End of day location: Stover Creek Shelter

Today was just a walk in the woods. It felt like any other back packing trip i’ve taken in the past 8 years. It was only the knowledge that this trail stretches nearly 2200 miles ahead of us that makes it special.

We drove about 4 hours from South Carolina to the ranger station and weighted our packs on their venerable spring scale just outside the door. Mine weighed in at 30 lbs with about 4 days of food and 2 liters of water. I spent 2 years getting my pack weight down from the 44+ lbs I used to carry and I’m pretty proud of that. Many other hikers ahead of us wrote down pack weights of 36 to 54 pounds.

Post-sign in, we drove another half hour to a point a mile from the start of the trail. En route, we stopped for a motorcycle accident that had happened minutes before. This guy, Chuck, had been thrown from his bike and had broken ribs, collarbone and ankle. As a former EMT, I did a bit of an assessment and we hung 0out with him until the ambulance that Claude called arrived.

Later…
Hope Chuck is in less pain tonight!

After saying good-bye to John at the trail head (Thanks John! You’re awesome!) We hiked a mile to the top of Springer Mountain. The views were just ok, but seeing the “Southern Terminus of the AT” plaque was moving. D & I signed in at the first trail register (Registers are notebooks maintained by/for hikers at shelters up and down the trail) and I wrote “GA —> ME ‘04” for the first time. I’ve always loved that the northbound states spell “GAME” and the south is “MEGA”. Just the word freak in me.

Met Neil, a northbound thru hiker who hung out with us at the fire Claude built tonight. 40 degrees now and I’m falling asleep with a creek in the background and some good miles planned for tomorrow.