Easy, easy day. Walked five miles and am in by 12:30 at Hawk Mountain shelter. My memory of this section from 2002 are not nearly as gentle. Maybe because we walked a longer day that year and Maggie's knees began hurting. Today started off cool with some clouds by mid-morning the sky cleared and it's been sunny and breezy ever since. Lots of company at Hawk Mountain today: the two women I met last night at Stover Creek are here along with two retired Green Berets and a couple of young section hikers from Atlanta. Another eight or ten hikers stopped in before continuing on. I'm sure others will pull in before nightfall. I'm camped much closer to the shelter tonight than last night so I expect the evening to be highly social. That's been pretty much I've been doing for the past three hours.
Being back on the AT is exciting. So many memories come back to me here: meeting Kutsa, Sylvain and Medicine Man playing chess on a homemade board, sleeping with Maggie on the upper deck. The trail looks vaguely familiar and some places I recognize--Long Creek Falls in particular and some of the road crossings. Walking today was easy, covered five miles in just over three hours. I was in no hurry. Saw a few Blackhawk helicopters flying around and heard artillery from the Army base at Dahlonega.
The early morning woods were suffused with light reflecting off rhododendron leaves. Buds are forming and some greenery is starting to push through the forest duff. It's spring. I'm on the trail and all things seem possible.
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