Who is going to mow the grass and how is my granddad going to get the hay cut? What if we cannot talk with each other every night! Are you going to be able to handle Hank? These are just a few of the countless questions Angela (my lovely wife) and I had starting a couple months before I started my section hike, actually these are my questions I had for her! I was genuinely concerned but I will admit I think deep down I was hoping she would give me a reason not to go. Luckily she did not, she more portrayed the role of a Drill Sergeant that was responsible for making sure I went than the sulking wife who couldn't spend the two weeks alone without her husband.
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| My gear laid out in hotel for final inspection |
With my gear packed and mail drops ready for Angela to send it was time to head South. It was June 4th as I picked her up after work, our destination for the night was Chattanooga. We made reservations at a hotel that night so we could have a leisurely drive both days and a good meal before my hike started. Ramen and protein bars tend to get old after a couple days, so I made sure dinner and breakfast were not only tasty but provided a calorie reservoir until my first resupply stop on the trail. The meals met their standards but provided something much more, especially dinner. It gave us both time to sit down and talk. The conversation continued through diner and a hour or so later we found ourselves sitting on the tailgate of our truck with a six pack of beer talking about nothing to pressing, it was beautiful and often thought about it while I was hiking (at the end of the day I would eat diner alone, not by choice but rather there was no one to eat with. It didn't bother me all that much but it did allow me to appreciate those times when I did have company to eat with). That "last supper" Angela and I shared proved how strong our foundation was with each other, almost seven years of marriage and we are still able to have a date like we are college freshman. That night has stuck with me since...the only thing I would change is I will not eat Mexican prior to a long distance hike!
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| Entrance to Amicalola Falls State Park, Georgia |
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The next morning we awakened to one thing any hiker does not look forward too...rain! Rain or shine I was going and Angela made sure I didn't chicken out, but her choice of words were a little more convincing. We ate breakfast to help kick off the rainy two hour drive to Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia.
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| Me at the famous arch on the approach trail |
Since I decided I was going to be a purest I choose to take the 8.8 mile approach trail, the AT Southern Terminus officially starts at the summit of Springer Mountain. An alternative route is accessible by Forest Service road 42 via Big Stamp Gap, you then back track the 1.1 mile to the summit. I say to hell with the purist...my explanation follows shortly. Registered, pictures taken, water bottles filled, and multiple good bye hugs to Angela and I was off. It took all of 10 steps to realize how much I was going to miss Angela so I turned around to wave one last time, and there she stood in the drizzling rain watching me head up the trail. That's when it hit me...the gut wrenching feeling deep down that throbs through your body and weakens you entirely. After several deep breaths to ease the "pain" I gathered enough strength to turn around and head North, at which point I wiped away the salty rain that ran down my cheek. As much as I appreciated the diner and time spent the night before this was the bitter sweetness.
My walk home had started but something was missing already. If she could have been there with me my journey may have never ended. If she was not a part of me my journey would have no purpose. But she was there and she is a part of me, she is my strength and purpose, the heart of my home and we are on the journey together.
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| Amicalola Falls |
"The hell with a purist!" Luckily the rain muffled my echo. Do a google search on the AT approach trail and you will see two stately differing opinions on this trail. One is of those who carry 40 lbs of weight on their back and the other is of those whom are day hiking with little to no pack. Then of course you have the purist AT thru hiker, which I have concluded is not a purist because the AT is blazed with white paint strips and this trail is blue blazed! When I do set out to start my thru hike I can assure you I will start as close to the AT Southern Terminus as I possibly can. One guy even parachuted in, his trail name was Jump Start for obvious reasons, I guess he didn't favor the approach trail either.
Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin did not hike this trail to be inspired for "Stairway to Heaven", true this trail did gain elevation but it was complete agony! OK, it wasn't all that bad but they don't sell a shirt at the Parks visitor center that simply states..."I survived the 604 steps". The climb up makes me think of the saying one of my old baseball coaches would tell us "no pain no gain", he must have been referring to this trail because once you made it up the first 200 or so steps you get a fantastic view of the falls.
604 steps later, I'm taking the shirts word on it, I finally made it up out of the gorge. Much to my surprise a parking lot filled with cars appeared, I had no energy to cuss them so I continued on my way.
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It was now time for the 7 mile stretch to the summit. The walking was relatively easy and the rain finally let up. After 2 miles or so I begin to think about Angela and of course start to worry about her trip home. For some reason my mind wonders to the song played for our first dance. Admittedly it took me a minute to remember what the song was and once I did it was obvious why I was thinking it, Andy Griggs "She thinks she needs me". The difference between now and almost 7 years ago when we first danced to that song is I'm sure she knows now how much I need her.
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| Approach trail plaque |
Another mile or so singing this song and other songs I could barely remember the lyrics to, I stop in my tracks! You see one of the first things you read about when entering bear country is to make your presence known, a surprised unannounced encounter with a bear can sometimes lead to problems. If you surprise a sow black bear with cubs she can get defensive and if you are in Grizzly country and are unfortunate enough to surprise one of those giants you could become lunch. For me I stumble upon a 350 boar, not even 4 miles into my trip and I already have a bear encounter. I immediately search for something, anything, a rock would have been nice. But no I pick up a stick, so I start waving it in the air and bang it against a tree. Mr. Bear takes a break from sniffing the ground, looks at me, and goes back to his business. No big deal right? Wrong! The only way for me to get to the summit is to walk where he is standing and that is not part of my plan. So I quickly start to brainstorm and remember our trip to Yellowstone in 2010 where we stumbled into a grizzly and wolf feeding zone. Earlier we had decided to hike with a group from Montana, which one of the hikers had made fun of my bear bells. I politely kept my mouth shut while she yelled out "Woot Woot" every turn or dip in the trail. I wasn't sure if it was my bells or her annoying woot's but we did not encounter any bears, despite all the elk carcasses laying beside the trail. Back to my current bear stare down...he has not moved yet and my loud stomping, banging, and even yelling is not budging this dude. With no bear bells this time, in fear partly of being made fun of, I yell out loud "woot woot". Immediately the bear looks up and gracefully walks down the mountain, if you have ever been to a zoo and the keeper rings the diner bell and all animals walk to their cage, this is exactly how this bear acted. "Woot Woot" must be some kind of code in the bear whisper world? Having felt like a true naturalist I continue up the mountain.
Not even 100 yards around the bend and I come to a dirt forest road. There sitting on a log is a young couple laughing, stopping as soon as they see me. Oblivious to their amusement I ask if they had seen the bear, after a short pause the young lady informed me not only had they seen the bear but had heard my "woot woot's". Embarrassed at this point, I simply pointed out that I did not have any bear bells and for them to enjoy the rest of their afternoon. Hopefully she will benefit from my karma one day as well.
The last mile or so is a true assent up Springer Mt, starting at the archway near the park office the elevation is 1700' and the summit of Springer is 3782' ,with the last 1.5 miles gaining about 500 feet. Before the last major assent you pass Black Gap shelter, and lucky for me I was not staying the night there. Every boy scout in Georgia must have been camping there that night. I waved and pushed on while briefly warning of the human friendly bear, surely they slept well that night.
After another 1/2 mile I was more thankful to be camping on top of Springer. I must have passed eight more troops and a couple more leaders, all with the same desperate question and dreadful look on their face..."mister, how far until the next shelter?" After leaving the last group fearful of bears I couldn't do the same to these young troops, so after giving them hope that shelter is within reach they would pick up pace and at which point their bear bells would become active. It sounded like all eight of Santa's reindeer running down the mountain, I paused for a second to see if I could hear the faint call of "woot woot" with no avail.
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| Southern Terminus for a North Bound Hiker, Springer Mt. Notice the white blaze, this will be my marker from here on out |
At last! The summit of Springer, the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail, home of the first North bound white blaze. More than 1,500 hikers stand in this location every March-May with hopes of completing one of the longest continuous trails in the world, currently 2181 miles from here to Mt Katahdin in Main. Of these 1500 plus hikers only about 1 in 4 will finish, I stood there motionless, except for chugging my water, thinking about those hikers. I had set out to hike 200, that was intimidating enough.
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| Springer Mountain Summit, the morning after I made my summit |
I was not the only hiker there that afternoon. Sitting on the summit already were a couple from Southern Mississippi on vacation and two brothers from Florida. After hiking 3.5 hours alone it was nice to know I was going to share a shelter with other hikers. Sitting silently on the rock face of Springer trying to catch a glimpse of the southern most portion of the Appalachian Mountains one of the brothers decides to break the silence, "What did you do today he said aloud, he responded to his question...we walked over 8 miles to the top of a mountain to get a birds eye view of clouds" He was right, in a sense, the rain had stopped but the clouds had settled in. We all decided to head the .2 miles north to Springer Mt shelter to set up camp before night fall. I followed suite with plans to get up early and head back to the summit to capture the vista that so many hikers pass every day.
I had officially completed my first day of walking home, though tough and wet the walk was spectacular. Douglas Brinkley once described President Theodore Roosevelts beliefs on Darwinism as a belief in a Creator but the natural world was a series of accidents, and that humans played a role to protect its wonders. I agree with Teddy mostly, but I can assure you it was no accident that I stood on top of Springer as that was home for the night.
