Date: 2009-03-31
From: Springer Mountain

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 2.8
Weather: light rain

White BlazeToday we began our thru-hike, with a drive up to the top of Springer Mountain in Georgia. Its a day later than we planned, but that's fine with us. We had a moment of panic yesterday (and the night before) when we packed our bags and everything wouldn't fit. So we took it all back out, and went through each item piece by piece - weighing each item for both pack weight and usefullness. Its amazing how my view of necessity changes when I convert it to actual weight I'll be carrying on my back. And it is no exaggeration to say we took each fraction of an ounce into account.So, after taking an extra day to sort out our gear and pack it all up, my parents picked us up this morning at the Hoffbrau Inn in Helen, GA, where we stayed the previous two nights. Helen is both a delightful and disturbing alpine Bavarian village nestled in the north Georgia mountains along the Chatahoochie river. Sometime early in the 20th century, this little mining town faced extinction after the mines closed, so it decided to convert itself into a tourist destination with a Bavarian theme. Everything, including the chain hotels, police station, gas stations, post office, library, etc... are all designed to look like they come out of some elaborate German cuckoo clock. It definitely has its appeal, and is apparently popular among honeymooners, as we have met several. The Hoffbrau has a wonderful german restaraunt, in which we stuffed ourselves on schnitzel, spaetzel and strudel the night before we left.So, after a large breakfast in Dahlonega, GA, another tourist mining town close to the trail head, we went up to the visitors center at Amicolola falls and weighed our packs: Liz - 34lbs, Einstein 7.5lbs, and mine was a whopping 39 - which seemed too heavy until I met Sandy, a big Australian man hauling 60 lbs, including a gallon jug of water he carried by hand on the trail. After hearing about some other hefty packs, we realized we were better prepared than we thought.After getting pictures taken at the scale and archway indicating the beginning of the 8 mile approach trail (including a 600 step staircase), we loaded everyone back up into the car, including Sandy and his 60 lbs pack, and my parents drove us up a 6.5 mile bumpy dirt forest road to the summit of Springer mountain. (At the visitors center Sandy was very happy to hear there was a shortcut to the top and gleefully accepted a ride). At the summit we had to backtrack 1 mile to the actual summit and southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, where we were greeted by Many Sleeps, a 78 year old ridge runner (trail caretaker) and former thru-hiker (1998) who took our pictures by the plaque marking the start of the trail. We also met Samantha and Drew, a couple we would shelter with later that night. After hiking back to the parking lot, and saying our final goodbyes to my parents, we set off. My mother even joined us for the first quarter mile or so. Two other former thru-hikers, Buttercup and Mountain Squid, were also there to offer friendly advice and get us on our way.On the trail we quickly met two other hikers, Matt and Ben, with a dog named Rogue, who Einstein quickly took a shine to. We let them play a bit and kept on hiking to the Stover Creek shelter which we reached late in the afternoon. That is also where we met Sally Jo, a section hiker headed toward Harper's Ferry, and her son Pierce who was only hiking for the week before heading out on his ow to South America to learn spanish. We also met Elijah, a spirited indidual who helped me build a fire. We spent an enjoyable evening around the fire with all those we had already met on the trail, and a group of guys from Florida who were hiking a section of the trail for spring break. As we lamented that no one brought marshmallows or popcorn, one of the Spring breakers offered up that he brought a bottle of rum (emptied into a Nalgene bottle) which got passed around the rest of the evening until it was gone. Einstein made friends with everyone then slept by the fire until we all turned in.That evening we spent our first night in our tent - a Double Rainbow Tarptent made by Henry Shires - which we quickly discovered was not nearly as roomy as it seemed when we set it up at home. Einstein had a tough time finding a comfortable spot to sleep, and the tent didn't do a great job of keeping the rain off our gear. We realized that we would soon need a new tent.