I had expected balmy fifties and sixties when I did the Approach Trail last month. I was so wrong. It is a beautiful hike, really. The park is home to Amicalola Falls, breathtaking, makes you want to get married there beautiful. Pics like these.
Notice the thousands of stairs crawling near vertical up the canyon wall, specifically created to induce acute vertigo. Then you cross a suspended bridge over the falls.
The Approach Trail twists back and forth up Springer Mt. for about ten miles, the actual start of the trail. I wanted to do this hike to get a feel for how I was going to hold up, how Molly was going to hold up and what I was going to expect.
I spent the first night at the AT shelter at the bottom of the falls. It's hard to describe. Sort of a chimera of folk whimsy and frat house. Over the years people had left signatures and graffitos, one on top of the other making a crazy quilt of jargon and generational slang. It also had the worst topographic map I've ever seen, or the best, you decide.
That night was cold, but I didn't realize how bad it would be because I had a roof, a bag and a dog to warm me. The next day I started early and made good time. By four o'clock I was only a mile and a half from the peak of Springer. I had been chilled most of the day. I estimate the temperature was in the forties, but I had dressed warmly. That night, at an open faced shelter near Black's Gap I settled in. The wind blowing up through the gap was fierce, but the back wall of the shelter blocked it. Unfortunately the sky was clear and the mercury fell and fell. When I woke the next morning at sunrise, some of my water had frozen. My sweaty hat from the day before was frozen to the floor of the shelter and I was very chilled. And there was no sign that the wind and the cold were letting up. In fact, according to the weather report a late winter storm was coming. I bid farewell to Black's Gap.
Shivering and cursing I packed up and climbed the last bit to Springer. I've been on a few southern peaks before. Beautiful peaks. I have to admit though, that the scale of Springer has a majesty that differs from the others. Plus it has the rockin' bronze plaque and geocache tray.
Did I mention it was cold. Really really cold. So cold there was ice on the trail cold. Cold enough for me to call Moms and ask, nay beg, for a ride back to civilization. We had enough shivers for that night.
So I write this expecting to head back to the mountain quite soon. Hoping for the weather and maybe a little less hubris. And missing something else too. I realized having Molly along wouldn't be the best idea. I had to have her constantly leashed. Which meant constant stopping and spinning. It's not really fair to her. I feel guilty and I'll miss her, but it's not something I can make work. Good bye trail mate, I'll miss you.
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