amicalola falls to stover creek shelter

woke up at 06:65 in gainesville, ga. we breakfasted and headed to amicalola falls. i listened to the brief sermon about bears, tent site selection, and pooping in the woods. there was a brief delay when the steward couldn’t find the 2022 hang tags. the trail is 1.4 miles longer than it was in 2020.

we set off up amicalola falls. trillium and bloodroot was blooming as well as some other things i couldn’t identify. the flower was like hepatica, but the plant was entirely different.

we made our way to the top of the falls, pausing a few times to catch our breath. at the top, we parted ways and i set off alone. it was 10:30.

the forest is empty. up on the ridgelines, away from water, the trees haven’t started budding yet, and nothing is showing in the leaf litter. its an older forest with a lot of space between the trees. despite the rain the day before, the forest feels dry, though the trail is a bit muddy at some spots.

with no tree cover, it was quite hot hiking along and i made a note to apply some sunblock around 11. lesson learned from the burn i got a few days from here in 2020.

i passed quite a few hikers on the way to springer mountain. one guy was pretty heavy and was crouching down trying to catch his breath. i checked that he was okay and carried on.

my mind wandered quite a bit in these miles. i at one point i found myself having an imaginary conversation with someone i didn’t know after imagining something they might have said to me. i even gestured at on point and that snapped me out of it.

i’ve been meditating daily for maybe 6 months now and i’ve become more attentive to the uselessness of many of my thoughts. i feel like i’m on a journey toward having less unproductive thoughts like this and i’m curious as to what will take their place. my plan is to try and keep my daily meditation while i hike.

at home i meditate first thing in the morning. it’s not ideal. i’m trying to meditate while my brain is hell-bent on planning my day. the problem is if i don’t do it then, it won’t happen. once my day ia in motion, it’s hard to stop to sit.

i made it to the summit of springer right about 13:00. there were a few people there, some day hikers, some thru-hikers. i snapped a couple identical photos from 2020 save the weather, had some lunch and headed off. it was sad not having magz and the dogs there this time.

a few miles later i arrived at stover creek shelter. it was early afternoon and only two other hikers were there, tadpole, who is celebrating her 2019 thru-hike anniversary, and janet who started thru-hikes in 2020 and 2021, but didn’t get more than a week either time.

i set up camp, filtered some water, took a bath, and chatted with some more hikers that arrived (including the guy who had been crouching down). i hiked up the biggest hill in an attempt to get cell service to call magz, but to no avail.

more folks filtered in over the next hours. conversations are about feeling folks out and hiking tips at this point. many had trouble getting this far today mostly due to lack of shape, the recent severe weather, or losing stuff. (one guy, bill, a retired construction worker lost his phone and had to find someone to take him into town to get a new one.)

my day went pretty well. my knees are still very unhappy from the drive, but otherwise i felt okay. i definitely don’t have the same energy i did in 2020.