I am amazed at how quickly you become close friends with those you meet! Our tramily (trail family) is already well on its way to being established! I am so thankful for my tramily and the trail angels we have met along the way!! It makes you feel so blessed!
Day 1: Sarena & I flew into Atlanta Saturday night and stayed with Sheree Waldbeser and her family. Then Brian Moser picked us up Sunday morning and drove us to Amicalola State Park, where the approach trail starts. Upon arriving, I registered and we sat through an orientation type class with different information about thru hiking. We didn’t start the approach trail until around 1:30. It was raining off and on throughout the day...and cold. We hiked 7 miles before pulling off st a shelter. I tried to set up my hammock, but it was extremely windy, cold, and rainy....and I couldn’t really concentrate or move my fingers. I gave up and joined some guys in the shelter. Which turned out great because I got to meet the guys, witness a fuel can basically explode.....and commiserate with them in the cold.
Start of the Approach Trail
Amicalola Falls
Day 2: Throughout the night the temperatures kept dropping and it started snowing. All of us were freezing all night and none of us got much of any sleep. We had hung up our wet clothes the night before to try and dry them a bit....in the morning, they were frozen solid! It really was just plain miserable! Imagine pulling on frozen, wet socks and sticking them in frozen shoes....❄️😭 Thankfully my toes warmed up some after hiking awhile...as did the rest of my body. We hiked the last 2 miles of the approach trail and officially started the AT...and started back at 0 miles. Then around lunch we stopped to filter water. Having you hands in ice cold water...did not help. It was brutal! You feel like you will never be warm! We kept telling ourselves that one day, in the middle of summer, we will wish it to be cold...
Sarena ended up taking a shuttle into town after lunch to thaw and dry out for the night. I hiked with Charzard the rest of the day and meet up with Jake & Hunter at the Hawk Mountain Shelter. In total we had hiked around 10 miles! I was really glad to be with the guys. That evening they came and sat around my hammock and talked. Which was really nice, because without Sarena there and it being another really cold night, I was starting to feel really overwhelmed. That night was another brutally cold night...I again didn’t get much sleep and all night I just kept wishing it was morning, so I could get up and hike. Because I knew that I would atleast be warm while hiking!
Springer Mountain terminus (the official start of the AT)
The sun came out in the afternoon and we were able to shed a few layers!
Jake, Charzard, Hunter, me, and Caboose at Springer Mountain
All of us an hour before...not wanting to get out of our bags.
Day 3: Was a BEATUIFUL day!!! Especially after the first two days! Charzard and I set out hiking around 9, climbed Sassafrass Mountain, and reached 4 miles by 11. Sarena had brought some candy and coffee and left it at the gap for us to enjoy and then she had started hiking on. We meet up with her at Gooch Gap around 12:30 having already done 8 miles, but it was way to easy to quit and such a beautiful day, that we pushed on another 8 miles to Lance Creek!! There we met up eight the gang again and spent the night. Again, not much sleep. If your wondering why I can’t sleep...here’s a glimpse into what’s going on. First, it’s cold...my sleeping pad will skip out from under me and suddenly I am freezing again. My toes, even in smartwool socks are endlessly cold. Every sound (in my head) is a bear....even the snoring of other hikers sounds like a bear snorting around. I am constantly wondering if I put everything with a scent in my bear bag...or if I accidentally left that one candy wrapper in my backpack. And I am picturing bears coming from all directions, somehow getting into our food bags, and devouring all my delicious & nutritious food...except the Rice-a-Roni ....they can have that...🤢
Filtering water
Day 4: We hiked 7 miles into Neels Gap, where we ate pizza and resupplies on a couple things. I bought a sleeping bag liner....since my 25 degree bag was not cutting it. Then 5 of us went in on a cabin together and got hot showers and warm beds! It was a blast!! We played Mexican Train, cooked up some eggs/bacon/biscuits for supper, talked, and laughed a ton. Everything gets funnier on the trail! The super cool thing though was as we were talking, we realized that all 5 of us were Christians!
Neel's Gap has a tree full of shoes. By this point 20% of thru-hikers quit and throw their shoes up in the tree.
Day 5: We received our first Trail Magic! We came off the mountain into a gap and there were a couple guys with a table set up full of snacks, chips, coffee, hot chocolate, and pop. They also were giving away hats that different people had made. They worked really nicely!:) We then hiked on to Low Gap Shelter. I actually got more sleep simply because I was actually warm with the liner!
Joe Dirt, Charzard, Sarena, & I
Settling into the shelter for the night!
Day 6: We put in a 14 mile day! John (Peanut) met up with us at Unicoi Gap, after he had taken a zero day for his knee. He showed up with 3 pizzas...which were pretty quickly devoured.:) From there we hiked a few more miles to Cheese Factory Campsite. Since there were no bear cables or bear boxes, I got my first experience of actually having to hang my own bag! It took only 4 attempts and was still hanging in the morning...so I’ll call it a success.:)
Attempting to hitch hike....
Day 7: We decided to go for a 13 mile day so that we could reach Dicks Creek and head into town to resupply & take a zero day. As it turns out, it was probably my hardest day. I’m my opinion, it was harder than Blood Mountain or Trey. Mostly because there were no switchbacks and it was just straight up for a long ways...and then down hill forever! And to be honest, the down hills are so much worse because of how hard it is on the knees! I was dreaming of fresh fruit and veggies for most of the way down and when we FINALLY reached the gap, there was a trail angel with lots of fresh fruit, veggies, hummus, meat, etc....the entire tailgate of her truck was full! We then hitched a ride into town...all 6 of us and our packs...smashed into the back end of a SUV. Ate supper at a buffet, showered up, and headed to DQ for some ice cream.:)
The sad thing about cold soaking...is that I don't get my hot coffee. So it is was a real treat when Peanut made me some!!
Trail Magic!
It's hard to really capture the steep reality of the mountain...but here is a glimpse.
More Trail Magic!!
Joe Dirt, Charzard, me, and Caboose
Me, Peanut, Caboose, Charzard, & Joe Dirt
This was clearly at the beginning of the day...not after our 13 miles...
Day 8: (Today) Since we were taking a zero day today, we found a church near the hotel and decided to go there for services. We attended in our hiker best (atleast we washed our clothes the night before...) It was a really good service and the people were very welcoming and friendly!! They also happened to be having a chili lunch after the service to raise money for a summer camp. One of the pastors invited us and paid our meal tickets!! The food was delicious and it was so amazing to meet many great people!! After church, Sarena’s parents arrived and I hung out with them the rest of the day. It’s sad to think that Sarena’s leaving the trail.:( I am really going to miss having her with me!!
Charzard, Peanut, Joe Dirt, Caboose, & I at the Southern Baptist Church
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