110 miles down

It's been a while since the day 1 post, and a lot has happened in the last 14 days! I've made it through Georgia and into North Carolina, walked past the 100 mile mark, survived my first cold snowy trail night, rescued a stray dog, and all with the same awesome bunch of hiker friends. 

The guys hiking up ahead.

Our merry band of solo hikers. Doc, Me (Patches), Yosamitie, Stichez, and Scavenger. Doc is from MD and when he finishes the trail he's going to grad school to get a PhD in immunology. Yosamitie is from RI and does theater tech. Stichez is ex-military and now is behind us because of knee problems, but hopefully we'll see him soon. Scavenger is from KY, 19, and a free spirit. We're also hiking with The Count, a fellow Illinoisan.

Trail magic in Woody Gap, GA. This is Barb and Jim. They drove all the way up from Atlanta to feed us hungry hikers with homemade brownies, sodas, fruit, and donuts!

My home for the next 6 months. This Big Agnes Fly Creek Ultralight tent weighs only 2 pounds!!

We hiked up and over Blood Mountain, the tallest peak in Gerogia. Here's the Count, and the amazing view.

On our 4th day we made it to Neel Gap, the 31 mile mark and the first stop for resupplying and showering. We all crammed into this cabin for a good nights sleep in a real bed. The cabins were all named after woodland creatures, and we were in the Beaver cabin. Each cabin also comes with a horrifically bad taxidermied creature corresponding with the name. This is Beatrice, the 54 lb roadkill beaver from Iowa:

Week 2:

When we got to Unicoi Gap in GA, we were greeted with our second dose of trail magic. Hot dogs, burgers, pizza, salad, coffee, donuts, phone charging, and great company from past thruhikers who wanted to help out this year's class of hikers.

Climbing out of Unicoi Gap, the weather started to get progressively chillier. By the time we made it to camp, it was snowing and the temperature dropped down into the 10s. Needless to say, we had a rough night. 

After our cold cold night, we hiked 10 miles to get to Dicks Creek Gap, where we got a ride into Hiawassee, GA. We crammed the 5 of us (me, Yosamitie, Doc, Scavenger, and the Count) into a huge Holiday Inn Express hotel room. Laundry, showers, free breakfast! All for $24 per person. Once we were settled in we went over to Daniel's Diner. All you can eat souther cooking goodness.

After our rest in Hiawassee, we were feeling great. We got dropped off back at Dicks Creek Gap at 2:30, hiked 6 miles, stopped for rest and food, then hiked 4 more miles by moonlight over the GA/NC border. It was gorgeous. No headlamp necessary!

With one state down, 13 to go, we were in high spirits. We hiked to Standing Indian Shelter the next day, and got to sleep early because we had a great plan for the next day. We awoke at 5:30, and hiked up Standing Indian Mountain in the dark, reaching the summit just in time for the sunrise to the east and the moonset to the west.

It was a big day of hiking, our biggest yet. 16 miles! And on the way we met Katahdin (we named him), a stray dog who'd been abandoned by his owner. He was really skinny and really hungry. We fed him all our extra food, and we became his best friends! Katahdin followed us for 5 miles that day, stayed the night with us at Long Branch Shelter, then hiked 7.3 miles with us the next day. We wanted to help him out, so we made a makeshift leash for him and brought him into Franklin, NC, our next resupply spot. He's now in the care of the Macon County Humane Society. It sure was hard to say goodbye.

Yosamitie and Katahdin

On top of Albert Mountain fire tower, the 100 mile mark!

Franklin, NC:

 After we dropped Katahdin off, we stuffed ourselves at the Motor Co. Diner, then bummed around the town for the rest of the day. 

Yosamitie and Scavenger cuddling in our cozy motel room.

Franklin is a designated AT Community, which means the town is incredibly hiker friendly. We got discounts at most places, but the best treat was the free breakfast at the First Baptist Church. Every day for three weeks during peak hiker season, the amazing volunteers at the church cook pancakes and bacon for thruhikers. The kindness people show to the trail never ceases to amaze me!

We got into Franklin on Friday, and took the entire day off Saturday. Our first "zero day" to really rest the legs and get some fresh food in our stomachs. We saw the whole town, visited the coffee shop, the book store, the outfitter, and the Lazy Hiker brewery. It was a bunch of fun, and now we're ready to get going north!

Me and Katahdin :)

Day 1

Jackie, Aunt Christine, and Slip drove me to the start of the AT in the morning. That involved going up a mildly treacherous forest road to drop me at the Springer Mountain parking lot. We were all glad we had the Jeep...

The lot is actually north of Springer and the southern terminus of the trail. So I walked .9 miles south to get to the start, only to turn around and walk back to the lot. Jax, Aunt Christine, and Slip were kind enough to walk the first ~.2 miles with me, and then we had to say goodbye. They had a 12.5 hour car trip ahead so understandably needed to leave me to fend for myself. 

I hiked the rest of the way south to Springer. It was gorgeous, even with the overcast weather. I took it all in. So it's official. I've set foot at the trail's starting point and now it's only north from here.

I spent most of the day hiking alone, leapfrogging with the same people, our hiking paces out of sync. That was fine with me as I got used to the rhythm of hiking with a 30 lb pack again. It was a lovely, slightly muddy hike.  I even took a side trail break to see Long Creek Falls.

After seeing the falls, I was taking a break and a big group stopped to chat - Phillip, Doc, Stitches, Sam, and Okee were all solo hikers who had linked up the day before on the 9 mile approach trail to Springer, though you'd have guessed they were friends for years. They were all so friendly and chatty, and I ended up hiking the rest of the day into camp with them.

We stayed at Hawk Mountain campground, newly built by GATC. Okee, the only other lady in the group, and I shared a tent pad and cooked dinner in the rain. It had held off until around 5, but got us right while we were cooking. Just trying to stay as dry as possible. It'll be an early morning to take advantage of the beautiful weather forecasted for tomorrow

The Cousins went down to Georgia

Jackie and I hit the road Friday, driving from West Chester, PA down to Roanoke, VA. We rested up at an Extended Stay America after eating pasta from Olive Garden for dinner (truly embracing the benefits of proximity to the airport and enjoying the "food of the region"). After a bright and early 5:30am wake-up, we again hit the road on Saturday en route to our final destination, Ellijay, GA.

On the way to Ellijay, we popped in to Mountain Crossings Outfitters, which sits on the trail about 40 miles north of Springer. I needed to drop off a box of food to replenish my stock once I complete those first 40 miles. While we were there, I serendipitously ran into my boss from ridgerunning. Jim is hiking Springer to Hiawassee with a friend. We'd talked about meeting up, but I never guessed it would happen there. He shared some of his Georgia AT expertise, and some words of encouragement. Oh, and I'm not allowed to quit. Jim and I shook on it.

Once Jackie and I got to Ellijay, we collected our cabin keys and drove up the steeply graded, one lane mountain road to find this incredible place. Jackie booked the cabin on airb&b and it was wonderful. Incredible view, hot tub, big deck, and of course, dog friendly for Slip. And the best part was that on Sunday, Aunt Christine flew in for girls night, to be a part of the send off, and to help Jackie with the long drive back to Pennsylvania. It's been a lovely 3 days of driving through the mountains, movie watching, pack packing, dog walking, and deck lounging. What a way to spend these days leading up to the hike!

Foood!

The preparation process now includes my groceries. Granola, dried fruit, pasta, couscous, bagels, cheese, veggies, and more!

All that food fits into this:

My Bear Vault is packed to the brim with food for 4.5 days. Sorry bears, you can't open that thing unless you have opposable thumbs! And even if you do, it's kind of a challenge...

The Countdown Begins

Yesterday, I received my official hiker registration tag from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.  I'll hang this on my backpack, identifying me as a hiker attempting to complete a thru-hike.  

It's getting more and more real. In less than a week, I will be in Georgia, starting this crazy adventure. But first, I have some serious packing to do...