Day 2, but the Official Day 1 on the AT!

March 20, 2020 

After a lengthy time in my tent (about 11 hours), I got up at 7:00. It still isn’t quite light yet. “Corner” was up, and Doug too. Everyone else was still sawing logs. Well, really only one was sawing logs, everyone else was sleeping. Jeff has some pretty significant sleep apnea. The only time he was quiet was when he wasn’t breathing. When I left at 9:00, he was still snoring away. In addition to the chainsaw sound last night, there was an owl too. Because rodents tend to hang out around the shelters, I gather it’s good feeding for the owls. 

I hiked the 1.5 remaining miles of the Approach Trail to the summit of Springer Mountain, and the Southern Terminus of the AT. When I got to the summit, there was no one else there. I’ll admit it was a little emotional seeing that which I have seen so much on YouTube. Interestingly, it seemed like a smaller place than what I expected. When Doug got there, he agreed. Still, it holds great significance as it is truly the beginning of my AT Three 20s adventure. 

The first white blaze!

LB ready to roll

Flat Will gets his photo on the first white blaze!


After taking all the photos, and signing the log book, it was time to start heading north! Doug and I headed down Springer. Then he realized he hadn’t signed the log book, so he went back up. I continued down. We met up again in the Springer Mtn parking lot. For those who don’t want to hike the Approach Trail, this is where they come. They hike south up to Springer, then hike back down. So, in 2 miles of hiking, they have only done 1 mile of forward progress. 

Doug and I both got water at the first water source, and had a snack. This creek is another spot that I’ve seen many times in videos (because it’s the first creek crossing). 

Step on the rocks. 

Doug got ahead of me, and I didn’t see him the rest of the day (and he must have gone on to Hawk Mtn Shelter because he isn’t here at Hawk Mtn Campsites). In fact, I didn’t see any other thru-hikers until I was about 1.8 miles from the end of today. 

About 2 miles from today’s finish I did the .1 mile side trail to Long Creek Falls. It’s not a very high waterfall, but it is pretty. 

I took a little break here. 

While I was at the falls, I took my left shoe and sock off. I have a sore spot on the arch of my foot near my heel. There is no blister, but tomorrow I think I’ll put some leukotape on it just in case. I also soaked my foot in the cool water for a bit. 

I had thought I might go on to Hawk Mtn Shelter (and campsite), but that was before I climbed Hawk Mtn. I decided, nah, I’ll just stick to my plan of Hawk Mtn campsites. These sites are relatively new. There are 30 individual tent pads along a .4 mile trail. The water source is at the end of the trail. There are three bear boxes, so I chose a site near one of them. I was looking for a site with a rock to sit on. 
Site number 17. 

There is one other guy named Shay a few sites back, but so far, that’s it (at least no one else had gone by on their way to get water). 

Today was a total of 8.7 miles. My legs are feeling fine. Just my shoulders are a little tender. They’ll toughen up...at some point. Could get rain tonight. It was supposed to rain today, but it never did. Yay!

Update: 7:30pm and the rain is here. Good thing I’m snug in my tent!



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