Date: 2013-03-10
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: few clouds

Bruce's journal entry:3-10-13We hear a knock on room door at 8 a.m. We were not up. Alma had left wakeup call request for the wrong room. I hope the people in 106 found our wakeup call usefull. We were in 206.Fast showers and then breakfast in the car on the way to FS42 Springer parking lot. I drove. Great car. Remember that Mustang? Driving directions mostly correct. Forest road actually not bad. Narrow, rutty, some mud, 20-25 mph on FS42. Arrived parking lot at 9:45 a.m., only 45 minutes later than planned. Alma has flight out of Atlanta at 3:20 p.m. Saying goodbye was tough for both of us. Hiked south to starting point plaque. [Ed note: The southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail -- the starting point -- is south of the parking lot, a short hike up to the top of Springer Mountain, approx. one mile.]Then it was on to Hawk Mountain Shelter total 9 miles.It got warm. For a while I was down to a t-shirt on top, but it is getting cold and windy.The wind makes Esbit hard to light, but eventually succeeded. (Ed note: Esbit is a cooking fuel in chemical tablet form.]Tent was hard to set up in the wind. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. I already know that I need better shoe liners and a better way to light Esbit fuel & better setup to use Sawyer water filter. Squeezing the Sawyer plastic bags is obnoxious...and I hear that they do not hold up well.[Ed note: Triple Step's wife dropped him off at the hiker parking lot on Forest Service Road 42 (FS42) on Springer Mountain, Ga., this morning. From there, he hiked to Hawk Mountain Shelter, where he's tenting for the night. In this colder late-winter weather it will be warmer in the tent than in the shelters.Here's Mrs. Triple Step's email message, received this evening: "I dropped him off in the middle of the woods on Forest Service Road #42 where the AT crosses. There is a parking lot there for hikers to use. It is about a mile from the top of Springer Mountain. He started his hike at 10:00 am this morning. We flew down to Atlanta yesterday leaving Hartford at 10:30. I flew back today getting in about 5:30. I was in Georgia for 26 hours. We rented a car to drive up to where we were staying and dropping him off. We asked for a full size car and ended up with the brand new Mustang. Boy could that thing move. I was not sure about getting him to his location but it did fine. It was a 60 mile round trip to the drop off point which included 7 miles each way on a dirt road, climbing the mountain. We were warned that it was muddy on that road but today it was not bad at all. If I waited a couple of days we could not do it. They are due for some heavy rain tomorrow. Bruce insists that he is going to do a better hike this time and not push himself. He did about 9 miles today and is staying at Hawk Mountain near the shelter. He did take a cell phone this time and called me tonight. He was in his tent and sleeping bag trying to stay warm. He said that the wind chill was really cold. He also has found that the inner soles of his hiking sneakers are not that good. He had decided to use sneakers this time over waterproof hiking boots. The last time he used waterproof hiking boots. They were fine when they were dry but when they finally got wet they really never fully dried out and caused the blisters which is what made him leave the trail. The sneakers will dry faster, but also get wet faster. There is a place that he can stop in Neels Gap to pick up any needed gear he decided that he needs. He will get there on Tuesday."]