Date: 2008-01-20
From: Gooch Mtn Shelter

To: Freakin SPRINGER!!
Miles today: 15.4

mi.Dest Springer BABY!Sleep A freakin HouseDay 191Sorry for the long delay in getting this written and posted. Life has thrown in a spitball slider instead of the curveball I was planning on. But more on that in my next entry. Believe it or not, but my last day seems crystal clear to me as if it was yesterday. I hope it is one of those days that I always remember this clearly.Last night was freakin cold. I am going to hazard to guess that this was my coldest night on the trail. I am not sure of the actual temp, but I learned that my watch thermometer only goes down to 9.7 F. It has a histogram on it and it was a consistent 9.7 across the board. It had to be well below zero. I am by no means ready to be done hiking. I am just getting sick of the cold. If I had the money I would keep hiking. My thoughts are also moving on from this adventure to the next one.Meat got a hold of his family last night and they are driving up the forest service road that goes .9 miles from Springer. I would have liked to do the Approach trail, but at this point it would make for a 24 mile day. Not the way I was looking forward to ending my hike. So getting off there is the plan. It means reawaking the last little bit, but I can live with that. Plus I get to meet Meat¢s parents and uncle. I have my ride waiting for me at the Amicola Falls visitor¢s center. I want to sign in there and figure out what number of southbounder I am.It was slow going this morning. Everything feels different now. It is finally sinking in that this is it. Last night was the last night. This is the last morning. I am doing little things different knowing it is the last. I didn¢t take care of my feet and air them out as much last night. I usually do after wearing the seal skins. I also did not pack up as well as usual. Making sure everything is in it¢s right place. I did notice that the foot end of my bug angus pad as some ice on the inside. The moisture in my breath froze in it last night. Like I said it was cold.We got going around 8am. Everyone else was still getting out of bed. We got a couple congratulations. Can¢t say they felt right yet. The trail today was like the rest of GA. Pretty easy going. There is a couple of inches of snow on the ground. I can¢t say how excited I am about that. I wanted my Springer picture to have snow in the background so bad. If it melts I am going to collect some snow and put it there.We saw a bunch of odd footprints in the snow today. Someone was bushwhacking and would come to the trail and follow it for awhile, then go off trail again. Really odd. It is not hunting season. This happened a few times. Neither of us could come up with a good reason for this. It did provide some good entertainment for the day.We tried talking about the normal things, hoping to make this feel like any other day. It worked a little but not much. All I could think about was this was the last time I was going to do this, or this is my last this.Early on, way before noon we came across a northbounder. We talked a little and he asked where we were coming from. This was after we told him we were finishing up today. Of course he asked us if we were section hikers. True until we finish we are, but we told him this and we started in Maine. Then he said that he stayed at the next shelter and we would probably want to hold up there for the night. I think the reply was something to the effect of, no we are finishing up at Springer by dark. Really there was less than 12 miles to go and it was way before noon. Got to love people living up to the stereotypes to the very end. Almost as bad as when I finally tell people I am thru-hiking and their first question is did you start in Maine. I would think that is assumed if I am finishing in GA, but that is just me.We got to the shelter he stayed at around noon and took a good lunch break. Can¢t say I was looking forward to my last lunch. On the other hand my food bag is really low, so another night out is out of the question. I also used up the last of my water for the day. It wasn¢t too cold out, somewhere in the high 20¢s, but the water was still freezing in my pack. Luckily there is plenty of wonderful snow to eat.I know this would seem hard when first starting, but I still don¢t see it. The walk up Springer wasn¢t bad at all. The northbounders have it way easier than I did starting out. I think I like it that way. It goes with my all or nothing mentality. I would rather jump in head first than sit at the edge of the pool with my feet in the water.We stopped at the last shelter before Springer to take one last privy break. Come on, I had to go one last time. It is great reading the journals of everyone finishing up. I should have read more of the northbounders finishing up. Everyone, myself included is getting emotional and has something profound to say. One funny one was of someone who skipped ahead and was here in early December. He said that he was just sick of being cold. I feel the same way. But I had to laugh since I was out almost 2 months after he said this. Maybe an early northbound hike would not be so bad.At a certain point Meat decided that he was not going to drink anything that was not alcoholic. That sounded like a great idea. So I followed suit. This was only a couple miles from the end.We met up with his family at the parking lot. It was nice to finally meet them. It¢s funny how the mom¢s of some of the people I was hiking with kept up on my journal to follow their son¢s progress. Anyways, it was good meeting them.I told Meat that I would hang back with him as much as I could. I didn¢t make any promises to go slow the last mile. It lasted for awhile, then I think we both ended up taking off. I have been told, by non-southbounders, that Springer is an anti-climatic place to finish. It is not Katadin by any means. But to me it was fantastic. I loved every step of it. The top of it was amazing.I can¢t really put into words the way it felt finishing. I think I felt every emotion I had. It was exciting to finish. I felt a feeling of accomplishment that I have never felt with anything else before. I finished something that to most people I talked to before hand was out there or near impossible. Let¢s face it, there were a few times I have some serious doubts that I would be standing here myself. This has to be the happiest I have felt in a long time. Yet there was also the sad and upset feeling of finishing. We spent a good while there celebrating and toasting. There was also a full photo shoot. No way I was going to finish without a ton of photos.From there we walked back to the car and drove down to the visitor¢s center to meet my ride. The road went from snow and ice covered at the top to completely clear at the bottom. I can see how this road is deceiving at the bottom as to how bad it is at the top. The road popped out really far from the visitor¢s center. I feel really bad. I didn¢t time it right and my ride ended up waiting a long time at the bottom for me. I should have known better and just said 6pm, but I didn¢t figure in the drive time or the time we would spend at the top.Everyone decided to eat at the lodge. They have a decent buffet. One more chance to pig out. I am really going to have to watch what I eat when I get back. I don¢t want to be one of those people that balloon up after their done. It is the strangest feeling being done. Meat and I ended up talking after a bathroom break. It feels strange to spend so much time around someone doing something that you both really enjoy, then nothing. We were talking about it and figured that we hiked around 1000 miles together. Looking back I have met some great friends on this hike and seen some wonderful places. All of which I hope I never forget.