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Cheesewhiz
12-15-2005, 22:26
Just curious as to who or how many hike the Approach trail to Springer while I am planning away.

weary
12-15-2005, 22:50
Just curious as to who or how many hike the Approach trail to Springer while I am planning away.
I doubt if anyone has accurate statistics. But a lot do the approach trail. I did the approach trail because that was easiest for the driver of the ride I got from Atlanta.

Not that I thought it a particularly pertinent question. An extra six miles doesn't strike me as requiring much anguish, among folks planning to hike at least 2,170 miles.

Weary

Nean
12-16-2005, 01:30
Sounds like an interesting poll question. I've been in and out on FS 42 the 4 times I've been to Springer. I've known folks who are very proud of those few miles. I wouldn't mind doing it someday.

weary
12-16-2005, 09:50
Sounds like an interesting poll question. I've been in and out on FS 42 the 4 times I've been to Springer. I've known folks who are very proud of those few miles. I wouldn't mind doing it someday.
The approach trail -- like most trails -- is an interesting trail. It has trees, waterfalls, pretty flowers, even a crashed plane (in 1993 anyway).

Even the elevation change was fascinating. It was spring at Amicalola State Park. Winter on Springer.

The Solemates
12-16-2005, 10:19
ive done it, but didnt do it on our thru.

max patch
12-16-2005, 10:33
The approach trail -- like most trails -- is an interesting trail. It has trees, waterfalls, pretty flowers, even a crashed plane (in 1993 anyway).

Even the elevation change was fascinating. It was spring at Amicalola State Park. Winter on Springer.

I remember listening to a prospective thru complaining about the GA Guidebook. "It says stuff like 100 feet past the white blaze on the tree that lightning striked and the blaze is now on the ground and you can't see it and then go west on the unmarked trail for a ways to a seasonal spring. But it doesn't mention obvious things like the crashed plane!!!" Maybe you had to be there but it was hilarious.

"Most" people don't hike the approach trail. A lot do.

By the way, the plane has been removed and a plaque marks the spot.

general
12-16-2005, 12:20
approach trail, not very pleasant, unless you need to do some last minute gear shopping.

Dances with Mice
12-16-2005, 13:12
approach trail, not very pleasant, unless you need to do some last minute gear shopping.Y'know, I've heard about people ditching stuff along the Approach but I've never found anything left on purpose along it or at that shelter south of Springer. But north of Woody, around Woods Hole, that area seems to be where gear gets dropped.

Footslogger
12-16-2005, 13:24
I was living in Georgia (Marietta area) at the time so access to Amicolola wasn't a big issue. I had taken a local boy scout troop up there and had hiked the approach trail several times prior to departing on my thru. So, I felt that hiking it wasn't necessary and started my thru at Springer.

If I had never hiked it before I might have felt differently and included it in my thru.

'Slogger

The Solemates
12-16-2005, 13:51
If I had never hiked it before I might have felt differently and included it in my thru.

'Slogger

same here.

Singe03
12-16-2005, 14:12
I did it in 2003, I knew about shuttles and stuff but it seemed proper to me to approach the trail via the approach trail, it just kind of made sense. I stayed the night before at Amacolola so everything worked out. Were I to go again, I guess it would depend more on logistical factors, I have no problem with the idea of doing it again, its a nice trail after the first mile but no burning desire tells me I must do it again.

If I took advantage of the new hostel and shuttle, I'd just go wherever the shuttle was going, base of the approach or closer to Springer would not matter to me that much, its all trail and that would be why I was there.

neo
12-16-2005, 14:58
i had no choice but to do it,i parked at amicola falls state park and was shuttled to deep gap .9 of a mile south of standing indian trail shelter and hiked south to amicola falls,i renamed the approach trail the departer trail lol
:cool: neo

Spirit Walker
12-16-2005, 15:02
The taxi drivers on both hikes wouldn't take me anywhere except Amicola. They both said that the road was too rough (plus it would have taken much longer.) The first time the approach trail felt pretty easy (I reached Springer at 11:00 a.m. after camping just outside the park the night before), the second seemed a bit harder.

MisterSweetie
12-16-2005, 16:20
The taxi drivers both said that the road was too rough (plus it would have taken much longer.)

This is why I'd go on and hike the approach trail. I've driven up Springer, and I didn't enjoy the drive at all and would prefer hiking the mileage to making the drive or ride.

Second to that, like said above, it just seems proper to approach the trail via the approach trail... :)

weary
12-16-2005, 16:38
The taxi drivers on both hikes wouldn't take me anywhere except Amicola. They both said that the road was too rough (plus it would have taken much longer.) The first time the approach trail felt pretty easy (I reached Springer at 11:00 a.m. after camping just outside the park the night before), the second seemed a bit harder.
Plus I have a thing about doubling back on a trail. I find the idea of walking a mile from the forest service road and then immediately retracing my steps a bit offesnive.

I'd rather walk eight miles up a mountain than walk the same mile twice in one day. I know it's not logical. But that's the way it is. That's one reason I can never apply for a 2,000-miler patch. I took too many loop trails to scenic overlooks, historic sites and waterfalls, and never could bring myself to walk back and forth on the official trail to avoid missing white blazes.

Weary

MoBeach42
12-16-2005, 20:03
Not that we have any hope of ever finding this out, but I'd be interested to see a comparison of the percentage of people who DO the approach trail and make it all the way to Maine.

general
12-16-2005, 21:19
Y'know, I've heard about people ditching stuff along the Approach but I've never found anything left on purpose along it or at that shelter south of Springer. But north of Woody, around Woods Hole, that area seems to be where gear gets dropped.

i got a nice full length thermarest and a couple of nalgenes, full of course, on the approach trail. you're definantly right though. Woods Hole and the surrounding area seems to be the prime location for gear tossing. lots of good stuff left at Neel Gap when people re-outfit themselves as well. that hiker box is a treasure trove.

MOWGLI
12-17-2005, 11:53
Sounds like an interesting poll question. I've been in and out on FS 42 the 4 times I've been to Springer. I've known folks who are very proud of those few miles. I wouldn't mind doing it someday.

I did half of it for the first time recently. I walked up to the Len Foote Hike Inn, and then on the way back, I looped around and took the Approach Trail back to Amicalola Falls SP. It was nothing really special. Just another north Georgia trail.

Someday I'll walk the rest of it, but there are dozens of trails on the short list before that one. The Art Loeb for instance, and big sections of the Mountains to Sea, the Benton MacKaye north of the Ocoee River, the Florida Trail in St. Marks NWR, the Cumberland Trail through the Obed Wild & Scenic River area, Cumberland Island, the Ozark Highlands Trail, the Long Trail (north of Killington), the Northville Placid Trail, the John Muir Trail, the Wonderland Trail, the 400 more miles of the Colorado Trail that I haven't hiked, and ALL of the PCT.

Did I leave a few out? You betcha!

Jack Tarlin
12-17-2005, 15:12
Cheese---

This topic comes up often....if you do a Whiteblaze search on "Approach Trail", you'll find all sorts of other comments.

If you go onto the archives, you'll see some interesting stuff here:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-989html

PROFILE
12-18-2005, 11:39
For people who stay with us the number is about 50/50. The ATC was trying to get more accurate #s this year and were calling the shuttle providers and geting the number of people shuttled and where they went. At the end of spring I was told the other drivers were doing about 20% Springer 80% to the park. The differance in percentages is price. Our price is generally the same to either (because o fthe hostel stay) while shuttlers charge more to go to Springer

Skyline
12-18-2005, 12:47
I did the last two or three miles, because the guy driving us took a wrong turn and wound up at Nimblewill Gap. It was pushing noon, and he wasn't sure how to get us to FS42 north of Springer, so we just got out and hoofed it up to Springer. In retrospect, I wished we'd planned it differently--had just started at the bottom and done the whole approach.

I'd like to go back and do a loop hike someday that would begin/end at Amicolola. Perhaps involving the BMT or other side trails.

Burn
12-24-2005, 14:42
i've hiked the approach 4 times, last time i was at springer, i just drove up and parked. Anyone can say the approach is boring, but you could pick any 8 miles of the AT, pert-near and you'd see the same thing. hike it, don't hike it...just enjoy

Chef2000
12-24-2005, 15:18
This is my approach trail story from 2000.

I arrived in gainesville after a 28 hour train ride. I took a cab to Amicalola, I had made a reservation at the campground for that night(feb29) so I could start my hike on MARch 1. The cab dropped me off at the ranger station where the approach trail starts. I left my pack outside to go in and pay for my campsite. I did not know that the trail was outback, I asked about the campsite and the ranger tells me I have to goto the Hotel front desk for campsites. "how do I get there" I ask, "go outside and up that road to the top of the falls." "OK Thanx". I proceded to walk up the paved road carrying what was then a 57 lb pack. I made it after many stops. Then at the hotel i was told that the sign in for the start of the trail was back down at the ranger station. I set up my camp, found the real approach trail and hiked back down to sign in and get munchies, then back up. So I covered from the bottom of the falls to the top three times that day.

Burn
12-24-2005, 15:28
if i were doing it again, i'd get there early, enjoy amicalola falls and the adjoining trails as a little mini shake down...it'sa nice place really and the last real water fall for some time....i am thinking besides jones fall near 3 forks, cherokkee near MT momma's or standing bear farm is the next falls of any account....and really the falls past 19e and hump MT is the next real big falls. i could be wrong, wouldn't be anything new.

Cookerhiker
12-24-2005, 19:19
I didn't thru hike but section-hiked from Springer to Wallace Gap - I was accompanying Northern Harrier for the first 10 days of his 2004 thruhike. We took the approach trail and found it a perfect introduction because it capsulizes the AT in Georgia - all up and down. I'd do it again. I like beginning at "Mile 0" without having started the white blazes yet.

As a side note, we met Wildcat at the Amicalola Lodge and hiked up with him, camping together the first night at Stover Creek Shelter. Had we not started via the approach trail, perhaps we wouldn't have become friends.

Crash! Bang!
12-26-2005, 21:37
wheres the poll?

Crash! Bang!
12-26-2005, 21:37
i hiked the approach trail on a separate hike, but not on my thru

digger51
12-27-2005, 02:15
Ive dont the approach trail a few times and skipped it twice. It was nice but I found I could enjoy my hike just as much by getting a ride most of the way up. I would concur with the thought of getting a ride to the top of the waterfall.

athiker75
12-28-2005, 19:10
I did the approach trail on my 2003 thru hike, it seemed the obvious place to start...others that I would later hike with skipped the approach and I wish I had. I had way too much weight(and kept it all I might add)and the trail up to the peak was insanely steep with switchbacks few and far between! I pulled a tendon behind my knee. I woke up in the morning and was limping to the creek for my morning coffee. I thought I was done with my thru hike and I hadn't even seen a half mile of trail. All turned out OK. So no harm, no foul. I'll do it again on my next thru hike. First timers(like I was) have a tendency to make this portion a race and I advise against that. Take your time and you'll enjoy that 7 miles as much as you'll enjoy the next 2100.