View Full Version : New Years Eve/Day start
wacocelt
12-17-2004, 15:01
I'm not completely sure at the momentif my father in law will be able to drive me to Springer to begin my hike (my lovely bride has to work a double the eve and her other job NY's day). Is there a closer destination than Atlanta to bus to from SE Alabama and if so, would anyone be willing to give me a lift from the station to Springer? I rode with Hacksaw in 03' from Atl, but may not have the shuttle fee this time due to some last minute gear malfunctions requiring replacement. I'll get there one way or another, even if I have to road walk it, was just hoping one of you might be in the area around that time. Thanks for your time, be well.
Christopher
Lone Wolf
12-17-2004, 15:03
There's a bus station in Gainesville 40 miles from Amicalola.
There's a bus station in Gainesville 40 miles from Amicalola.
And a train station, if I remember rightly -- or was.
Weary
Lone Wolf
12-17-2004, 15:11
Yup. Amtrak station.
wacocelt
12-17-2004, 15:12
Thanks Wolf, thats N/NE of Springer isn't it? Though I may be mistaken.
LOL, I may just bus there and start a'hikin with a Springer or Bust sign. Man I'm ready to get back out there, cold weather and all!
Lone Wolf
12-17-2004, 15:14
Find out when the bus arrives in Gainesville NY eve. If it's noon or before, I might could pick you up.
wacocelt
12-17-2004, 15:18
Roger that, I'de greatly appreciate it. I'll let you know well ahead of time one way or the other.
And a train station, if I remember rightly -- or was.
Weary
Amtrak recently changed their regs on allowing backpacks on their trains. If you're stooping at a station taht doesn't have baggage service (Gainesville doesn't) you can't bring anything larger than 28" on the train. That means, if you've got a external frame pack, they may not allow you on the train with it! I suggest you check that out before booking your train ticket.
wacocelt
12-17-2004, 15:27
I'll be riding the 'Hound, we go way back. I've logged about 30k miles on Greyhound, you'de be surpired how much better most Thru-Hikers smell than the average GH passenger. Thanks a ton for the Amtrak heads'up however!
Find out when the bus arrives in Gainesville NY eve. If it's noon or before, I might could pick you up.
Upon reflection, my memory tells me that a train gets into Salisbury, NC about 2 a.m., which suggests Gainesville would be around 8 a.m. or thereabouts, assuming one is coming from the north. A bit of information that is pretty useless for Wacocelt, who I see is from Alabama.
Weary
Blue Jay
12-17-2004, 15:58
I'll be riding the 'Hound, we go way back. I've logged about 30k miles on Greyhound, you'de be surpired how much better most Thru-Hikers smell than the average GH passenger. Thanks a ton for the Amtrak heads'up however!
Take one thru aroma, mix with concentrated bus fume and caffeine, wala the Great Cornhola.
Lone Wolf
12-29-2004, 18:12
Lookin like a warm and dry New Year's on Springer. Gonna go to Neel's gap tomorrow. See if I can yellow-blaze some sobos to Springer. :)
Lone Wolf
01-01-2005, 20:03
A good time was had by all. There were probably 35+ folks camped, hammocked and sheltered all over Springer last night. There was no drunken rowdiness. Probably cuz there were no Billville members. :) Plus me and wacocelt abstained from alcohol. There were some Whiteblaze.netters there. Youngblood, Goon, waco, Chopperbear, Hog on Ice, Stumpknocker and myself. Oh, and Sloetoe and his sons. They brought a bunch of bratwurst, chips & salsa, beer, soda, peanut brittle, danish, orange juice and fireworks which were set off late dawn cuz nobody was up at midnite. Goon packed fudge. Up to the mountain that is. :D Hog brought fruitcake and sausage. wacocelt ate most of what every one brought.
4 NOBOs started today. At least this morning. Some may have started the approach or got driven to 42. 1 SOBO finished and showed up at the shelter just before dark. Weather was awesome. High 60s in No. Ga. today.
[QUOTE=L. Wolf]A good time was had by all. There were probably 35+ folks camped, hammocked and sheltered all over Springer last night. There was no drunken rowdiness. Probably cuz there were no Billville members. :) Plus me and wacocelt abstained from alcohol.
LW, assume you were toasting with non-alcoholic adult beverages?
Thanks for the update...sounds like you had good food, good company and good weather!
Happy New Year!!!:clap
Youngblood
01-01-2005, 21:46
Torch finished his sobo on NYE, he passed his namesake (a cigerate lighter) on to a nobo that was starting today. I stopped by the Hiker Hostel and had biscutts with Profile... Almanac returned from dropping Torch off at the MARTA station before I left so I got to see her for the first time this year.
A few others that I remember were Not To Worry (Ed Speer), POG (Karen), Hog on Ice, The Professor, J.D., Long Stockings, Stump Knocker. A few of my photos turned out but I don't think I can identify half the folks... I'm not real good a remembering names. At one time Ed Speer counted about 7 hammocks. A lot of folks showed up after dark and I have now idea what most of them looked like. I think everyone had a great time. I bailed at 9:30, my legs were still a little weary from my Alabama Pinhoti hike that I finished up on the 30th.
Condensation was a problem. I had condensation on the underside of my tarp before I even got in my hammock. The night started out clear with great views of the stars but the fog was thick by early morning with condensation on both sides of my tarp. My bag, hammock and myself were dry... the condensation was so thick that it was dripping intermittenly from the trees onto my tarp like huge raindrops. My tarp stayed taut so it was like a concussion drum... boom... boom ... boom.
Oh yeah, Lone Wolf wasn't kidding when he said he had trimmed down, he was about as thin as Torch.
Youngblood
I also had a great time, and it was nice to meet everyone.
As I was hiking the Approach Trail back to my car just couldn't believe it was Jan 1... nice spring like weather!
A good time was had by all.
and fireworks which were set off late dawn cuz nobody was up at midnite.
Sloetoe and sons brought up a truly fantastic feast for all to share, Goon's fudge was excellent and gone before you could say boo, the conversation was fun and there were a lot of good stories told. It was nice of Comer and Jean to bring their two grand daughters up for a bit and it was also nice to meet Stumpknocker and Hippi Hiker whose register entry I had just read the previous weekend from Black Rock Hut in Shen. Also interesting was talking hammocks with Ed Speer and the rest of the hammockers. I particularly enjoyed listening to Lone Wolf's contirbutions to the conversations - nice and often humerous.
There was however one person who actually stayed up to midnight - I wanted to see how much of the fireworks were visible from the shelter area - a few flashes were visible but rather far away. If I had thought to bring some fireworks I just might have been tempted to set them off at midnight - good thing I didn't think of it since the snores from the shelter and nearby hammocks were very noticeable. Of course come dawn the hikers were up and getting ready for their big day and so I got up to join them - Sloetoe put on a good breakfast also with a gallon of SunnyD and muffins and other pastrys.
Another hammocker, George, and I arrived Thursday afternoon and we had a plesant pre-NYE evening showing a father and daughter some of the backpacking tricks for lowering packweight - we also helped them reduce weight by eating some of their excess food ;-) - good bacon. George had a homemade wood burner that was an lighter weight and improved version of the zip stove. I showed off my new light weight oil lamp.
The weather was absolutely great - warm and relatively dry - I did get a fair amount of condensation on my tarp but I expected it - the ground where I was was rather wet - this was one of the official campsites on the other side of the spring. The spring was flowing well and the water was gushing from the pipe making it real easy to fill water containers.
I hiked out to FS-42 with Wacocelt and Heidi and caught up with Lone Wolf in the parking area. As Lone Wolf and I wished the thru hiking Wacocelt and Heidi good luck it was hard not to just continue hiking with them. Oh well ...
BTW FS-42 was in very good shape and my Honda Civic had no problem with the road. Youngblood's directions were perfect and I had no problem getting to or coming back from the trailhead. Well no problems other than driving 10 hours each way that left me with quite a headache when I got home a little after 7 PM.
Butch Cassidy
01-02-2005, 23:24
Had a blast, met some great people and could not believe how much food Sloetoe and his boys brought up there. It was the best possible way to start off 2005 and really fired me up to start on my hike , It would have been great to leave with Heidi and Wacocelt or Alpha as he was going by for now? Thanks to all. Dave
wacocelt
01-06-2005, 20:12
I'm back home. Started having spasms in my lower left quadrant, then a very dark tint to my well hydrated urine, another stone coming on. That, combined with the already acute pain of missing my wonderful wife and worries about hiking in winter made me decide to postpone my hike until the stone and winter have passed.
Hydro is still going strong and I have no doubt that she's in for the long haul! Thanks to all the folks who came out on New Years Eve and gave us a terrific send-off!
Christopher 'Alpha'
Bummer. I guess it is better to get the stone out now then a ways into the trip. I passed a stone about a month ago. Let me tell you that you don't want to be out in the middle of the trail by yourself passing a stone without any good drugs to kill the pain.
orangebug
01-07-2005, 07:46
Hell, you don't want to be anywhere, even without some bad drugs for the pain of a kidney stone.
I hope that this was just a muscle strain and a bit of dehydration. If it is a stone, good luck on the passing of it soon - and on the avoidance of another on your next walk.
Are you sure it wasn't all that peanut brittle you ate new years eve? :p
Hope you feel better soon! You'll be back hiking before you know it.
Mountain Dew
01-08-2005, 02:05
Lone Wolf, "There was no drunken rowdiness. Probably cuz there were no Billville members. "--- hahaha ..Good to see there was so many hikers at Springer on NYE. I don't remember any drunken rowdiness at the Billville camp during the 2004 Gathering Wolf..hhmm :-? I remember you drinking numerous beers and having a great time as you were singing songs along with "Billville". Seeing you and Bag of Tricks drinking beers and singing almost made me want to start drinking, but I still passed. Goodtimes ...
HippieLongstockings
01-15-2005, 09:46
Hey Hog Boy please get it right! It was not Hippie Hiker on Springer for New Years it was I Hippie Long Stockings! You must be one of those people who see all Hippies as the same person. Tis ok I understand it must be a short term memory problem!
Hey Hog Boy please get it right! It was not Hippie Hiker on Springer for New Years it was I Hippie Long Stockings! You must be one of those people who see all Hippies as the same person. Tis ok I understand it must be a short term memory problem!
Yep - short term memory problem for sure - sorry about that - was nice to meet you and thanks for the feedback :o
Lone Wolf
01-18-2005, 09:07
Sounds like the hippy chick is a little uptight, Hog On Ice. A real hippy wouldn't be so sarcastic. :rolleyes:
Butch Cassidy
01-20-2005, 13:28
Very classy answer HOI, Its not easy to always take the high road.
:cool: Paladin
Lone Wolf
01-20-2005, 13:29
Yes HOI is a classy guy indeed. I should follow his lead. :)
Hippy LS is probably pretty stressed out, take it easy on her. She's been out on the trail for the last couple months in some sort of a record for longest hikes (with Stumpknocker)