-Mira bottles to needy hikers. I shared this final shelter with Lenny, a dude in his 50's whose wife has MS and who hasn't had a break from her care in many years. His daughter dropped him off, just as my Molly did a month ago, and he was fairly anxious, just as I was some 11 months ago. I hope he has a great hike. Also, there's a German art student here, getting university credits for some project involving the AT. I filled out a survey form for him, as he drank a Budweiser, at 8 in the am! I gave them both last minute well-wishes, and got in the car to Atlanta before the park's Welcome Center opened, so I never got to officially register my thru-hike in the log there, though a kind employee of the Hike Inn was kind enough to write my info down. I don't really care if it gets noted there, as my experiences on the AT are deposited in my memory banks. I'll need time to fully process them, because I can't yet put into words what a transformative journey it's been. I'd like to close by thanking (again) my family and friends for making my trip a reality, as well as all of the Appalachian Trail's volunteers and visionaries who made it even a possibility.