And So It Begins

 Saturday 3/19 

My good friends Chuck and Tracy were kind enough to drive me up to the trail head. Tracy drove and Chuck navigated. That alone should have been my “Grand Adventure”. 

But even after taking several turns at 2.5 gs we made it to the parking lot off of FSRD 42 (Springer Mountain Trail Head) in one piece. 

I got my stuff unloaded and we said our goodbyes. Another couple there at the trail head asked Chuck if they were headed into town. Chuck said they were going thru Ellijay and the couple asked if they could get a ride.  Chuck told them to “come on!”

I’ve spoken to Chuck since then so I know the Thompson's didn’t meet up with a couple of psychos. 

After donning the backpack I headed up to the Springer Mountain Southern Terminus. It was a 1 mile ascending hike that was also very muddy. It’s like I was wading thru the Springer Mountain spring. I may the Benton  MacKaye turn off at the three-quarter mile mark and then found the Springer Mountain shelter. 

There’s a hiker there that was a little on the disgruntled side; he didn’t like his back,  his brother was supposed to meet him up there and hadn’t done it, he was in all sorts of foul mood.  I decide to go ahead and move on. Here’s where the interesting part comes in. I started towards what I thought was northward and came upon an area where the plaques for both the Appalachian Trail and the Benton Mackaye trails were set in stone. OK my sleep deprived mind wasn’t up to putting 2 and 2 together just yet. I continue on down the trail and in a half mile met another hiker coming in the opposite direction. I asked him if he was a southbound hiker and he replied he was heading north. 

R’ut R’ho!

I pointed the way he had come and asked where that trail lead. 

“To Amicalola Falls.”

Lawd have mercy I need a keeper!

I turned around and followed him back to THE Terminus. I then waded the Springer Mountain spring which was supposed to be the trail back to the parking lot and then beyond. 

By about dark I made Stover Creek shelter. 

There were quite a few around with tents and hammocks. The main deck of the shelter could sleep six and the loft could sleep about four. I thought that all the main deck space had been claimed so I trudged my gear up into the loft,  put a blue tarp on the deck, blew up my air pad, laid out my sleeping bag, crawled in and I was asleep. I was one tired puppy. 

Trail miles 2.8 To Go 2197.2

Sunday 3/20

I awoke about midnight and it was cold. The wind was howling something fierce but it was a beautiful moon out. No one else had came up to claim a spot in the loft. 

I had to take a leak. 

I climbed down the ladder and looked at the main deck to see that only three of the six spots were taken. C’est la vie!

I didn’t get back to sleep until about 0500. 

0900 I was up and competing with the others over the limited horizon space to cook my breakfast. It consisted of fried spam and ramen noodles with black pepper. I had eaten only a little bit the day before and was just going through the motions for breakfast. This is common among hikers when they first start out. They don’t have the appetite. It’s mainly because the food we take doesn’t have the aroma to get one to anticipate eating. Also , so many times we eat more out of boredom than hunger. I remember from when I spent time on the Pinhoti Trail I brought back nearly half of the food I left with. One, it wasn’t savory and two, I was too absorbed with what was going on to be “hungry”. 

I finished breakfast and started repacking the pack. I was on the trail by 1100. Almost the last to leave. 

The last one was the disgruntled hiker from yesterday. He was a bit more pleasant today.  I notice he had a yard hammock that he was carrying. That thing was heavy. My hammock is only 12 oz and folds up into a small ball that’ll fit into my hand. I can see one reason why he’s disgruntled. 

I started out and the trail was easy enough with the rises at only a hundred feet or so. I crossed the log bridge over Stover Creek without falling in. I met a pack of Scouts heading the other way that was out of Dallas, Georgia that is. Then I made Three Forks off of USFS 58. It’s a trailhead that has camping, a good size stream that some were fly fishing, and good water. The Benton Mackaye trail had been a part of the Appalachian Trail for a good bit up to here. The two continued across the road and started to do a steady rise. Finally I came to the junction where the two trails split. Also there was a side trail to Long Creek Falls but because it was getting late I elected not to take that side Journey. The pack was getting awfully heavy. 

Soon after I crossed the logging road which marked the accent of Hawk Mountain. That was a struggle. Others came up with me and we all were only taking maybe two dozen steps before we had to rest.

My pack was starting to get on my nerves. 

But after cresting the summit we started heading downward on a much gentler slope that what we had ascended. Because of my pack the others soon outdistanced me. That was ok. 

I came to a trail that had a sign that said Camp, Water. 

I thought the shelter was down that way so I headed down it. About a quarter of a mile I came upon some campers and inquired about the shelter only to be told it was farther on down the main trail back the way I had come. 

Not pleased, I trudged back the quarter of the mile to the main trail and continued onward. About a half a mile I came to a stream to cross so I dropped my pack, filled one of the four empty water bottles I was now carrying, and walked on down the trail. About another quarter of a mile I found the sign leading to the shelter. I returned to get my pack and made it to the shelter about an hour before dark. 

My main problem with my pack’s weight was I packed 12 lbs of food. That was way too much and I knew it at the time but I started carrying it anyway. Well, I had to lighten my load and I was going to give away as much as I could. But all these other hikers were at their limit and was reluctant to take on any more. I did give away about 4 lbs at about 4 oz at a time. There were a lot of campers there. 

Hawk Mountain Shelter was smaller than Stover Creek. The main deck could accommodate three and the loft about the same. There were two already on the main deck at opposite ends so it looked like I was getting the middle but I didn’t want to find out if any of the other two campers were spooners so I took the loft again. 

I woke up about 0200 and took a leak then stayed awake until about 0500 when I dropped off to sleep again. I woke up at 0900 again. 

When I climb down there was disgruntled hiker again and had his whole rig laid out on the picnic table. I made do with the main deck to prepare my breakfast of fried spam and ramen noodles. Readied my pack and by 1100 I was off again to go the 7.3 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter. 

I gotta work on that 1100 start time. 

I crossed Hightower Gap in good time but then I had to ascend Hightower. That’s where the fun begin. Hightower was a steep ascend and that overweight pack was really starting to perturb me. I finally made the summit and started the much more gentle descent then there was another ascend that took me forever and on the way down I had had enough of that pack and threw it down on the trail. I came close to kicking it off to the side. I knew I would never make it to Gooch Mountain Shelter before night so I travel about a half a mile more on the trail and found an area at Horse Gap that had good covering of cleyera bushes to wind break. I set camp and returned for that inferno pack. I dragged it to the camp and set up the hammock. I did not light a fire since I would need water to put it out so the camp was a “cold camp”. I didn’t feel like eating and only nibbled on a cracker. I went to sleep and slept soundly. 

Tuesday 3/22

I awoke and since I was close to the road I packed up and went to it. I had a signal and tried Uber. Since the rain was coming in I didn’t want to be caught out in it. And I needed to unload my pack. I’m sure some of ya’ll think I should have just thrown it down by the trail and other hikers coming through would have picked up what they needed but the reality is that most of them are already at their limit and don’t want any extra weigh; even if it was a few ounces. That's why I had so much trouble giving away food. As I was coming down from Hightower I notice where someone had thrown an empty bottle of Smartwater to the side of the trail (lot of good drinking that water did that hiker) but I was unwilling to pick up that few extra ounces. 

But back to Uber. When I tried to confirm a ride the app got stuck. I closed the app and waited. Soon a truck full of rangers came by and felt pity on me. They gave me a ride to Cooper Gap which was about four miles down the road.  They were headed towards Dahlonega; I should have stayed with them. 

In a couple of minutes an Uber driver came by with a couple of hikers making their way to Hightower Gap and Hawk Mountain Shelter. I told them that that was only a few miles back the way I came and told the driver to come back because I needed a ride to Suches. The idea was to get a stay at the Above The Clouds Hostel. 

After they left the app dinged me letting me know there was no drivers available. And I was able to cancel that request and started another for where I was at. The Uber app got stuck again. 

A lot of hikers were coming through Cooper’s Gap and they all knew about the storm. And they were all scurrying to find shelter for a day or two. 

I got a ding on my phone and it was a banner from Uber saying my driver was 11 minutes away. Sure enough; along comes the same driver and away we head to Suches. 

The driver talked about he didn’t realize how rough these roads were when those other hikers caught a ride with him. We had a very pleasant conversation coming down and he admitted that he enjoyed the scenic view but he had a small car that didn’t need to be on one of them rough service roads. 

We passed a house and he asked, “is that somebody’s house?” 

Then we made actual pavement. 

He was happy. 

He dropped me off at the Hostel and as he said he was headed to Alpharetta. 

I knocked on the door. 

A man with the trail name of Nimrod answered. 

He invited me in then gave me the sad news that he was booked solid. All the others in the areas were too. The nearest rooms will be in Dahlonega. Now you see why I should have stayed with those Rangers. 

Nimrod offered me the hospitality that he could and I got some damn good coffee from him and a place to charge my phone and such. There was a shuttle driver that was going to be along in an hour and Nimrod made several suggestions of places to stay. I used my Choice app and found a Quality Inn in Dahlonega with better rates than the others Nimrod was suggesting. I told Nimrod and he said that was a good place too. So, I booked a couple of nights. 

While there I dropped off the extra food I had and some of the extra gear. Maybe some other hiker will find a use for it. I may just book a night or two when I get back and see if any of my old stuff is still there. One never knows. 

Lucky was my shuttle driver and there was about four of us heading to Dahlonega. I was dropped off first. 

After checking in I realize I had left my staff in the back of the shuttle. I gave Nimrod a call and he said he would get ahold of Lucky. Soon Lucky came by and dropped my staff off for me. 

The restaurant that is connected to this motel was closed today so I walked to a subway about a quarter of a mile away. I got a foot long and had it quartered. I figure I would eat some today and the rest tomorrow. But! That savory smell got my appetite whet. I ate half at the first sitting, waited about an hour to eat another quarter then ate the last after 1900 this evening. 

It was good.