[at-l] (Guest Post) Weather & etc. in No Ga

[coosa@fox21.net (Coosa)]

* Message posted to AT-L from the National Scenic Trails Website
* by our guest Coosa <coosa@fox21.net>.
* Please use <mailto:coosa@fox21.net> to reply to the sender.

If you know anyone starting a Thru Hike from Georgia, April has come in like a lion.  We've got gusts on 4/1 up to 39 mph and mid-forties temps.  Of course the wind chill makes it feel close to zero.  

The good news is that the recent light snow and rains have helped the springs and streams fill with water.  (Always treat or filter.  Did you know that deer prefer to pee/poop IN water?  And oppossums, too.) (I didn't make this up, honest, but it surely makes me take a second look at the term "pristine mountains waters" that make my second favorite brew.)

It's turkey hunting season, here in North Ga.,  so bushwackers and Stealth Campers need to wear their blaze orange if they get more than a few feet off the AT.  If you stay on the trail and use existing campsites, you should be okay.  Don't get upset if your day is peppered with rifle shot sounds.  
 
AND please please remember that the entire Chattahoochee National Forest (aka the Entire Length of the Trail in Ga) is STILL on a Fire Ban.  Did you know that some salamanders need the decaying wood to procreate?  I don't know how you feel about the person who intentionally shot the last dodo bird, but the person who intentionally  burned the home of an endangered salamander in a campfire to keep warm because he didn't pack appropriate clothing would be on the same page in my book.  YMMV of course.  I think salamanders are pretty.

That said, if anyone needs to know anything about the AT in North Ga, email me at coosa_ga@yahoo.com or the return e-address on this post.

Other Good News:  Richard Russell Hwy that goes across Hog Pen Gap is now open to traffic.  I checked the spring and it's flowing but not heavily.  Maybe today and this week's rains will help. 

Ciao,
Coosa
(who's going to Italy for 12 days in May)