From: Springer Mountain shelter
To: Gooch Mountain shelter
Mileage: 15.5
Weather: Cool to warm, sunny and humid
Got a fairly late start after 8am, since sunrise is now after 7:30am. I left an entry in the shelter register with a shout out to Production, Glider and Seabiscuit if they should stop here as they hike south.
I also checked the register and left a passing thru entry at Stover Creek shelter 2.6 miles further north.
A couple of section hikers from Tallahassee overtook me at the Hickory Flats Cemetery intersection. Barry is an experienced hiker who is taking Scott out on for three days on his first backpacking trip, from Springer to Neel Gap. We swapped places a few times and all took lunch at Hawk Mountain shelter. I found an entry on 03 September from my old friend Wildfire, whom I last saw at Hikers Welcome hostel in New Hampshire. He was finishing his thru hike after flip-flopping southbound from Virginia. He must have been moving quickly!
I left the guys behind at the shelter and went over Sassafras Mountain, then had a chat with the trail maintainer at Cooper Gap just finishing work on water bars at Justus Mountain. He reported a black bear in a tree nearby, but I did not see it if it was still in the area.
I made it to Gooch Mountain shelter a short while before Barry and Scott, long enough to get water from the nearby piped spring and start washing up. There were several others hammocking nearby, but we had the shelter to ourselves. Again, happy to see a bear box installed at all of the shelters. There are cables to hang bear bags, too, but the bears have apparently figured out how to shake the bags loose so the boxes are replacing them.
I hoped to make Blood Mountain shelter tomorrow, but Barry noted it was an original shelter (1934) and had lots of mice. He was planning to stop at the newer Woods Hole shelter a mile before Blood Mountain, so I am considering that.
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