Date: 2010-03-05
From: Franklin, NC

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 100.0
Weather: clear sky

I'm just going to update this whole thing, all at once- I can't figure out how to really work this thing, and I'm not planning to try so:Day 1, about 2.5 miles: I arrived in Gainesville train station (with Sonya) at around 7:00am, after spending the night on the 16 hour overnight train, in a small, but nice sleeper car. (Note: The food on the trains New Orleans bound is good). The weather was beautiful and warm and sunny. We arrived, decided to get some breakfast, and wandered out. We wandered back in after the weirdest diner breakfast ever, and waited for our ride, who finally came at around 2:00, to take us to Amicalola Falls (thank you Mongoose!). We got to Amicalola, weighed our packs and signed in, and prepared to leave. Mongoose found out that he could actually take us up the road, so we could skip the approach trail (it was too late in the day to start that), so we went up the United States Forest Service Road in his Prius. It was muddy, icy, and steep, and the Prius is not a forest car. It slid all over the place, and finally, about 2/3 of the way up, we had to get out, and Mongoose had to turn around. Luckily, he and his daughter, TripsandFalls made it down safely (got a message from them), and we hiked up the rest of the road, about 2 miles. So we did our own approach trail. We got to Springer Mtn. Shelter in the dark, and luckily there was enough room in the shelter for one more, and Sonya wanted to set up her hammock. We were both exhausted and crashed.Day 2, 8.4 (with backtracking .5 miles): Hawk Mtn Shelter, beautiful day, tired. Arrived at Hawk Mtn. Shelter after a good day of hiking (with Sonya and Tim, another thru hiker), and met a bunch of section hikers. Made bacon and amazing blueberry pancakes (which I don't love at home, but were amazing on the trail) with syrup, and went to bed. Tim hiked with us, and decided not to hike with us anymore because our pace was a bit too fast (he had sore feet). Also met AggieAl, Seaborn, and Bill.Day 3, 7.3: Gooch Mtn. Shelter, Was amazing! It rained very hard last night, and the first three miles were really, really hard. Not kinda hard, REALLY HARD. The weather and terrain after that was amazing though- it smelled like a rain forest, and it leveled out. My feet and legs got in their groove, and it felt great! We got to Gooch Mtn Shelter, I actually took a bath (well, stood in the creek and washed), it was cold, but nice. We made dinner and prepared to bunk down again, and after dark, Axman and Braids came in with Tucker (Braids's dog). Axman and Tucker were exhausted, Braids was tired.Day 4, 12.3: Woods Hole Shelter, today was strange. It was a pretty bad hike, I'll admit. It got REALLY COLD. And we were very sore, and yet we did this big mileage day. It was INSANELY WINDY. Sonya and I ended up hiking with Seaborn (another thru hiker), and we all decided to head to Woods Hole Shelter. We finally made it there, after a long, hard day, and it turned out that the shelter was .5 miles off the trail. We headed down, finally found it, and set up camp. We were preparing to make dinner, and I was just thinking that I hoped Axman was okay, when we see his headlight bobbing down the trail. We were so glad to see him, and he was so glad to see us. I made Asian Chicken and Mocha Mousse Pie, and Axman started calling me the bakenater because of the good food. Exhausted, but glad to be in the shelter with everyone.So, updating takes a long time, and I'm tired. No more for now.