Gooch Mountain Shelter to Woody Gap

Day Three –  Sunday, October 2
5 miles in 3.5 hours
Gooch Mountain Shelter to Woody Gap

Ladies, if you can’t pee and poop in the woods, this life is not for you!  I found that I could do lots of things that I don’t like to do – like blow my nose by holding one nostril and blowing the other one out on the ground, yuck!  But I did it.  One of the best accessories that I brought with me was my purple bandana hanging on the loop of my backpack on the front right side.  I wiped my nose a lot with it, but I didn’t want to blow my nose in it!  So I had to resort to the other means.  By day three, my nose was sore and raw from wiping it.  I guess the cool weather, plus the damp leaves, etc. was to blame for that.

Oh yea – be careful where you squat.  We saw lots of three-leaved vines out there and I was successful in avoiding them – UNTIL the very last day of our journey when, evidently, I squatted in the wrong place and came home with a good patch of poison ivy in all the wrong places!  Ouch!



3.5 miles to go on our short day.

We have a short day today!  Hallelujah!  We were ready for one, I was so grateful by now that we had planned to go into town tonight to rest up and re-group.

The hike down Ramrock Mountain into Woody Gap was pleasant and short.  It was strange, on the way through the forest we began to see what looked like bears up in the trees, but found that it was only large knot holes on the side of the trees, ha ha.  I’m glad we were not walking through here in the dark!

The tree knot that looked like a bear!

Our shuttle awaits.

We were met at 12:30 by Josh to go back to the hostel for the night. 



We enjoyed a good hot bath, did our laundry and rested until supper time.  Then we went downtown Dahlonega to Porterhouse Steaks and enjoyed a wonderful, fulfilling, LARGE meal of Sirloin steak, baked potato, green beans and bread.  Umm, umm, good!

We were very glad that we had planned a short day today.  After 2 and a half days on the trail we were VERY sore!  Our Florida flat-lands had not prepared us for all the ups and downs of the mountains.  I took lots of Ibuprofen over the next several days.   



We made it!

The view from Woody Gap.

Before going back on the trail, we took a hard look at our packs to see what we could leave behind.  Every pound makes a big difference when you are climbing a mountain!  Anything we didn’t use on the first phase would be left behind, except for the rain gear.  We have been very fortunate so far not to have to deal with rain, but you never know.  For me, out goes the change of clothing except extra socks, the thermal top and bottom, the camp towel (a bandana works just fine for a small towel and is lighter), the headlamp (although this went back in the pack on the next phase of the trip after the wild night we had in the woods), and some of the snacks.  Okay, I’ll admit it – out goes the mascara and the face powder compact.  (I wanted to look good in the pictures!! But after three days of not using these products, I didn’t care anymore.)  Although I did later put back the compact, not for the powder but for the mirror.   This picture looks like others were trying to lighten their load too, ha ha. 

I made a little difference in the weight, but not much.



I's a sock.



Hawk Mountain Shelter to Gooch Mountain Shelter

Day Two - Saturday, October 1
7.3 miles in 6.5 hours
Hawk Mountain Shelter to Gooch Mountain Shelter

We awoke at daylight (7:30), prepared our breakfast of oatmeal with raisins (and peanut butter for Wait-Up) and coffee, packed up our bags and left camp at 9:00 a.m.

We were the first to leave Hawk Mountain this morning and the last to arrive at Gooch Mountain tonight.  But that’s okay, we got there.  The two D’s were waiting for us when we arrived, and they were just as tired and cold as we were. 

We thoroughly enjoyed walking in the forest and enjoying the beautiful views from the mountaintops as we listened to scripture on our Ipods.  We felt very close to our Creator out here in the wonder of his world.

On the other side of Horse Gap we had a pretty steep climb up Justus Mountain (551 feet in 2.2 miles).  One guy passed us as we were resting at the top and said, “That was a doozy!”  I agreed with him.

Right before we arrived at the shelter marker we stopped in the trail for a drink of water.  As Wait-up was bent over to get his water bottle, I looked up ahead and saw what looked like a large fat black dog approaching the trail from the right.  I was expecting his owner to come into view behind him, but no one appeared.  The animal loped across the trail and continued down the hill into the gap below and disappeared.  OMG – that must have been a bear cub!  If it was, fortunately it was the only bear we saw in 80 miles.

Gooch Mountain Shelter had a nice source of water coming out of a pipe.  We saw water sources like this several times on the trail. 

The Georgia Appalachian Trail Club does a magnificent job of maintaining the trails.  It was amazing the number of downed trees that were strategically placed right where one might need to stop and rest after an incline.

Another cold night.  The two D’s and other campers built a fire in the fire pit while we set up our tent and went to bed again at dark.  The next morning we were the first to leave camp along with two fellows who were going south while we went north.  In a little while they passed us again going north, they had gone the wrong direction on the trail when they came out of the shelter trail J. 

We learned quickly to keep our eyes open for the white blaze marks on the trees all along the AT. 

The trails leading off the AT main trail for water, campsites or shelters were marked with blue blazes.

 Wait-up was beginning to earn his name.  I watched his back most of the trip.  I suppose Catch-up was earning her name too.



See him way up there?

Springer Mountain parking lot to Hawk Mountain Shelter

Day One – Friday, September 30, 2011
8.7 miles in 6.5 hours
Springer Mountain parking lot to Hawk Mountain Shelter. 

From the Springer Mountain parking lot, you have to walk .9 south to the marker for the start of the trail, then retrace your path north, hence the 8.7 miles today instead of 7.8.  The alternative is to hike up from Amicalola State Park on the Southern Terminus Approach trail.  This trail is 8.4 miles long and would have been another day for us before we actually began on the AT, so we chose to begin at the closer parking lot.

Ah - Springer Mountain!  How exciting to be here!  We took lots of pictures to prove that we were here!  We were officially beginning to hike the AT - What a rush!

The marker on the rock at Springer Mountain.

Wait-up and Catch-up on Springer Mountain before beginning our hike.

"Catch-up" signing in the register on top of Springer Mountain.

We met a man and two boys who traveled the same distance we did the first day and camped at Hawk Mountain Shelter.  When we came back north and crossed the parking lot again, we met two young men from Georgia (the two D’s) who camped with us and crossed us on the trail for the first three days.  Another group of about 4 men and one woman passed us on the trail and camped with us for the first night, then must have gone further than we did on the second day.  A small community was formed quickly as we saw the same faces along the trail and at the shelters as we went north. 

Just down the trail from the starting point we saw our first marker for a shelter.  Since we had never seen a shelter first-hand, we decided to walk in the .2 off the trail to see the Springer Mountain Shelter, even though we would not be staying here.  Interesting…

Springer Mountain Shelter

The first half of our trail today was very pleasant and not very difficult with only slight slopes.  Actually, we felt more like we were strolling along under the cool canopy of trees through the forest.  We thought “This is a walk in the park!”  At 11:45, we stopped beside Stover Creek and had our lunch of a tuna pack and crackers and water. 

At Three Forks parking lot, everything changed.  There were several uphill sections with an elevation rise of about 670 feet in 3.5 miles.

When we arrived at the shelter marker, the man and two boys had their tent set up at the intersection of the white and blue trail.  We walked down the blue trail to the shelter and found the two D’s with their hammocks stretched between trees.  During the night they moved into the shelter because of the cold.  The large party had several tents already set up and a fire built.

Wait-up trekked down the hill behind the shelter 2/10’s of a mile to get the water.  We are using iodine tablets to purify our water, which takes some time before we can use it.  We have enough water left in our camelback bladders for the evening; the new water will be ready for us in the morning.  We set up our tent and started cooking our dinner.  Tonight we have dehydrated rice and an MRE entre’ each. (MRE’s leftover from Hurricane Ivan relief packages.)  We tested some of these before we left home to see if they were still good after some six or so years and they are, so we are trying to take advantage of them.  They have lots of calories.  As you may know, they come with a heater that is activated with a little water for heating the food.  We set it up and waited for it to heat our food – it didn’t.  We tried another heater, it didn’t.  So we had to figure out another plan.  We put our entre’ into the rice to heat it on the Coleman one-burner stove. 



After dinner, we hung our bear bag on the bear cable and went to bed at dark (7:30).  We were tired.  The weather had turned cold and the wind was blowing through the top of the trees all night, gusting pretty hard at times.  We had wanted cooler weather, and we got it.  Our Zero-degree rated sleeping bags came in pretty handy, it probably got into the low 30’s but we had a pretty good night’s sleep. 

Our first experience with an AT privy was an experience…..ummm. 

Pre-Hike Day

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Front view of the Hiker Hostel

We awoke excited about the adventure ahead.  The day we had planned for has finally arrived, although a few days later than expected.  We wanted to leave on Monday, but found out that the Hiker Hostel could not accommodate us until tonight.  Today we drove to Hiker Hostel (http://www.hikerhostel.com/) in Dahlonega, GA, and spent the night in a private room there. It was very nice and comfortable.  The next morning, Josh Saint, owner of the hostel, shuttled us to the Springer Mountain parking lot to begin our hike. 



Wait-up sitting on the back porch of the Hiker Hostel.



A little cabin on the property of the Hiker Hostel

Fire pit on the back deck of the Hiker Hostel



GEORGIA SECTION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2011
 

For about a month now, we have been making preparations for our hike. 

• Purchased needed equipment and supplies.
• Gathered up our food.
• Broke in our hiking boots.
• Done our research about the trail, hostels, and shuttles.
• Made possible itineraries.
• Practiced hiking with our loaded backpacks.
• Gone over every list and checked it again and again. 
• Tried to anticipate every situation so that we can be prepared. 
• Chose our trail names! 

It is tradition for those on the AT to choose or be given meaningful trail names while they are hiking to be used by fellow hikers as well as for signing in the registers at each shelter.   As we were conditioning ourselves for our hike it became apparent that my hubby’s name would be “Wait-Up” and my name would be “Catch-Up” for obvious reasons.  They turned out to be good names for us on the trail.

The day is finally here and our preparations are made!

Tomorrow we will drive to Dahlonega, GA to spend the night at the Hiker Hostel before we begin our hike the following morning bright and early.  Josh and Leigh Saint, the hosts of  the hostel, will shuttle us to the beginning of the trail at Springer Mountain.  We will have to hike a mile south to the trail head, then retrace our steps on the trail going north.  We definitely want to get a picture of the plaque marking the beginning of the trail and also the view from the top of Springer Mountain.  The other option was to hike up 8.4 miles on the Southern Terminus Approach trail from Amicalola State Park. There is a great debate among hikers about whether hiking the Approach Trail is necessary to be a true thru-hiker.  We decided not for us. 

Today we are checking and re-checking our gear and supplies.  We will have to carry 3 days' supplies in our backpack at a time since we plan to spend about every 3rd night in a hostel and have access to our vehicle to re-supply our backpacks.  We are carrying about 2 pounds of food per day in our packs, plus one set of extra clothing, rain gear, long johns, extra socks, sleeping pad, tent, camelback for water, water purification supplies, sports wipes, and a few other essential items. 

"Wait up's" pack weighs about 42 pounds and mine ("Catch-up") weighs about 33.  I don't know how we could carry more than 3 days worth at a time!  It sure will help that we have frequent access to our re-stock box in our vehicle.  Also, that will give us an opportunity to change our clothing plans in case the temperature drops considerably.  We waited for cooler weather on purpose, but we hope it's not TOO cool!  Also praying for no rain, but that is unlikely.

We have done our research, but never having done this AT thing before, there are a lot of unknowns for us, so we will learn as we go. 


Our chosen equipment:
Vasque Breeze Gore-Tex XCR Hiking Boots, $150

SmartWool Socks $17.00

Osprey Ariel 65 Backpack for me, bought on ebay, used once for $150

Gregory Baltoro 70 for him, bought at the local outfitter for $199

Thermarest sleep mat for him

No-Limits Pac-Lite Mummy Sleeping Mat for me (Weight 1 lb. 11 oz.)
No-Limits Therma-Lite Mummy sleeping bags (0-degree rated)
Two-person tent