| Trip Report: |
After signing the book located in the metal box under the rock with the plaque and talking to a couple of brothers from North Carolina me and Kimi started officially hiking north on the Appalachian trail. Our goal for today would be to make it to the Hawk mountain shelter which is 8.1 miles from the top of Springer Mountain. Once on our way we hiked to the Springer mountain shelter long enough to fill our water bottles and eat a quick snack then we headed back out. The trail crossed the Benton MacKaye trail and then came to USFS 42 and a parking area. From here the trail leisurely wandered through the trees crossing the Benton Mackaye trail a couple more times and a couple of creeks before we saw a sign for the Stover creek shelter at mile marker 2.8. We decided to press on as it was still early in the day and we wanted to make as many miles as possible. Then at mile marker 2.9 we crossed a creek with a foot bridge where we bumped into the brothers from North Carolina again and decided to stop and fill our water bottles and chat for a bit. After a short break it was back to hiking we crossed the Benton MacKaye trail again and USFS 58 before seeing a few campsites which we decided to pass on by. Then the trail crossed a dirt road which had a picnic pavilion next to a grave yard off to the left however the AT trail crosses the road and continues up the hill. From here it is almost two more miles to the Hawk Mountain Shelter. At the shelter we met a dad with his three grown sons that were from South Carolina and were doing a section hike on the AT trail to Neels Gap. We cooked our dinner and then laid out our sleeping bags in the shelter. It seemed kind of odd that me and Kimi had the shelter all to ourselves because the others were sleeping in hammocks outside the shelter. |
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