Date: 2015-11-23
From: Horse Gap

To: Springer Mountain
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

The last few entries have been posted since we climbed Mt. Kathadin on August 13. For the most part they¢ve detailed some makeup hikes in Virginia that I missed when I was recovering from cellulitis earlier this summer. While I was recovering, Princess forged ahead and hiked all the way through the park - initially by herself and then later with Ranger. The first group of my makeup hikes was in the Shenandoah National Park from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31. A few days later, both Princess and I finished a section of the AT further south in Virginia that I missed with my first round of cellulitis. This section included the Priest and Princess did it with me from Nov. 1 to Nov. 5. The section that we both did today is our last makeup section. On March 2 of 2015, someone (who didn¢t provide their name) commented in our guest book: ¢are you skipping springer mtn?¢ Our answer turned out to be yes ¢ for the time being. We originally planned to start at Springer Mtn on March 1. Ranger was going to drive us up the forest road to the parking lot and we were going to hike the mile or so up to the top of Springer and then start north from there to a point where Ranger could pick us up. But the forest road that we planned to take to the parking lot was closed, so we elected to start several sections to the north and then hike back to Springer. As it turned out, the road conditions were nasty and we had to stop about 10.5 miles north of Springer at Horse Gap. We still hoped to return to do the Springer section early in the year, but we had reservations further north that would have been hard to change, so we resolved to return to the southern terminus after we finished the rest of the trail. So today we finally returned to close the gap. We stayed at Ranger¢s house and he drove us to our starting point at Horse Gap. I followed him in our car and I left it at the Springer Mountain parking lot (conveniently on the same road to Horse Gap). The weather was really nice and quite comfortable. Hiking late in the year without bugs and snakes and bears is really very pleasant. The trail was mostly dry and we encountered plenty of day hikers on the trail where it intersected forest roads. Many families were taking advantage of the Thanksgiving holidays for a day hike or an overnight. Our SoBo hike was quick and mostly uneventful. Last year we did this section NoBo, so today we were climbing Springer rather than descending, but the climb was over 4 miles with no problem areas. There were quite a few people at the top of Springer when we arrived. A number of day hikers and a couple of SoBo thru-hikers. We traded a few stories and took some pictures and then headed back down to the parking lot where our car was waiting. Overall it was anticlimactic compared to the Kathadin summit. Since then (today is actually 1/5/16), we¢ve continued to travel (by car) quite a bit, including a trip to the Cotton Bowl in TX to see Alabama do a job on Mich St. We are planning to head to Phoenix in a couple of days to see if AL can bring home the national trophy this year. Our book is not finished, but we are making progress. We hope to meet with a potential publisher in a couple of weeks. We met Pintsize and Boss (2014) in Nashville and had a grand time with them. Both Focus and Spartacus have been keeping us posted on their global travels. Princess is actively planning on the John Muir Trail next fall and she¢s talked several others into joining her. Ranger and a local friend are in, and possibly Spartacus. Dino (from Germany, 2014) is also interested in the JMT, and Bean Dip and her mum (Mama Bean) plan to return for part of the AT and perhaps some PCT before they return to Australia. Who knows, we may show up again this year on the AT! Stranger things have happened. Happy New Year to all. Watch this space for future news.