Day 2 - Friday 2nd April, 2010 - Mt Springer to Hawke Mt Shelter

We are hiking by 9.00am, and it is only half an hour to a road and the carpark, where people who decide not to climb Amicolola Falls, unload from their cars. We meet a group of 10 hikers who have left their packs with the car and are rushing back up the trail to Mt Springer to tag it for the start of their journey. 'Mountain Squid' is in the car park, counting through hikers, offering bug spray and drinks. A labrador who climbed Mt Springer from Amicolola Falls is here waiting for a ride out. His owner - a stupid woman - had given him  a really hard day of hiking, and  he lies down 400 metres from the summit and refuses to go on.We hear later that the dog was so stuffed that he even refuses to walk over to the van which has come to collect him and his owner.

We interact with quite a few hikers on the trail, many wearing day packs. We meet one hiker with a small dog in a halter visiting a waterfall. 'I intend to visit all 33 waterfalls in Georgia with my dog, and take a photo of her at each one.' Everyone has their own challenge.

We arrive at Hawke Mountain Shelter at 2pm and have a lovely afternoon napping in the sun, a deserted shelter and nobody around.  We  have walked enough for the day.

Later in the afternoon I go back up to the shelter to socialise  with the other hikers and crash over the table, narrowly missing it when my shoelaces get tangled and hobble me.What a grand entrance. Four months later, one these hikers meets up with us again and reminds me of my spectacular fall. I remember the fall, but I dont remember the hiker. We meet Chris, another Australian who has just retired from Hewlett Packard - he is walking with no mobile phone and no maps, trying to escape technology. We enjoy his company.

There are about 30 people at the campsite. The privy reminds of the toilets on the Kilimanjaro climb - disgusting with shit overflowing the pan. With the peak of through hikers coming through in April I am surprised that nothing has been done to deal with the situation. I crap in the bush.