Georgia Toward Maine, starting from Amicalola Falls, GA

**Roundtrip Raven** · 09-18-2016, 23:01

First backpacking trip in Georgia, and of course, I had to start with the AT. Unfortunately, I did not make it to Maine this time. Maybe next time

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As for this weekend, the 175 + 425 steps up the stairs to the falls were a killer, even with a lightweight pack. I hiked in a few miles on the Approach Trail and pulled over for the first night. There was an animal that made a door creaking sound the whole night - sometimes a long creaking sound, and other times bursts of short creaking sounds. It was both creepy and annoying. The forecast was dry skies for Friday and Saturday night; however, the first night was windy and the morning was foggy. My 20* UQ and Costco throw with a tarp was more than plenty

I pushed on to Springer Mountain with a lunch break at Black Gap Shelter. The shelter, privy, and a log book were so cool! First time I've seen them. But based on the entries, I don't think I would sleep in one with several comments on the persistent shelter mice. I would sleep in my hammock each night unless it was crazy storming, or required like the Smokies.

I was hoping to refill water at Springer Summit or Black Gap, but the rivers were DRY!! Luckily there was a race nearby with extra water and I stopped by Hike Inn. I was going to stay one more night up there, but I wanted to see how far I could walk before sundown. I ended back at the Visitor Center :P I stayed at the shelter nearby. It was much warmer down there, I had to push away my UQ and my TQ to the side.

Here's a quick 1-minute video of the second day. I forgot to turn it back on after a break (like always), so the distance tracked is not accurate.

**Rain Man** · 09-19-2016, 08:29

Ahhh... the memories! So, how did you do the animated course tracking on the video? I'd love to do that for my hike presentations to groups, which I do after my own AT section hikes. But am not familiar enough with video editing/creating.

**Roundtrip Raven** · 09-19-2016, 08:53

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Ahhh... the memories! So, how did you do the animated course tracking on the video? I'd love to do that for my hike presentations to groups, which I do after my own AT section hikes. But am not familiar enough with video editing/creating.

There was very little editing. Suunto, the brand that makes my GPS watch, takes my tracked data and creates a tiny movie. The tracked data is recorded on my watch while I'm on the trail; it includes distance, altitude, speed, temperature, and a few others.

All I did when I came home was upload the data, added a few pictures, and clicked Create Movie. Suunto has a long way to go on editing features.

At the top of my list, I would like the ability to edit the location name in the video (it just said United States), to fix gaps where I didn't record my hike, and to fix numbers such as my altitude. As you saw my highest point was 3500 at Springer Summit when it should have been in 3700. The discrepancy was a result of my own actions: 1) I didn't calibrate the altitude at Amicalola Visitor Center and 2) I chose the weaker GPS option so that it could track for longer hours but with less accuracy.

**Nodust** · 09-19-2016, 10:14

Cool sounds of the night is one of my favorite things about backpacking. Love hearing them.

Did you check the spring at Springer Shelter? I thought that was a year round but maybe not. That water was delicious in May.

**Dead Man** · 09-19-2016, 11:54

Originally Posted by ccchans

There was very little editing. Suunto, the brand that makes my GPS watch, takes my tracked data and creates a tiny movie. The tracked data is recorded on my watch while I'm on the trail; it includes distance, altitude, speed, temperature, and a few others.

All I did when I came home was upload the data, added a few pictures, and clicked Create Movie. Suunto has a long way to go on editing features.

At the top of my list, I would like the ability to edit the location name in the video (it just said United States), to fix gaps where I didn't record my hike, and to fix numbers such as my altitude. As you saw my highest point was 3500 at Springer Summit when it should have been in 3700. The discrepancy was a result of my own actions: 1) I didn't calibrate the altitude at Amicalola Visitor Center and 2) I chose the weaker GPS option so that it could track for longer hours but with less accuracy.

That is quite interesting. May we know the watch specifics? I wonder if that "movie" could be uploaded into another editing program and used in parts to set up another video? Very interesting stuff.

**Roundtrip Raven** · 09-19-2016, 12:15

Originally Posted by Nodust

Cool sounds of the night is one of my favorite things about backpacking. Love hearing them.

Did you check the spring at Springer Shelter? I thought that was a year round but maybe not. That water was delicious in May.

I did. The one a few feet past the starting point to the AT right? That was dry as well.

IMG_20160917_135113.jpg IMG_20160917_135141.jpg IMG_20160917_135459.jpg

**Roundtrip Raven** · 09-19-2016, 13:27

Originally Posted by DaddyDaddy

That is quite interesting. May we know the watch specifics? I wonder if that "movie" could be uploaded into another editing program and used in parts to set up another video? Very interesting stuff.

I'm sure you can. I just don't have the software to do so. The watch is the Suunto Traverse. It is their outdoor watch that focuses on navigation and less on multi-sports (running, biking swimming) like the Suunto Ambit series. In general the watch has the aforementioned tracking, route planning, altitutde, barometer, compass, temperature, stopwatch, timer, and step counter.

**Dead Man** · 09-19-2016, 15:21

Originally Posted by ccchans

I'm sure you can. I just don't have the software to do so. The watch is the Suunto Traverse. It is their outdoor watch that focuses on navigation and less on multi-sports (running, biking swimming) like the Suunto Ambit series. In general the watch has the aforementioned tracking, route planning, altitutde, barometer, compass, temperature, stopwatch, timer, and step counter.

Holy snikey, that is really trick but the price. Maybe I'll put that on the wish list for the wife...for when she wins the lottery....maybe.

**TiedUp** · 09-19-2016, 16:53

I was there this weekend too. The trick is ask everyone you see about the water situation. We ran into some folks who were suffering from thirst. I was hot each night...way too hot weather. Did you see Karl Meltzer? He finished there at Springer Saturday night/Sunday morning. We saw him 18 miles from there, i guess it took him another 6 or 8 hours to reach Springer.

**Roundtrip Raven** · 09-19-2016, 22:05

Originally Posted by TiedUp

I was there this weekend too. The trick is ask everyone you see about the water situation. We ran into some folks who were suffering from thirst. I was hot each night...way too hot weather. Did you see Karl Meltzer? He finished there at Springer Saturday night/Sunday morning. We saw him 18 miles from there, i guess it took him another 6 or 8 hours to reach Springer.

Not sure who Karl is. Was he the one with the Arc Zip? I was already back at Amicalola Falls by Saturday night/Sunday morning.