Time Outdoors

After spending some more time in the visitor center with the wonderful staff we drove the Forest Service road to about a mile from the beginning of the Appalachian Trail, where dad and my uncle were going to walk with me 0.9 miles to the Springer Mt., the beginning of the A.T.

On the trail we met itrod and sleeps-alot. On the trail most people have trailnames or nicknames they go by. I am not sure how this started, but it is very common on the trail. So anyway, I was hiking to the summit of Springer with my uncle Ronnie "Sod Cutter" Downs and James "Snores Alot" Downs. We reach the summit and spend a little time talking to sleepsalot, who spends a week at a time on Springer working for the park service making sure everyone is ok and checked in. This section had ice and snow so you really had to watch your footing. There was also someone staying at the shelter that called a shuttle to take them to town to buy more winter gear. It was ten deg last night with strong wind gust.