Date: 2005-04-03
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Woods Hole Shelter
Miles today: 26.4
Weather: clear sky

A long but good day. It got off to a bit of a late start since the shelter, on the loft where I slept, was closed off to the outside light and I didn't wake up with the first light. The wind was roaring but the sky was cloudless and sunny. The ground coming down from Springer had frozen a bit more and there was a thin layer of ice over the hard-packed mud. As I descended, the ice and snow faded away. Man, 50 degrees with all the wind feels more like 30.Getting down to the Springer parking lot, I received my first piece of trail magic. A man who attempted last year was offering donuts, juice drinks, Pop Tarts, and the like. Man, that was cool and it certainly wasn't the last of it. There was a cooler with cold cans of V8 juice in it a ways down the trail. Some other thru-hikers, carrying up to 10 days of food for God knows why, offered me some of their energy bars and peanut butter crackers.I passed about 40 thru-hikers today; it seems like almost all of them have heavy packs. I felt badly for this one girl I met at the Gooch Gap shelter who was carrying a 46 pound pack. She must have weighed about 130 pounds herself. We discussed ways she might lighten her load and she hopes to buy some new gear at the outfitter in Neel's Gap. One of the items she was carrying was a bottle of perfume and she vowed to toss it. Most of the thru-hikers I met are hiking half days at this point. I like all the other folks hiking the trail so far but unfortunately it doesn't look like I will be making any lasting friends for the first few hundred miles since we are hiking different distances. I'm sure this will change by Damascus.I met a couple day hikers on one of the vistas. They were really encouraging and they also gave me two apples, which were really tasty. Nice guys.A day hiker passed me SOBO and he asked me where I was headed. I responded that I was going to Mt. Katahdin. "Oh, Maine? Say hi to Stephen King for me then" he said. If I see him, I will.I am really glad to be in the mountains breathing crisp air. The periodic views are fantastic. I am going to learn to love the uphill/downhill even if it kills me. My legs are doing something funny at the end of the day, it seems that every muscle in my legs is about to pull and, no doubt I will hike fewer miles tomorrow. I might even try stretching, something I never did on the FT. I think that a contributing factor is my dehydration. I did not even realize how dehydrated I was until I urinated a dark yellow this afternoon. I'm going to need to remind myself to drink more since I'm not that thirsty in the chilly weather or this could turn serious.This evening, arriving at the Woods Hole shelter area around dusk, there were several guys already in their bags. I said nicely, "hey, any room for another hiker?" Some of them were favorable and the others said, "well, it's pretty tight as it is." I could see that there were at least 2 inches of space on either side of each person's pad and if everyone closed in, we all would have enough space to sleep snugly. I persuaded them gently, and they gave in. Hey, we'll all be warmer! I'm happy for the spirit of companyerismo that seems to exist between hikers. A great day on the AT, and many, MANY more to follow.