Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 115 – Springer Mountain, the end
18th November 2023
Gooch Mountain Shelter (2182.7) - Springer Mountain (2198.4)
Daily miles: 16.7
Total miles: 2188.2
The shelter started stirring and I yelled GOOD MORNING!! IT’S SPRINGER DAY!!
It did feel exciting, a bit like Christmas morning. I think everyone appreciated the shout, maybe not the people camping who we didn’t know!
A busy shelter full of SOBOs
Delaying leaving
13 SOBOs plus Maggie
I ate my Luna bar for breakfast. I’m going to be hungry today! I have very little food left. Everyone was in a different stage of packing up and no one really wanted to leave on their own so I was hanging around for about 45 minutes before I hiked out with Howard and Cal. It was a nice hike together for 3.5 miles then we waited for the others to catch up because we had one last road walk to do which would cut off some of the ups and downs and we could all walk together in a blob rather than a line.
Howard looking like a Smurf
Dirt road walking together
May Queen probably having a breakdown
Back on the trail we left in a hiker train and I chose to go at the back because it was uphill and Late Start was leading so I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I also knew I was running on fumes. I didn’t keep up on the hill but I made up the gap and caught back up to the end of the train.
White knuckling on the back of a hiker train
The weather was perfect today. After a few days of grey and drizzle it was sunny and a great temperature
We stopped for lunch. My lunch was pitiful. 2 snack size packets of Doritos and a Milky Way. I had eaten a Twix earlier in the day but I really could have done with some more food!
Lunch break
We only had 4.2 miles left to springer so there wasn’t a great deal of urgency to leave as it wasn’t even 12pm when we got there. Sidequest made crowns for her triple crown.
We hiked out and I was leading. I am the slowest uphill so that was the only way I could hike and not lose everyone. Here’s where things got a bit tetchy. We notice May Queen wasn’t with us and decided to stop and wait. A couple of people didn’t want to wait 30 seconds so hiked off ahead causing a bit of a tension atmosphere in the group. I was hiking 3mph. Not slow.
We continued on to the last water source for the day. Our plan was to camp at Springer Mountain shelter and it’s dry up there so we filled up our water and then went to the parking lot which is a mile before the summit. The parking lot was full as it was a Saturday, we had seen so many hikers already. Lots of them congratulated us and lots of them didn’t have a clue what we were doing.
The last river crossing
Day 115 and I still can’t get enough of the light through the trees
Toe definitely having a breakdown
Howard in his fleece onsie (I’m so jealous)
We waited for everyone to arrive - as planned and agreed - and we were one missing. Lots of people wanted to leave without him. Other people said we should wait. The debate continued and in the 3 minutes people were squabbling the person arrived. I’m not sure why people weren’t capable of waiting. It was only 2:15pm
We hiker trained to the summit and two people hiked separately at the back which didn’t make any difference to me because there were multiple people in between, but what I didn’t like was the weird atmosphere it caused at the top of Springer.
There were enough people to absorb it and there were lots of sweaty hugs and some people were crying and then it was time for the most epic photo shoot to make sure everyone got their memories.
Recreating my 2018 shot
Happy to be here
It’s definitely time for a lie down
July 27th – November 18th 2023
16 SOBOs on Springer Mountain
What a day!
The first timers
The girls
My original crew – over 2 months with these weirdos
The triple crowners
It’s been emotional, although far less emotional than I have been on previous trails!
Appalachian Trail SOBO complete
The view from Springer
I think we were up there for around a hour or so. Then the plan was that Robin Hood’s wife was coming to the parking lot 1 mile back, some of us would hike down and bring up the celebratory stuff she brought with her to the shelter 0.1 miles from the summit and we would all camp there together.
When we got to the shelter there were so many people there, all camped, a big schools group and there were tents everywhere, right next to the shelter, and there was one person in the shelter who we were told was in there because they were sick. Don’t put sick people in the shelter!
So we decided not to stay there. We decided to gather up everyone’s stuff who had got there earlier and were at the parking lot ready to bring stuff up and carry it down, and we would celebrate and stay in the parking lot.
Which is what we did.
We had some drinks (some more than others!) I had one cider and a few sips of champagne and that was enough for me. I made my mountain house meal which was acceptable and then we did a summer camp thing where we handed out paper plates with ‘most likely’ and alternative nicknames on.
Howard “The Gentle Llama”
Crunchy “The White Knuckler”
C.A.L. “Mr Pennsylvania”
Rabbit Foot “The Bean Packer”
Sidequest “The Cult Leader”
Robin Hood “The Fashionista”
Late Start “The Dictionary”
Thigh High “The Lifesaver”
Hendrix “The Crusher, OBE”
Toe “The Queen of FOMO”
May Queen “ The Colour Goblin”
Neptune “The Comeback King”
Mrs Robin Hood
Safety Inspector “Dr Triple Crown”
Jet “The Menonite Muscle”
Puff Puff “The Family BNOT”
Hiker trash party
Hiker trash party
“most likely to hike the AT again” – NO!
BNOT = Big Name On Trail
One it got dark it got cold and we did some dancing. A couple of people absolutely passed out (because of too much alcohol) and at about 7pm it felt like midnight! I pushed on to 9pm but I couldn’t feel my feet anymore because they were so cold so I crawled into my tent.
Hiker trash party
Hiker trash party
Because I don’t like beer
Nacho Puff had to come to the party
Technically the trail is complete, we reached the southern terminus of Springer Mountain, but as it is in the middle of nowhere there is one more day on trail to get down to Amicalola Falls where Toe’s parents are picking us up.
Also, Lemonhope never showed up.
