Date: 2018-03-10
From: Amicalola Falls State Park Approach Trail

To: Black Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: scattered clouds

My bro and I woke up and had a good breakfast at the lodge. We then went to the check-in station where I signed in as hiker number 846. My pack weighed in at about 38 pounds which is heavier than I wanted (I added some last minute items before I left the house).There was a large contingent of hikers gathered at the arch area so we waited our turn to snap the obligatory start photos.  My brother and I said our goodbyes and just like that I was on the trail.  I started out with a group that included the guy from near my hometown who is nearly 20 years younger than I.  He carries a large Groot doll on the back of his pack facing the rear.  I¢m not sure about the symbolism but I¢m sure there is meaning there.  I think he has a blog, ¢Groot on the Trail.¢  Regardless, it is bound to become an iconic sight by the time his hike is finished.Groot¢s pack weighed in at a whopping 52 pounds, so I didn¢t feel too bad about my weight until the first few hundred feet into the hike when my hips started burning and my foot went numb.I stopped at a picnic shelter below the falls and took off my knee brace and made some pack adjustments.Soon thereafter, a cruel and disheartening initiation awaited.  There are over 600 steps to the top of Amicalola Falls.  Climbing those steps with a fully loaded backpack is an insane exercise in stupidity. Had I known the extent of the exertion required, I would have taken the alternate route from the lodge.  I thought I would black out a few times as my cardio system adjusted.  I had to stop to rest at every other landing, and to make matters worse, fit tourists of every age, gender, and nationality, including little children, raced up and down the steep incline seemingly like monkeys on crack-cocaine.  It was humiliating, but I made it.  At the top of the falls a hiker from the Netherlands asked to use my phone to contact his missing mate as his phone was out of charge.  I was happy to oblige.   He was on my phone for at least 20 minutes pecking keys and I wondered if he were stealing information.  Finally he gave my phone back and after a short conversation I was hiking alone into the wild.The trail was pretty and my pace was brisk. The quiet of the woods was amazing.  I passed a site where an airplane once crashed. Richard Fowler Shoolbred, Sr died there along with three others on April 10th, 1968.  A plaque was erected there in 1996 upon removal of the wreckage.The pleasant weather turned to rain in early afternoon, and though my intent was to make Springer Mountain that day, after some debate with a young hiker I met up with, common sense told us to stop short at Black Gap Shelter while it was still empty.  We knew Springer Mountain Shelter would be loaded.After a snack I filtered some water by a stream, fiddled with my pack and set up my sleeping area.  My first trail meal was Mountain House Beef Strogenoff.  By dark we were packed seven or eight tight like a can of sardines. The main entertainment was the energetic and extremely chatty young veteran I arrived with.  If I had half his enthusiasm and wit, the world would be my oyster.  Another interesting fellow in the shelter was Mr. Clean, an Air Force flight school trainee obsessive about hygiene and cleanliness on the trail.  He thru-hiked the entire AT last year and was on a weekend jaunt.  He was a wealth of information.There was a nice talkative guy about my age from New Orleans whom I apparently had a snoring contest with during the night.The lone female was Fuscia, a pink haired 20 year old self proclaimed civil-rights activist from Ohio.I set my watch an hour ahead to accommodate daylight savings time, and with the shelter wall on one side and my new friend from West Virginia on the other side, I had the worst night¢s sleep of my life.