Stormbringer's First Steps on the AT

“3/19 – Friday
After an emotional farewell and last minute instructions for his parents, Stormbringer and I headed south to Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia. Scott had a room booked for us in the Amicalola Falls Lodge, one of the nicest state park facilities I’ve ever seen.

We reached the lodge just after 7:00 pm, so after checking in the first stop was to the restaurant. We gorged ourselves on the seafood buffet and then went back to the room for final adjustments to Stormbringer’s pack. It was quite evident he needed to lighten his load, so we spent the rest of the evening going through all of his gear and looking for things to leave behind.

3/20 – Saturday
The first stop in the morning was the breakfast buffet, where we again managed to stuff ourselves to the max. After checking out of the lodge we hiked down to the top of Amicalola Falls where there were beautiful views all the way down to the reflecting pool, about 730 feet below. Then we drove down to the visitor center and hiked up from the reflecting pool to an observation platform, within about 100 feet of the top of the falls.

After checking out the visitor center it was time for the official weighing of our packs. SB weighed in at a “lightened” 50 lbs with the water and 6 days of food he was carrying. Mine weighed in at 24 lbs. with water and one day’s supply of food. Hmmmmm . . .

Since SB had already hiked the approach trail, we drove north from the visitor’s center to the AT crossing at FSR 58 to begin the hike. From there we crossed the foot bridge over Chester Creek and followed the less-traveled Benton Mackaye Trail. The sky, which began grey and overcast, was now filled with bright warm sunshine. It took only two hours to make the 4.1 mi. uphill climb (1,200’) up to the summit of Springer. There we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and set up camp in the tenting area by Springer Shelter. We spent the rest of the day on the summit of Springer visiting and exchanging stories with other thru-hiker hopefuls, weekenders, and the AT caretaker.

So what would you expect when you go on a hike with a storm bringer? A STORM! And storm it did around 8:30 pm . . . strong winds . . . lightning . . . a fitting way to end the day for SB.

3/21 – Sunday
It was obvious a cold front had passed through during the night because the temperature was now much colder, and the winds continued to howl. We opted for the shelter to escape the wind while we ate breakfast and then packed up for the official beginning of Stormbringer’s journey.

We made the short hike up to the summit for SB to take the first step north from the southern terminus, snapped a few photos, and began the journey northward. The trail was all downhill to where the car was parked at FSR 58 so it did not take long to get there. There, SB decided to take a few more items out of his pack to send back home . . . good decision! It was then we said our farewells and began our long journeys north . . . mine back home . . . and Stormbringer’s on to Katahdin.

Hope you have a fantastic journey Scott!

pics”

“Hi gforce !

Thanks for the update...that was mighty kind of ya.”

“Great photos!

So how did you feel when he walked away? Any lingering thoughts like, say, I sure would like to try that??”

“Oh yeah and that pack certainly looked mighty heavy!!”

“Cool trip report! Good luck to him, I hope he makes it. A 50lbs pack is insane for an AT thru hike--I bet a few weeks on the trail and it'll be down to 25-30lbs easy. I'm checkin' out the pics now.”

“What in the he11 did that boy have in that dang pack?
Buy him books, send him to school...... ;-)
50#, holy crap.
Thanks for the report and great pictures.
Did y'all sign the Southern Terminus Plaque register in the metal box within the side of the rock?
I had a rat nest fall on me while sleeping in the upper part of that shelter. I slept out where y'all did the next trip.
Hike On StormBringer!!!!”

“His boots look worn already.


Damn!


I'll have to change ma bet.....:)






He'll take care of it.”

“Nice, thanks for sharing.

Best of luck, SB.”

“What's his next stop?”

“Wonderful descrip and pix gforce!!! Will you be able to provide dialogue and pix for the remainder of his hike?? Seeing the top of Springer brings back so many memories and feelings! Dios Mio, why did I procreate?!!!!

Benton MaKaye approach eh? Ya missed the crashed Cessna on the left side of the trail a few miles back from Springer then. The weather looks fabulous. The shelter looks so barren from what I remember in '92.

I miss the rhodo and laurel! 50# ain't too crazy, at Neel's Gap he'll par that down better. Matter of fact, Raddy's in a great location. This time of year there and the miles south of there, some great gear and sometimes even whole packs with new gear are left for free from ppl who hike on to the Gap to go home.

Best of luck StormBringer, stick with it dude, you'll remember this for the rest of your life!”

“Luck to ya bro. And keep focused!
Hey Broape! Miss ya! Yo bear!”

“MAN, I want to do that!!! I wish him lots of good luck!!

He sure needs to lighten that load! He's got leather sandals and it looks like a stainless coffee mug!:(”

“thanks for putting that up gforce.


Hike on brother storm!”

“Thanks for the report Gary. I'm excited for him being able to live a dream! On of these days I'll be starting my own thru-hike!

Best of Luck Storm Bringer!!!!”

“Gforce, thanks for the nice pics and the update. 90% don't finish the thru-hike. Talk about pressure. I hope he makes it.

What weighed him down so much?”

“Good luck SB! Thanks Gforce for the pictures and update. :)”

“It took only the hike up to Springer on Saturday for Scott to realize he needed to drop some weight. He left some food, his sandals, and other small items when we got back to the car on Sunday, after which he said he felt much lighter. I dropped his bounce box off in Neels Gap on the way home where there is a well-stocked outfitter. I’m sure he’ll make more adjustments to what he carries there. It’s all about being comfortable with what you leave behind.

SS - Yup, we both signed the register . . . the caretaker insisted on it!

lizs – Did I want to continue on with Stormy? You bet! My original plan was to make an AT attempt this year, but that has been pushed back to 2006.

There is really much more to the story, like his new trail name, but I’m going to leave all that for Stormbringer to tell.”

“Thanks for the pics and report Gforce. Stormbringer's the envy of many here, including myself. Someday......

I hope he completes it and does so comfortably.”

“man, what a man....you go boi!”

“Nice pics Gforce! You coming this weekend down to Hoosier?”

“and when its not...may your heart be strong...Hike on Scott!!!”

“Starting today, I'm going to retire my use of 2poops, and 2scoops.
I always used 2poops as a teaseing term. I only tease people I like and I feel I am friends with. I think StormBringer/Scott deserves to be treated with a little more respect during this hard adventure.

2scoops is dead! Long live StormBringer!”

“Best of luck, SB!!

Scott asked Mapes and I to receive and relate periodic trip reports for him, so I have instructions for entering his writings to trailjournals.com and I will place a copy here on TT. I could keep them on this particular thread, perhaps? I'm looking forward to hearing about how he is getting on and welcome the opportunity to post them to his friends here...”

“Treebeard if you could post them here that'd be awesome. Knowing somebody from here doing a thru on the AT is pretty kewl. After reading about him and Monster I've got the spring itchies purdy bad.

Yo Bear!! Git out dis way sometime. Weez doing a week in the South first of April. Naples, Pompeii, Solerno, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Ischia. Mebbe post a "trip" report, I hear the driving in Naples is pretty lawless.”

“Would be glad to, NA. I think putting them on this thread would make sense...”

“Best of luck to Stormbringer. It's sure to be an adventure.”

“awww, awesome pictures! this is exciting.”

“I wonder if he ran tinto that retarded guy ryet and hooked up some nights in the RV?”

“best of luck to you Scott.

This is really cool knowing that we have two TT'ers doing the AT. Hope they both make it.”

“Cool.”

“One of my good friends from college will be starting the AT on April 3rd. I just talked to her today - she' so excited, she can't wait to get started.

A couple of TTers have met her - we named her Minnie Sota, as she's from the state of a similar name. Maybe she'll meet Stormbringer along the way somewhere.”

“Wow. Good luck to Scott/SB. It didn't really sink in for me what he was starting until that last picture of him heading out onto the trail.

Good to see he's lightened his load already.”

“awesome.. good luck to the rat!”

“Too bad we don't have a complete gear list for him. Instead of betting on him failing like the other a-hole thread, we could bet on which items he'll send home.

I vote for the bearikade/bearvault!”

“i drove through the tunnels of i-40 from knoxville to hicory nc monday...i'm guessing the AT goes over one of the tunnels..and i pictured them walking above me...or along one of the ridges....i wish i could have thrown a snickers bar at them”

“OPIE - Acually, the AT goes under I-40 near the Waterville or Watertown NC exit on a local road, then up a set of steep steps out of sight.”

“damn i wish i had known you guys were still on springer sat. night...i was there also..i peeked at the register and saw his entry and i set up camp a little further from the rats nest that suffices as a shelter...where were yall camped??? i talked to one guy but he seemed a little out there...like maybe he had been on springer for awhile...and i also remember a green tent of some sort but i passed out early for an early start back...and HELL YES DID IT STORM!!!”

“hike on bro!”

“you did him good gforce.”

“Great stuff Gary!


8)”

“Shep - we were in a clearing to the northwest of the shelter . . . I'm assuming you were southeast? We had a fire going until the rain started. It was pretty cool watching the lightning get closer and closer.

That's probably Dirt Nap that you talked to. He started hiking in Key West and plans to go on to Canada if his funds hold out. He said that he had hiked/hitch-hiked a combination of 1100 miles so far . . . on the Florida Trail and some trail that runs through Alabama . . . can't remember the name of it.”

“yeah well dirtnap seemed a little off..i mean really...he kinda weirded me out...but yeah i went to the shelter and checked out the journal and then continued down the path that leads past the shelter...almost the last campsite i think...or close to anyway, me and two other tents that were 4 kids from indiana kinda hung out for a sec...”

“I didn't realize that StormBringer was planning to hike the AT! Cool! I tip my hat and wish him the best of luck!”

“lol buck you been under a rock for about 3 months or what???”

“pinhoti, yo!”

“shep - Dirt Nap had glasses and hair that hung down on/over his face to about his mouth. He seemed a little strange at first, but was really pretty cool.

Yo! raddy that's it!”

“yeah i know who he was....as soon as you mentioned that name i put it with that guy...he was the first person i talked to when i hit the open area or meadow whatever they call it...he just kept talking about roam around or something though..”

“You mean there's hiking east of the Mississippi? lol. Seriously, God speed to you, Stormbringer, wherever you are! May the force be with you.”

“What was the link to his website again?”

“Stormy....good luck on the trail ...and may trail magic find you when you need it the most!!!!

G....thanks for the post and the pics....”