Date: 2016-03-22
From: Springer Mountain Parking Lot

To: Horse Gap
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: clear sky

Today was a great hiking day, mostly clear sky, a cold start but it climbed to 67 by the end of the afternoon. When we got our standard o¢dark start, it was 28 deg in Blue Ridge. As we climbed up toward the Springer parking area, the temp rose to 35 when I dropped Princess off at the lot. A warm front was moving through and the trend continued throughout the day. Princess started hiking NoBo from the Springer lot while I continued driving the gravel mountain roads (~ 8 mi) to Horse Gap. I parked the car there, grabbed my gear, locked the car and headed SoBo back toward the Springer lot. The temp was actually 32 deg there, but I started with a steep climb and warmed up quickly. So she hiked north while I hiked south and we met somewhere near the middle (she was hiking while I was driving, so she got farther than I did). We call it a ¢key swap¢, but we both have keys so we don¢t have to worry about forgetting to swap. She hiked the rest of the way to Horse Gap, hopped in the car and drove back to her starting point (the Springer lot) to pick me up at the end of my hike. It worked fine, she¢s a faster hiker (and competitive) so she beat me back to the starting point. The trail was jammed with oodles of hikers. A lot of thru-hikers start the first couple of weeks in March. They¢re not wearing signs or name tags, but typically they have the biggest backpacks - often up to 35 lbs, and they¢re sucking wind getting up the steeper slopes. Some are in good physical shape and they have smiles, those who haven¢t been working out have worried looks (what have I got myself into?). But in my opinion, today the thru-hikers were considerably outnumbered by day hikers and section hikers. It¢s spring break time and a number of younger hikers are out for maybe a couple of days. I met a few section hikers who said they were going to hike the Georgia section, or between 2 specific trail points and I saw one student group of about a dozen and another group of ladies just out for a stroll up to the waterfall at Three Forks. All in all, I don¢t think I¢ve seen a busier day on the AT. But I was hiking SoBo and most of the crowd was headed NoBo.Out gear is working out pretty well for us. The mornings have been close to freezing with some wind. I mentioned our new Z-pack windbreakers yesterday, and they are working out great. Our friend, Focus, who hiked with us last year had one and it seemed to work very well as we got further north and the mountaintops got cooler and cooler. They are incredibly light (about 2 oz), almost flimsy, but Focus wore his a lot and it seemed to be quite durable. Its water repellant, but not waterproof and it has a hood and full-length zipper. I¢ve been wearing it for the cold mornings (low 30¢s) with just a short-sleeve jogging shirt and cycling arm-warmers. And I have 3 combinations of glove liners and shells - as long as my hands are warm, I¢m warm. I¢m cold when I first get out there, but after 5 minutes of climb I¢m fine. The windbreaker stows into a built-in pocket about the size of a wallet. We still carry our Thermoball jackets for emergencies or if we get stopped for some reason, and I carry a toboggan and a buff.Tomorrow is another relatively short day. We plan to keep the distance close to 10 miles for a little longer before we start extending it. Tomorrow is expected to be a little warmer than today.