[at-l] Weekend Trip Report

[Eddy]

thanks for a great trip report. I enjoyed reading  it.
   
  Did you get back down to see the Tinman and his presentation?
   
  Eddy

Dennis Gass <gassd at bellsouth.net> wrote:
  I drove up to the FS42 parking lot near Springer arrived around 11:30pm
Friday night, quite a bit later than I had planned. I did enjoy the extra
time with both of my kids who I don't get to see enough of so it was well
worth it. I had promised my wife I wouldn't night hike alone so I threw the
sleeping bag out in the back of the SUV and had a good talk with myself and
then slept until 7something. The talk with myself was figuring out what I
wanted to do for the weekend by myself in the mountains. Did I want to go
to the seminars at Amicalola, or where did I want to go on the trail. I
figured out that I wanted some time on the trail, not just near it, so
Amicalola would have to wait until Sunday. I still wasn't sure if I wanted
to cover miles, see thru hikers and hear their stories, or what...and about
that time I fell asleep.

Still 7something in the morning as I climbed out and put my pack on I saw a
young man that appeared to be in his 20's coming down the trail Northbound
and he quickly crossed the parking lot and was away without breaking stride
at a very brisk pace. I headed up toward the summit of Springer wondering
what all of the pink and orange ribbons were for along the side. At first I
wondered if they were paying tribute to something or the other, then
wondered if they might have something to do with trail maintenance. About
that time I put my left foot on that wet rock...you know the one...it sits
at about a 45 degree angle and loves to throw unsuspecting hikers.
Well...the wetness wasn't wet, it was a thin layer of ice and my body
twisted in every way imaginable as I fell. The left shoulder took the brunt
of the fall and it's just a little sore, I don't think there's any real
damage. I stood up and kept on going up the trail, a lot more humble than I
had been a few seconds before I fell. My car thermometer had said 33
degrees, I guess someone forgot to tell the trail that water thaws above 32
because it was mostly frozen the rest of the way up. I ran into Many
Sleeps, the ATC Caretaker that stays on the summit of Springer from mid
February through April. This is his second year doing this at Springer. He
previously did this in the GSMNP for 5 years. He's keeping statistics on
how many thru hikers, how many out for more than 10 days, less than 10 days,
and day hikers. He did a Southbound thru several years ago age 67. We
talked for a bit and I learned that the young man I saw earlier had left the
Black Gap Shelter.

I had been to Springer many, many times, but never down the approach trail.
I dropped my pack with Many Sleeps and mentioned I wanted to explore the
approach trail. He hinted that there might be some trash in the Black Gap
shelter a mile and a half down so I grabbed a trash bag from him and went
off to clean it up. He said that earlier in the week he had picked up quite
a bit of trash, a crank flashlight, a half burned tent and one or two other
pieces of abandoned equipment that the owners didn't want to carry any
further. When I arrived there were two fellows there about my age (40ish)
and they had a bag full of trash in their hands. That was quick. I
explored a bit, found the privy, water source, read the register that was
about full and decided that I couldn't go back empty handed. I found some
empty freeze dried food packages near the tent camping site and bits and
pieces of aluminum foil and other wrappers on the ground until I had about a
third of a bag...I guess that was respectable so I headed back on the trail
to explore a bit more. I caught up with the two fellows about halfway to
Springer. One of them was carrying a pack in the mid 40lb range and a few
extra pounds on his body so he was standing on the trail breathing hard as I
walked along. I can relate...I was just like him on many of my trips and
this made me realize that I was going up and down, with or without pack on
my back and never slowing down, stopping, and I didn't even remember
breathing hard. Success! In the past 7 weeks I lost 32 pounds and did a
lot of cardio work...the cardio work was really working. My pack and I now
weigh less than I used to weigh by myself less than 2 months ago.

I went on by the first fellow and the second fellow was waiting on his
friend. We chatted as we walked up the trail. He had 100 days of vacation
and lived in Alaska. He's hoping to get to Harpers Ferry this year, then
finish the trail next year. He's a cargo pilot, as is his friend from
Johnson City, TN who's out for only the first two weeks. That's close to
where my parents live. 

Back at Springer I just sat and talked to Many Sleeps. He shared some
awesome Apple cornbread with me that the Hike Inn sent up to him. Mmmmm,
that hit the spot. We chatted and I enjoyed learning more about what he
does as ATC caretaker, some stories from his thru hike, many stories about
folks that have come through on their journeys. Since he arrived Feb 23rd
through Friday evening there had been 95 thru hikers he saw. He is there 10
days and off 4, so he will have missed anyone that went through before the
23rd or during his 4 days off every other week. That was about double the
number from last year. I wondered if the good early weather last year had
tempted folks to leave too early this year and he said he had no clue, thru
hikers are unpredictable folks. It was VERY windy and I was chilled so I
headed down to the Springer shelter to have some lunch. My tuna didn't
compare to the Apple cornbread, but it filled me up. I met several folks at
the shelter doing the same as me, hiding from the wind for lunch. Two were
college students from Armstrong Atlantic in Savannah on their first outing.
They had come up the approach trail, very nice guys. Another young man,
Matt, was in graduate school and working at the same time, but had 10 days
off so he was doing the Georgia section. He had also come up the approach
trail. He wasn't ready to stop yet and was asking for advice about where he
could stop. I pulled out the map and shared some info about lower elevation
= less wind and warmer air so he decided on Three Forks. The two students
were kind of bummed about having to head back down the approach trail and
back to school. They had kind of bonded with Matt and were sharing
experiences with each other so I offered to shuttle them back to Amicalola
from the FS42 parking lot Sunday at 11...they were excited. I didn't want
to see anyone's first backpacking experience be going up and down the
approach trail. Matt had already pulled out about 15 minutes earlier so
they headed off to catch him. Three middle aged fellows pulled in to the
shelter, also hiding from the wind while they waited on one of their wives
to pick them up from the parking lot. They had come up the approach trail
after seeing one of the seminars early in the morning. One fellow was
bragging about this new stove he had and I got curious as I always do when
the topic of backpacking gear comes up. As soon as he said Antigravitygear
I asked if Tinman was going to be there Sunday. Yes he was going to do his
presentation on Sunday, so my plans were set to see him after shuttling the
college guys down. The morning had been fun meeting folks as they came
through. I met thru hikers Martini and Rossi, a couple from Boston. I also
met T Mac. He was in his 20's and had his family with him seeing him off.
>From the conversation it sounded like this was his second time off, that he
had left on St Patrick's day the last time. He looked well prepared (small
light pack and just beaming with confidence and knowledge) and was outfitted
in GoLite. He was the 100th thru hiker on Many Sleep's list. I figured I
might spend the afternoon doing more of the same, hanging with Many Sleeps
and just seeing who comes through. I had on most of the clothes I brought
with me, two polarfleece pullovers and my gore tex jacket. After 30 minutes
of day hikers and 30 mph winds I was getting cold. We were tucked over into
some rhododendron while chatting, but there was no hiding from the wind on
the Springer summit. I had to start walking to warm up. 

As I started down the trail I met two more day hikers, a father and son that
was maybe college age. They were in short sleeves and looking pretty cold!
As I started walking I warmed up, but the thought of spending several hours
in the cold didn't set well with me. Before I got to the turnoff for the
shelter it hit me...follow your own advice. I had given Matt advice earlier
that Three Forks would be warmer because of elevation, and less wind...off I
went. I asked a day hiker to let Many Sleeps know I was heading down
because he was expecting me to set up at one of the tent sites near his. I
hit the parking lot about 3:45 and knew I had plenty of time to get to Three
Forks before dark. I could let the two college students know they didn't
have to get up early and rush to meet me at the parking lot to catch their
ride. It seems like the trail just flew by until I came to a stream
crossing with a thin, wet, slippery log. In past years I had crossed it on
rocks. After the rain from Thursday the stream was swollen. I decided to
use the rocks which were partially submerged rather than the log that I
could fall off of a bit easier. It went well until I got cocky and drug my
toe through the water. I guess it was flowing faster than I thought and as
the water hit my boot toe it splashed halfway up my leg soaking my pants.
It was cold, but walking would keep me warm. I had on some pants that dry
quickly and if not dry by the time I got to camp I could put on my only
remaining clothing, a pair of nice warm fleece pants. I checked the Stover
Creek shelter to make sure the two college guys hadn't stopped there, no one
there. A huge bag was hanging from the rafter with Trail Magic written on
it. Inside was Ziploc bags of dried beans, rice, there must have been 20
pounds or more of food in there. Off I went back down the trail. I got to
three forks and Matt had just arrived ahead of me. I expected to find the
two college guys, Alex and Jason, but they weren't there. Matt said they
had passed him when he was filling up with water and he was surprised to not
find them. We pondered it for a few minutes and then decided to set up
camp. Matt set up to the left of the trail and me to the right, both before
the footbridge. The other side of the stream had a big sign saying No
Camping and 3 large tents with a campfire. I went over to see if Alex and
Jason might be in the crowd and they were not. It was a group of 3 guys and
3 girls from UGA out for a weekend outing. They were polite, but fixated on
the chili one of them was attempting to cook over a huge roaring fire in a
big pot. I noticed 7 cans of Hormel Chili sitting over to the side and then
two of the guys started teasing the third one about burning the chili to the
bottom of the pot. He retorted that only half of it was charred and stuck
to the bottom, the rest was ok. I think they were going to let him have all
of it. I decided it was time for me to leave them alone. 

I went back and setup my Nomad Lite tent. I hadn't used it much so I was
glad I remembered how. I took my stove and food bag over to cook dinner
with Matt. He had a bunch of new equipment and was on the first outing with
it. He was having trouble with his stove staying lit, a MSR canister stove
with MSR canister. I thought it might be the wind so I suggested he take
the big floor tile he had it sitting on and use it as a wind screen. Wow,
it looked heavy. The stove went out again. I watched him lighting it and
noticed that he opened it full throttle before lighting it. I thought it
might be freezing up before he could even light it. I had him listen for a
hiss and there was none. We gave it a few minutes and he cracked it barely
open, it lit and boiled his first cup of water quickly for lasagna. I ate
my beef stroganoff while he boiled his 2nd cup for ramen noodles and started
his third cup for some kind of apple desert that required a lot of
simmering. It was getting dark so I went to retrieve my headlamp and hang
my food bag. As I climbed in my tent I noticed a flashlight shining in my
tent so I got back out to see if Matt was looking for me. Nope...off to bed
I went. I woke up around 12:30am and thought another flashlight was shining
in my tent, this time from behind. When I peeked out it was just a
beautiful bright full moon lighting the place up. I glanced out the other
side of the tent and whoah...there was something moving over near my food
bag tree. I yelled at it to get away and it just stuck it's nose in the
air. I couldn't make out what it was...just that it appeared
black...probably because of the moonlight being my only light source and it
was close to rhododendron blocking some of the light. I yelled some more
and it finally went up through the rhododendron. It wasn't very big, quite
a bit smaller than my 110 pound golden retriever. It didn't have the
outline of a raccoon with a big bushy tail, and I sure didn't get a good
look at it. I shone the led headlamp around to make sure it wasn't coming
back to get at my food and went back to sleep. I woke up a few times
throughout the night and snuggled a little deeper into my sleeping bag each
time, finally pulling the drawstring tight. I sleep cold and didn't bring
my cold weather bag. I was hoping it didn't get much colder. No
thermometer...so I can only guess at the temps. My water was frozen and the
rhododendron had their leaves rolled up since I had seen them back during
daylight hours. My sleeping bag was about 5 years old, but had been used
only a couple of times. I normally backpack with my son and he wants one of
whatever I have. I couldn't afford to get him one like this one so I just
never used it in front of him. I would much rather have his company...great
kid and I was missing him as I thought of this. My bag is a feathered
friends, 900 fill down, 6 ounces extra down added during original
manufacturing and a waterproof breathable outer shell. It's rated for 20
degrees without the extra fill...so I figured the extra down might let me
use it down to 20. My guess is it got into the teens last night and I was
comfy...feathered friends must have very conservative ratings for their
bags.

I woke up around 7:15 and didn't want to thaw water to make oatmeal so I
just ate some peanut butter m&m's and chocolate covered raisins. The
sacrifices I make... I was packing everything up when Matt came over to ask
for some advice. His stove was frozen and wouldn't lite, and he had left
water in his 2 liter pot. When he put the lid on it this morning it flash
froze and he couldn't get it off. I figured the fire from the UGA students
still had hot coals and I recommended he switch to Esbit tabs when he got to
Neels Gap. I was packed and headed south. Matt was packed up and gone to
the North before I got my pack shouldered. I went back on the Benton
MacKeye trail for the first loop. Beautiful views, felt wonderful, straight
up the mountain without any switchbacks, and again without having to slow
down, gasp for air, or stop for any breaks. As I climbed it got windy and
the trees groaned the way they can do only when it is really cold. I wanted
to get to the FS 42 parking lot and drop my pack, slackpack up to Springer
and say bye to Many Sleeps and then get back to the parking lot by 11am when
I was to meet Alex and Jason. I got to the lot around 9:30 and Alex and
Jason were already there, just starting to heat some water for tea and
looking pretty cold. I knew they wouldn't be late, even after I told them I
would wait for them if they were. They didn't have gloves...ouch...now I
know why they started walking so early. I asked how heck we missed them
yesterday going down the trail since they were ahead of both Matt and I.
Remember the flashlight that shone in my tent? Well...that was Alex and
Jason. They had walked to see the falls near Three Forks and were looking
for Matt...they had no idea that I was going to Three Forks. Matt didn't
setup a tent but tucked his bag near rhododendron to stay out of the light
breeze...and I set my tent up on the back side of some rhododendron. They
had walked right between us in the dark and stayed at the Stover Creek
shelter.

They made a quick decision to ditch the tea for a warm car so we loaded up
and headed down the mountain for Amicalola. They are both hooked on
backpacking now...and mentioned how nice everyone on the trail was compared
to people in Savannah. They are seniors and Jason is now planning to thru
hike after graduating...probably next season. I recommended this list, WB
and backpackinglight as good resources. If they show up on here I can vouch
for them...both of them are excellent guys. 

I bolted across the parking lot at Amicalola to Tinman's presentation. He
did a great job and had a pretty big crowd that focused on everything he
said and demonstrated. At the end of the presentation it was a swarm to go
see the goods. I introduced myself and then hit the road for home. 

There's a great group of folks on this list that have helped me learn a lot.
It is nice to meet someone face to face, and since I missed the SoRuck it
takes a bit longer to put faces with names. I couldn't believe how little I
now carry in my pack, but when I think about it I can't think of a thing I
would add. On the way home I stopped off at a new outfitter in Dawsonville
just to browse. As I walked through the only thing I saw in the store that
I would even carry in my pack was a silnylon stuff sack...that's a sad state
of affairs. They were pushing the mace and bear spray on a woman as I
walked through. They said she could store it in the little pocket on her
sleeping bag they were trying to sell her. I held back the chuckles and
made my way out.

Thanks to everyone that has helped me over the past few years. I am really
appreciative for this list and the great companions that are on it.

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