Day 2 Thursday

Our fellow campers were reasonably subdued by fog this morning. We were still figuring out our morning routine but wanted to get going. At first this didn’t happen quick enough, but we eventually set off by 10am. Some way up the summit we meet a fellow hiker from New York who walks with feet-like shoes and is attempting to improve his previous time on the Appalachian. He walks at an impressive pace. By 10:45 we were on top of Springer Mountain (3782 feet): the beginning of the Appalachian Trail and of our first official section of about 50 km. The plaque describes the route as a footpath for “those who seek fellowship with the wilderness”. We chose some tentative trail names to accompany our entries into the trail register: Kobus felt an affinity for “Silver” and as his trail buddy I became “Gold”. (Maybe all those flecks of Mica on the trail?😄) A brief but important interlude: I eventually came to the conclusion that it was a good idea since it reminded me of the old song “Silver and Gold” based on what Peter said in the Book of Acts 3: 6 when He commanded a lame beggar to walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The man who was lame from birth was healed by Jesus and his ankles and feet became strong. He went with Peter and John into the temple courts “walking and jumping, and praising God”. It is our prayer that even now on this journey we may have the privilege of being vehicles of the love of God Who “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103: 3-5) Back to the trail: The descent from Springer leads to a parking lot with some important information on hiker safety. Some distance from the trail the vegetation became lush and green with several streams and wooden bridges. We were surprised to meet a fellow South African, Jurgen, from Bloemfontein, who plans to through hike. During lunch time at Stover Creek Shelter we meet more hikers: a couple with a proper bear canister as well as “Little Foot” and her mother “Little Bit”, who seem to be well prepared and informed about the route. After lunch we took a break at the beautiful Three Forks Creek and filled up our Camelbaks and took a photo with Jurgen at Long Creek Falls. After a rather steep ascent where we passed a few hikers we met earlier, we eventually camp out at the new Hawk Mountain Camping on the advice of Gus, a ridge runner sitting at a trail intersection. It’s situated about 20 minutes walk from Hawk Mountain Shelter but also has a privy and access to water. The camp site we chose is quite small, but some others closer to the stream are bigger with firepits. It started raining soon after we began our supper preparation and we have a hasty supper before zipping our sleeping bags together in an effort to get warm.

Day 1 Wednesday

We were a bit apprehensive about our first day: the entire contents of our backpacks were still on the floor: including my crazy bulky medi-kit and all the food we only managed to buy in bulk from Krogers. We woke up late after rolling around too much last night and suspected we were late for our last comprehensive breakfast for the next week. We still needed to shake down our packs and organize transport to the Amicalola Falls State Park. The weather looked cloudy and it was cold. To top it up 25 mm of rain was forecasted for the evening.

We were just in time for the last bacon and eggs and eventually lugged our backpacks to reception. So much for the planned optimized packing: the medi-kit was still alive and well in all its bulky glory. What we left behind: my green shirt from antiquity, Kobus’s roll-on from the business class flight and my tattered copy of Dr Zhivago (don’t know why I fail so miserably with Russian novels: on one previous flight to the US I managed to fall asleep like clock work every one or two pages into War and Peace: with Dr Zhivago I at least to read 35 pages).

After Kobus found out that the taxi fare was around $80 the manager, Shelby, offered to give us a lift: she didn’t think the driver had to overcharge us just because we had an accent. Off we went and soon we were listening to some old tunes and learning about the Dogwood with their white four petal flowers which blossom around Easter and the self explanatory Red bud trees. She pointed out the Wisteria covering a patch of trees in lilac splendor.

We signed in at the Amicalola Visitor Centre and walked out the back door through the arch at 1pm: meeting our first fellow hiker, Tim, who hiked all the way from Atlanta since 5’o clock that morning and had 21 days on the trail. We haven’t seen him since. First highlight and a pretty spectacular one: the Amicalola Falls. Apparently the name is one of the last remnants of the Cherokee that once lived here. Just past the falls a young girl showed us a picture of a black bear she had taken on a neighbouring hill earlier that day. We had lunch at the top of the falls and proceeded on the quite scenic hike to Black Gap Shelter.

Eventually the flow of people tethered out along the route. The variation in vegetation became less: we saw some young Trillion plants with their purple centres and spotted leaves and some May Apples which reminded me of young papaya plants. Mostly the woods still looked wintry and grey with a carpet of decaying leaves and some mushrooms.

We met a trail maintainer who advised us to always step over the log steps and not on top of them. One of my highlights of the day: he thinks we’re from Alabama! This after neither the shop assistant in REI nor the Haitian Uber driver could understand what I was saying yesterday.

Passing a few other fellow AT and day hikers we arrived at our first shelter. The shelter consists of a wooden room with 3 walls and a wooden picnic bench. The first hikers to arrive usually stake out their claim on the platform. A standard shelter is also equipped with a wooden privy discreetly located some distance from the shelter and camping spots for a reason. Although one has the luxury of a toilet seat the remains of the day and days past greet you head on when you lift the seat cover. Apparently the trail management is testing a bacterial waste management method beneath the platform. All human waste beneath the wooden toilet platform is only separated from suspecting and unsuspecting hikers by chicken wire. Futhermore, the brave and nervous user must hail incoming traffic with a prominent display of foot and anklework through the gap beneath the wooden wall: otherwise a rather disconcerting meeting might place and distract from very urgent and challenging ventures. Apart from the biofriendly ablution block, trail management has also provided bear cables as a reminder of the all too real possibility of a black bear encounter. Every evening just before dusk several dry bags are hoisted up in the air and out of reach of hungry bears. No food or waste should be left in tents.

Our first night presented the challenge of figuring out how to erect the MSR tent and applying its rain cover. The cover proved to be the most complicated. Kobus also had to make his way halfway down the mountain to get some water for supper. After wolfing down some smash and mini turkey salami sausages with bolognaise sauce and tea, we settled down for a rainy night with thunder in the shadow of Springer Mountain. It’s not a good idea to pitch your tent next to a tree during thunder storms, but seeing as this is in a forest, it’s also impossible not to do it. Our first night’s sleep was interrupted by many lightning strikes, but we were exited to finally be in the woods.

Helderberg mountain is almost literally in our backyard. We’ve hiked up the mountain many times - but this would be the first time we would walk (and sometimes climb) up the mountain with our fully loaded backpacks. Once again the weekend was upon us too quickly and we could not book a trail in one of the more remote nature reserves, nor did we feel up to driving several hours before starting a trail. In the end we really enjoyed it and promised ourselves to do this more often.

The wikipedia page is a bit uninspiring and neither is the “friends” website, but at least it is informative. It’s a pity, because for me the Helderberg beats Table mountain in many ways.

The first 3km or so is on a steep jeep track but quite manageable. As you get closer to the dome though all hands and feet are required (especially with the big heavy backpacks).

Soon you are rewarded with breathtaking sea and mountain views.

We prepared hearty meal of bolognaise sauce and sausages…

and as evening came listened to the birds and looked down on the clouds coming in…

it was absolutely spectacular!

The next morning we walked down through the clouds…

…until eventually civilization started peeking through.

Looking back at the mountain, all fresh after a bit of evening rain.

We feel really priviledged to live in such a beautiful part of a beautiful country!