View Full Version : Approach Trail + .9 miles Round Trip?
FloridaTeacher
10-30-2011, 07:37
Planning on a trip 11/10/11 to Amiacola Falls State Park to hike the Approach Trail and an extra mile on the AT and then then returning to our vehicle by going back down the Approach Trail. Our goal in Spring is to do the entire Georgia Section and we want to knock out this section and start at Springer on our Spring trip.
We are all in pretty good shape but not veteran mountain hikers. To be clear our group includes a former Marine and Wrestling Coach, a recently separated Marine, a hardworking Landscaper who works out and some High School wrestlers.
We plan on arriving from Florida around 11:00 AM on Friday 11/10 and departing from the long term lot at Amiacola.
Approximately how far can we make it before dark? Camping sites?
We have tents.
How man days should we plan round trip to our vehicle?
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday??????
DST ends Nov 6 so it'll be getting dark early. I'd guess you'll have enough time to get to your turn around point, head back and make it to the shelter right about dark - most likely wearing a headlamp the last stretch - assuming you want to stay in the shelter.
If you are in decent shape you can hike to the summet of Springer in 6 hours from the parking lot. Thats the time it took me four weeks ago. Hiking back is a little faster of course because it's less climbing. If for some reason you get a late start there is a shelter about a mile and half before the summet or if you have tents there are several places to camp before you get to the top. What you describe is really only a two day trip but you can make it as many as you wish. I know people who hike the approach trail up and back in one day.
BTW ....Have a great hike!
You may not like my post,but I'm going to give you a little reality check here:
My experience (and I've seen this time and time again) is that ex-military people and coaches (unless they maintain regular aerobic activity) fall out of shape FAST. High school wrestlers also strike me as tough and strong (like the coaches) but not necessarily fast and light - at least one of your boys will be slow, complain all the time and have feet problems - trust me. Also (and I'm drawing a picture here in my mind) my guess is that your equipment is not particularly light (i.e. your people will be wearing boots - not fast trail shoes like they should) - combine this with the fact that your experience level is on the low side and that the weather will be colder than you expect - you're from Florida, right? My guess is that something will go wrong and you won't start hiking on Friday until 2:00 pm. If you can make a campsite in 4.8 miles (I think this is Frosty Mountain -there is water there too), you'd be doing good - plan on 1 mile per hour. Plan on your second night at Springer Mtn Shelter - you should be able to get back to the parking lot a little faster on the third day. F.Y.I. an experienced backpacker is making his / her coffee at 6 am while still in a sleeping bag, packed and hiking briskly by 6:45 and eating a Clif Bar and by 8:00 and has done 2 or more miles when your guys will just be rolling out of their sleeping bags at 8:30 so they could liesurely make it to Stover Creek or Hawk Mtn and back in 2 days. Your folks won't actually walk out of camp on cold mornings until 10am so and going in is all uphill, I'd say, plan on taking all three days for your trip -- or, even better, since this is (I suppose) your first trip of the section, start with something easier like doing the section SOBO and start at the GA / NC line -- put in at USFS 71 - Deep Gap, NC and shuttle to US 76 - this is much more sensible because there are 2 shelters in between - Muskrat Creek and Plum Orchard Gap - you do one on Friday and the next one on Saturday - this hiking is much easier than the approach trail - it's a total of about 16 miles but your guys could actually probably get it done in the 2 1/2 days you have. FYI, this would be a pretty standard single day for an experienced backpacker - and there is no reason you can't build your skills up to this - - just set yourself up for success early on. Best of luck.
Another little tip - if you do decide to do it SOBO - get yourself a GA Gazetteer - this is a map book that will show you really good road details and will help you find the AT, roads, and trailheads quickly.
Rain Man
10-30-2011, 10:18
Planning on a trip 11/10/11 to Amiacola Falls State Park ... the long term lot at Amiacola.
Teach, it's "Amicalola."
.
If I were doing this trip, I would plan to sleep at the shelter on the approach trail (Black Mountain?). This will give you a shorter day for your first, partial hiking day. Next day hike to your turn-around and back down. Should make for a relatively leisurely second day as well.
One night on the trail is all that you will need or probably want unless you decide to extend your hike to hawk mountain and back or arrange a shuttle and hike out to Woody Gap. Lots of options. The hiking between Springer and Hawk Mountain is pretty easy as I recall.
Guess I will add, that my suggestion above is dependent on you not fitting the bill that PapaD has layed out. This time of year, with the short days, it is important not to burn daylight early in the day if you want to accomplish any type of ambitious goals. You will have to judge honestly where you will all fall in your abilities.
max patch
10-30-2011, 11:19
You may not like my post,but I'm going to give you a little reality check here:
My experience (and I've seen this time and time again) is that ex-military people and coaches (unless they maintain regular aerobic activity) fall out of shape FAST. High school wrestlers also strike me as tough and strong (like the coaches) but not necessarily fast and light - at least one of your boys will be slow, complain all the time and have feet problems - trust me. Also (and I'm drawing a picture here in my mind) my guess is that your equipment is not particularly light (i.e. your people will be wearing boots - not fast trail shoes like they should) - combine this with the fact that your experience level is on the low side and that the weather will be colder than you expect - you're from Florida, right? My guess is that something will go wrong and you won't start hiking on Friday until 2:00 pm. If you can make a campsite in 4.8 miles (I think this is Frosty Mountain -there is water there too), you'd be doing good - plan on 1 mile per hour. Plan on your second night at Springer Mtn Shelter - you should be able to get back to the parking lot a little faster on the third day. F.Y.I. an experienced backpacker is making his / her coffee at 6 am while still in a sleeping bag, packed and hiking briskly by 6:45 and eating a Clif Bar and by 8:00 and has done 2 or more miles when your guys will just be rolling out of their sleeping bags at 8:30 so they could liesurely make it to Stover Creek or Hawk Mtn and back in 2 days. Your folks won't actually walk out of camp on cold mornings until 10am so and going in is all uphill, I'd say, plan on taking all three days for your trip -- or, even better, since this is (I suppose) your first trip of the section, start with something easier like doing the section SOBO and start at the GA / NC line -- put in at USFS 71 - Deep Gap, NC and shuttle to US 76 - this is much more sensible because there are 2 shelters in between - Muskrat Creek and Plum Orchard Gap - you do one on Friday and the next one on Saturday - this hiking is much easier than the approach trail - it's a total of about 16 miles but your guys could actually probably get it done in the 2 1/2 days you have. FYI, this would be a pretty standard single day for an experienced backpacker - and there is no reason you can't build your skills up to this - - just set yourself up for success early on. Best of luck.
I'm going to respectfully disagree with just about everything said here.
2 days, 1 nite. No problem.
If you don't make in Springer on day 1 there is a shelter a couple miles south on the approach trail.
You can always play it safe and take 3 days worth of food just in case. I routinely take extra food in case of horrible weather, sprained ankle, or whatever. Rarely use it but its there. Of course, I've never been accused of being an ounce weenie.
If I were doing this trip, I would plan to sleep at the shelter on the approach trail (Black Mountain?). This will give you a shorter day for your first, partial hiking day. Next day hike to your turn-around and back down. Should make for a relatively leisurely second day as well. .
second night at Len Foote Hike Inn
rmitchell
10-30-2011, 12:04
second night at Len Foote Hike Inn
If you can afford it, book two nights at Len Foote Hike Inn and use it as a base camp. Day hike to Springer summit and on over to Stover Creek.
Slo-go'en
10-30-2011, 12:12
My guess is it will take about 7 hours to drive from Jacksonville, FL to Amicalola. If you plan to arrive at 11 AM, that means being on the road at 4 AM, and with a group to get all together, that means being up pretty much all night. Then you want to jump out of the car and start hiking? Not a good plan.
A better plan would be to arrive later in the day and stay at the Amicalola shelter (or the lodge if you can afford it). If you get there in the mid afternoon, you could do the stairs up along the falls as a warm up and get that out of the way.
The next morning, get up early enough to pack up and be at the breakfist buffet at the lodge as soon as they open. Eat a good breakfist and then start the approch trail from the lodge. This will save you all that effort hiking up along the falls.
Now, with a (hopefully) good nights sleep, a reasonably early start and a good breakfist right off, it shouldn't be too hard to make the shelter at Springer. If you make it to Springer, next morning do the quick 1.8 out to the FS road 42 and back, put on the packs and head down. If you get an early enough start, you should make it before dark.
But to be on the safe side, bring enough food for 2 nights, just in case you only make it to the Black Mt shelter the first day. Making it to the FS road and back down the approch trail and finishing before dark might be a bit too much starting from Black Mt.
My only comment is that I'd recommend doing this trip over two days (one day to springer summit and the extra mile) and one day to return. You could do it in one day, but that would make for one very long day and why push yourself?
davidnh
I love a good consensus. :)
1 mph is a pretty reliable guess for your speed, hence the amount of time you should give your group. Most people will hike faster than this once they have everything dialed in, but just starting out you guys may need to stop for things such as pack adjustments and blister prevention. This is still the pace I slow to for steep (almost vertical) ascents and descents, and boggy parts where I'm hopping rock to rock. The only situation I've found where I go slower than this is slick wet rock where I have to really watch my footing. If there is wet or icy rock in your route, you should give yourself more time to cross it.
Max Patch - not sure what about my post you disagreed with - yes, you are right - 2 days, one night should be no problem but- I was just conjecturing that these folks are:
1) from Florida
2) unprepared for cold
3) hiking in a biggish group - a couple of coaches and a few wrestlers - that's at least five
4) will get there late and will get a late start out of camp on day 2
i just wanted to help them evaluate their trip realistically so that they have a good time.
FloridaTeacher
10-30-2011, 13:00
I think Black Gap Shelter area is our goal based on the input all of you have given. We plan on bringing less than 30 pounds per pack. We will bring no silly stuff (told the boys no hatches, rambo knives, etc....), no redundant items and nothing extra except some food (in case we go another day).
I think we are physically in pretty good shape. Plenty of exercise here and I am the biggest person in the group. I do a lot of flatland hiking in Florida but have been hitting the bleachers with the boys. In an effort to get some hills I walk our steeper local bridges on Sunday mornings up and down multiple times.
We are bringing tents and can camp where we end up so shelters are not a must if we can camp where we get to.
I wish we could get plan our trip with an overnight hotel stay in Georgia but everyone has work to do and the days we have are what we have to work with.
Pedaling Fool
10-30-2011, 13:06
If I were doing this trip, I would plan to sleep at the shelter on the approach trail (Black Mountain?). This will give you a shorter day for your first, partial hiking day. Next day hike to your turn-around and back down. Should make for a relatively leisurely second day as well.I'd probably just do this (go to shelter/campsites at Black Gap Shelter). Then next day hike to your turnaround point on top of Spinger Mountain, which is about a 1-1/2 mile from Black Gap shelter.
WingedMonkey
10-30-2011, 13:46
We are bringing tents and can camp where we end up so shelters are not a must if we can camp where we get to.
That will be all that matters.
Slo-go'en
10-30-2011, 13:52
[QUOTE=FloridaTeacher;1213491I wish we could get plan our trip with an overnight hotel stay in Georgia but everyone has work to do and the days we have are what we have to work with.[/QUOTE]
Even so, doing a long drive and then trying to hike 6 or 7 miles up hill isn't a real good idea. You hope to be at the trail head by 11 AM, but knowing how these things always go, you'll be lucky to be actually hiking by 1 PM and pretty tired already, since you've been up since 3 AM. And if the weather is anything but ideal, well - good luck. Even if your actually hiking by 11 AM, that's a little marginal if your starting at the bottom of the falls.
You can spend Friday night at the trail head shelter for free and then have all day Sat to go up to either Black Mt or even Springer, starting out early and well rested. If you do this, definately splurge on the breakfist, as a good meal in the morning really helps. Driving home Sunday night will make you sleep deprived, but that will be the case no matter what and you only have to go to work the next day...
Slo-go'en
10-30-2011, 13:56
Oh, and be sure to report back when your done.
Stop worrying about it. You apparently have 2.5 days which is ample for even the worst case scenario. You have tents so how far you go in a day doesn't matter. Just get out and start hiking. When dusk nears stop and camp. If it takes all three days then you will have that knowledge for your next hike, if done in two days go visit Dahlonega. It's a nice town.
Hikerhead
10-30-2011, 19:22
My plan would be to park the car at the top of the falls near the lodge and hike to Frosty Mtn. That will put you in good shape to tag Springer the next day, the trail is a little easier after Frosty. Tag Springer and take a long break and hike back down and camp again around Frosty or there abouts. That will get you back to parking lot early on your 3rd day for the drive home.
Here's a link to my Ga. section hike back in 2006:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/548798178sXxbQh?start=0
It took Frosty and me a full day to hike to the Springer Mt. campsite. I was out of shape, he was a bit more so and a couple of years older than I was. His pack weight was around 30 lbs. Mine was almost 40.
The pictures taken of the shelter, tenting area, and summit plaque were taken the following morning. We had enough light left to cook supper and set up our tents, no more. Frosty Mt. might be a good place to spend the night if one or more of your group seem to be falling off the pace.
Well Florida Teacher - After reading your last post, I feel better about you - I had imagined hatchets, fire flints, military canteens, etc. - - you'll probably be just fine - enjoy the beautiful forest!
FloridaTeacher
11-13-2011, 08:29
Well we are back. Left Florida about 4am arrived at Visitor Center at noon with a stomach full of Steak and Shake. We checked-in, filled up on water, used the restrooms and took off. The hike was strenuous and challenging. It was also very beautiful. We never saw a cloud in the sky. It was cold but with all of the activity, I was down to hiking shorts, t-shirt and my long underwear after a few miles. We made it to Black Gap Shelter by 4:30pm with plenty of light to set up tents, get water and make a fire. The spring was not very good but we got water and purified it and boiled most of it to make ramen and coffee. Slept well in the tents and had no problems. Checked out the privy (did not know there was an actual primitive restroom) about 6am. We ate breakfast and packed our gear and were out at 8am. We hiked to the top of Springer feeling very proud of ourselves until we met some hikers who had just completed their trek from Maine. They looked worn but happy. We hiked back down the actual AT just a little way without going the extra .9. We headed back taking our time because we knew we could hike without fear of it getting dark. We got back to the truck about 2pm, checked back in and made it back to Florida by 10pm. We are all sore but satisfied and are looking forward to a 3 day/2 night trip in spring. It was great experience for all of us and we really learned a lot.
Nice report FT. Great hike!
Happy to hear your hike was a success. Thanks for the report.
Nice -- well done - thanks for the report! P/M me if you are ever back in the area -- I'll help you guys shuttle or something -- I'm always roaming around the trail from GA to TN especially.