Date: 2006-03-08
From: Campsite on Springer Summit

To: Campsite on Justus Creek
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night it got down to 30 degrees. I was warm as toast. Early on my feet got cold. I am longer than the sleeping pad (pads, now) and my feet rest on the ground. I sat up (I love this new tarptent - the Rainshadow II) and put on my neoprene socks. Instant warm feet.I woke up at 6:00 and got out of the sleeping bag at 6:30. It was very cold still and I put on my fleece shirt and gloves. I walked up to the summit, so that my hike would start today from the summit. I stepped on the first white blaze painted on the rock, and watched a bright red sunrise. I signed the guest book with a poem, words to fit ODE TO JOY from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony:      ODE TO JOYCome and sing this song of joy, Of woods and mountains glorious.Sing a song of blazes whiteOn mountains appalachious.Hiker voices pray for sunshine,Heaven sends them sleet and rain.Still they sing this song of joy,In Mountains Appalachian.The new thruhikers left separately and in pairs. I wished good luck to a couple of funny guys from Texas (or Ohio, I couldn't tell by their stories), and a thru-hiking couple a little younger than me named Mudflap and Daisy.On the way out, at the Forest Service Road 42 parking lot, I talked with Roger the Ridgerunner. He gave me a spiel about thru-hiking and mostly how to leave no trace. He asked if I had backpacked before, and I told him yes. He said that ten percent of the starting thruhikers he talked to had never backpacked one single night in their lives. Wow!He gave me a matchbook with Leave No Trace ethics on it. He said I could use the matches, but to give the book cover to the store at Neels Gap (Mountain Crossings) so they would know he spoke with me. He said they would give me a free bandana in exchange. Cool.This section of the Appalachian Range is called the Blue Ridge for the blue haze that fills the valleys. At Springer, two main ridge lines of the Blue Ridge head north. The trail starts off along the western ridge, but dips between the two at three forks, then climbs Hawk Mountain on the eastern ridgeline, which the trail follows until the two rejoin in Virginia.Once again, Tinker hiked faster than me, I am quite the slow hiker. (On the other hand, he was surprised to hear about my matchbook and free bandana. He said the Ridgerunner tried to talk to him but that he (Tinker) was in a hurry.)But on the trail, Tinker would pass me, and then I'd find him with his hammock set up in a pair of trees. Next thing I knew he was passing me again.Sometimes we hiked together, but our styles aren't compatible. He likes to talk as he hikes, and I prefer mostly silent hiking. So we met up frequently but didn't hike strictly together much.I reached Three Forks, where three large creeks (Stover, Chester, and Long) converge to form Noontootla Creek. There is a nice waterfall on Long Creek, aptly named Long Creek Falls.I seemed to have no wind. I know the Approach Trail was steep, but I struggled more than I should have, and the climb up Hawk Mountain was a struggle. I was passed by Heather who went by me like a rocket, and then by Susan, who was very pleasant to talk to. She also left me in the dust, but I caught up to her as she had lunch by a stream. I had to make a decision here. I was about one tenth of a mile from Hawk Mountain shelter, but it was only one o'clock. Too early to stop. Two miles down the trail was a large climb up Sassafras Mountain. I thought it would be a good idea to get that climb out of the way today, and start tomorrow on the summit with the awful climb already done.I met a couple having lunch. They were called Brains and Brawn, and told me I had to guess which was which. That was easy to guess.Tinker was behind me at the time, so I waited by the stream until he caught up and told him my idea. I warned him it was a dry summit, and that the trail had no water for the next six miles, so to get enough water to hike that far plus water to make dinner and breakfast.He opted to get water from the Hawk Mountain Shelter instead of the stream. The shelter is a quarter mile off the trail, and the water supply is a quarter mile beyond that, so I passed. Yesterday at Black Gap, I followed the water supply trail for a quarter mile downhill before giving up. Tinker kept going all the way and generously brought back a gallon ZipLoc baggie filled with water so me and Peter could filter from it. Today, I would take the water where I could get it, and not worry how far the water source at the shelter was.I filtered four and a half liters, filling every water container I had, then hoisted the pack.YOW!!!!My pack weight leaving Amicalola was 23 pounds. I just added nine pounds to it, and man could I tell the difference.Tinker got to Sassafras summit before me, and found the campsite to be less than desirable. He also pointed out the very large number of trees that had blown down, and reminded me of how windy it was last night. That was convincing enough for me, and we walked down to the gap. The gap had plenty of good campsites, but he didn't want to camp by a road, remembering a specific scene from Deliverance (which was filmed mostly in Dahlonega about ten miles away).So we hoofed it. Up and down Justus Mountain and Phyllis Spur until we reached Justus Creek. Great. I still had six pounds of water in my pack I had carried for six miles over three mountains to stop at a creek! Tinker was smarter than me. He only filtered a couple liters at Hawk Mountain and only had about a pint left.Just before I had reached Justus Creek, a hiker caught up with me, a young man named Brian. He camped with us. Tinker had set up his hammock, but the only good tent spots were across the creek, which is where Brian and I set up. Tinker came over and set up a tent on the other side of Brian.I ate quickly and was ready to turn in, and take a chance not bear bagging, but Tinker made up a contraption out of forked sticks and trees, and let me put my bag on with his.Then I crawled into my thermals and went to sleep