[at-l] Twenty-four hours of AT-L on the AT (long)

[ATnavi@aol.com]

Springer to Three Forks, 26 Sept 99:

Well, that was a nice little AT-L mountaintop gathering!  Hopeful, Vcat, 
Plodder and his son Scooter, myself, POG, Solar Bear, Orangebug, David 
Addleton (potential trail names-- HamockMan or Swinger), Gutsy & Dan, and a 
fellow and his daughters who stumbled into our jolly group on their 
northbound hike. POG brought the jambalaya, David made lamb curry, Hopeful 
provided spaghetti and a darn good peach cobbler, Plodder made biscuits. 
Gutsy popped popcorn! Orangebug carried 2 gallons of water to the shelter; 
the spring is still dry. We mostly camped in a warm clearing several hundred 
yards up from the shelter.

Ah, the wondrous mist-shrouded view from Springer! And post-sunset, watching 
the colors fade...now I know the meaning of purple mountains' majesty. I 
settled back on the rocks to drink in the view, and kindly pointed out to 
Solar Bear that he was in my viewshed. 

But that's ok. After all, he hiked down the mountain and back again to 
retrieve a copy of my book from the car, since Hopeful wanted one. But 
contrary to the mountaintop buzz that followed that little gesture of 
kindness, I don't own him-- POG does. I was just renting him for the weekend. 
<G> They hiked out after dark.

Morning brought us all together again at the picnic table, with plenty of 
varied grub spread out. We practically rolled down the mountain, though 
Hopeful soon learned that I brake for rocks! (As did SB and POG the night 
before, come to think of it.) With a sore foot, Hopeful dropped out at the 
car to be a trail angel later on for Vcat, Plodder, and Scooter. Together, 
the four of us had a relaxing ramble to Three Forks. Scooter stopped short at 
the trail crossing and wouldn't go-- we wondered why. Then he pointed out the 
graphic. "No scooters."

Glad to report there is PLENTY of running water in this section, starting 0.1 
miles or so south of the Springer parking lot. A seriously large (and recent, 
given the green dry leaves) blowdown blocks the trail about 1/4 mi south of 
Stover Creek Shelter; we did a little bit of gymnastics to get through the 
oak.

Watching me slip little rocks in my pockets, Plodder suggested I hire Solar 
Bear to pack out my rocks. Hey, when's that auction?

I couldn't resist a large sandstone with colorful banding -- only had to 
carry it 0.1 miles or so -- to add to a place of honor in the memorial garden 
for my sister.

Plodder, Scooter, and Vcat headed on to enjoy their multi-day hike; I waited 
for POG at the road crossing, and almost considered wading in the creek to 
look for gold...but nah. Wish I had the time to hike on with them. Someday! :)

Cheers, Navigator
RUCKstuff at http://friends.backcountry.net/ruck

PS. I like Hopeful's idea of installing pegs in shelters for hanging packs; 
Springer was noticably missing such. Wouldn't cost much, would take some 
minor effort. Anyone else?

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