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July 05 2001

Distance Traveled: 13.8 (+.1 in side trails)

Total Miles: 142.9 (149.0)

Location: Dahlonega, Georgia.

Entry:

We got up to another beautiful morning, right next to the falls! This site has to be one of the best kept secrets of AT because I rarely hear it mentioned. I guess many of the thru hikers pass by it never taking the time to follow the blue blaze side trail to it.

The trail continues through a forest of cool Hemlock trees to the section called Three Forks where we stopped at a bridge for pictures. I recognized the view from the bridge as the picture used on the front of the trail guide for this section. the trail was on an old logging road for many miles and was very easy walking. The forest was lovely and the weather was even nice. 

Eventually we ended up at the parking lot for USFS 42 which is .9 miles from Springer Mountain and the end of the trail. There were some day hikers who asked if we had just come from Maine. Sure we responded, then told them where we really started from. They offered us some dried apricots which we ate greedily, then thanked them and continued down the trail, stopping off at Springer Mountain Shelter for water.

The Shelter looked like it could be a nice shelter, but abuse by careless hikers, trash, and overuse gave it a run-down look. It bothers me that an organization went to all the trouble of carrying the supplies in, building, and maintaining a nice site, but hikers (the benefactors of all that) think so little of it as to not take better care of the facilities.

Anyway, we moved down the trail .2 more miles  to the summit. Finally! A beautiful view, the historic 1934 plaque, and the trail register. We read the register while eating pasta salad and tortillas. We stayed there a long time enjoying the sun and drying out some gear, but we saw a storm moving in that looked very bad. So we finally moved on. 

It felt kind of funny leaving the AT and going down the approach trail after so many miles and days of following white blazes. But we went down stopping at Black Gap Shelter for footgear adjustments. The journal there had many bear warnings, and while sitting there I saw some out of place colors in the woods. Upon investigation it looked like a food bag had been pilfered by a bear, either that or a very messy hiker had left a pile of trash for critters to pick through - which is very possible.

We continued on and at USFS46 we decided to follow the road a while because Helen's nasty blister was bothering her, and the approach storm which seemed bad. It was also decided to skip staying at Frosty Mountain (the original plan) which sounded like a bad place in a storm. We traveled down the dirt road until it came out at the top of Amicalola Falls, where we got back on the trail and followed it to the end. There was very nice showers at the campground, so I spent 30 minutes showering and trying to shave off my beard. I ruined two disposable razors in the process.

Off to Dahlonega for some pizza, beer, and a hotel room. Dahlonega is a nice town, and is worth a visit prior to or after a hike.

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