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- Hiked Today: 22.1 mile
- Appalachian Trail (0.2 – 1.9 bonus miles & 1.9 – 24)
- Total Hiked: 1,948.5 miles
- Total Paddled: 99.5 miles
Weather: 49 – 70°F, some fog early, but sunny and clear most of the day!
Elevation: 2,515 – 3,700 feet
Springer Mountain Shelter to Lance Creek Restoration Area
It rained some overnight, but I don’t think a lot and it seemed to stop altogether for most of the am hours. I decided to keep the regular alarm time I’ve been using of 6:40 am. This gets me up still in the dark, but it becomes light enough to see without my light as I’m packing. I don’t really have a need to get up before dark right now, but I’m sort of a morning person.
I did have to switch up my routine this morning since my food was stored in the bear box. For those not familiar these metal contraptions are designed to allow humans to access, but not bears, for food and smelly item storage. See…
I actually took this photo last night (hence the fog)
The fog had cleared and it was a beautiful morning with colors starting to accumulate along the eastern horizon. I tried to pack up stealthily seeing as I was surrounded by tents and nobody else was up it seemed. As I finalized my stretches and started towards the trail out of camp, I did see a few folks starting to mill about. I gave a quiet, “happy trails” and continued.
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Springer Mountain Shelter is only about 0.2 miles from the AT Southern Terminus. I had forgotten to sign the log book last night and had been a bit rushed about the whole thing, so instead of heading “nobo,” I turned left at the AT to head back. I’m happy I did. I had it to myself and it was a special experience there this morning. The sunrise was kicking off looking towards the summit and the other direction out displayed rolling clouds flowing through the lower gaps in the mountains.
I didn’t stay long. After spending a minute signing the book, I breathed in deeply, then set my thoughts on heading north. The last two days had sort of felt like “starts” in their own way, but this would be my first full day hiking the Appalachian Trail.
The morning began quite pleasantly. There was a good amount of downhill and the uphill was rather gradual compared to the Approach Trail yesterday and the Benton Mackaye coming in. The sun was warming the soul. Birds were particularly sing-songy and I was in good spirits.
I hiked til 10:30 am to the junction for the Hawk Shelter. Having filled up water already, I figured there was no need to go down to it and instead had second breakfast at a nice cleared spot. I set out my tent, ground sheet, and sleeping bag. A full pack dump to dry everything out completely!
I also was trying this flavor burst combination. I figured they all seemed like they’d be compatible cuisine. The strawberry’s and apples combo was the most interesting to me though. It was pretty scrumptious. After getting all dried and full of food and coffee, I hit the trail. A handful of hikers had passed me by as I hung out during my break and I’d play leap frog with some of them going forward.
After 3:30 pm there weren’t many hikers on trail. It seems most like to set up at camp then. Not having paracord yet to hang my food with, I had two options for camping… a shorter day at Gooch Gap Shelter or push to the Lance Creek Restoration Area where there was supposed to be cables for hanging. I shot for the latter thinking it’d set me up better for tomorrow’s day
I actually found the trail pretty nice today. There was for sure some up and down, but I think the Benton Mackaye coming in was tougher. It helped having such a well maintained trail.
Around 7:10 pm or so I got to the campsite and started chatting with folks. It was pretty full. This was the first time I let folks know I’d come from Florida and have hiked the other two long trails. Tree, Peregrine, and Isaac hung out while I scarfed down my dinner. One bummer is that water got in my food bag. The only thing this really impacted was my oatmeal, but thankfully only a few packets got soaked. I’d try those tomorrow.
I was tired in my tent, maybe today kicked my butt more than I knew after all.
Album of the Day:
“Lonesome Dreams” (2012) – Lord Huron
Finished Audiobook:
“The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” (2020) – Suzanne Collins
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