Yes, I am back home! My goal was to be on the AT for a month (longer if I felt like it, but I knew that I really didn't want to be away from home longer than that) and I missed my goal by about 3 weeks. Yes, folks, only one week on the trail. I left my trail journal at our other place, so I will go by memory on what transpired.
Day 1, arrival at Hiker Hostel
Holy cow I was smoked! My flight arrived very early and I had only had about 1 hour of sleep on the flight, better than nothing I guess. I picked my suitcase up at baggage claim and decided that my first business would be to head over to REI (Hiker Hostel provided directions) and pick up a fuel canister. I got on the MARTA (Atlanta subway) and got off on the stop where the REI was. Let me tell you, dragging a bulky suitcase down the road was a PIA, but I managed.
Of course, the REI was closed that early so I proceeded further down the road to the Target which also had a grocery. I needed a lighter for my stove (backup) so off I went another block, which turned out to be further than that and as I had to pee very badly at this point, I was practically running! Made it to Target and they only sold large packets of lighters. One guy just gave me his, so that was my first trail magic!
Then I headed back to REI, still not open, and went to the cafe next door for more coffee and a bran muffin (you know, to help things along...) and an extra one for Infinity. Finally, REI opened and I got my fuel canister and headed back to train station to go up one more stop and wait for hostel to pick me up.
I arrived and there was Infinity, Lois, Shrub, and several other hikers waiting for pick up. I had a nice time chatting with everyone but dagnabbit, I was so exhausted and I had a long day ahead of me. The hostel showed up after a while and we were off.
Arrived at the hostel and was given a quick orientation and the guy showed us where our cargo cabin was (I was sharing with Infinity). So cute, I loved it! We settled in and then I headed over to the hostel to find something to do so I wouldn't fall asleep. I ended up watching Star Wars on the television downstairs.
Strolled around outside - the hostel is very beautiful, with woods surrounding it. It was chilly with heavy clouds, but patches of sunshine came through every once in a while. I could see the ridge of mountains we were to be walking starting the next day and I suddenly felt sad and lonely for Kate and that I didn't quite belong. It's like waking up, knowing something is wrong, and then realizing your arm is missing.
Ate one of my backpacker meals for dinner and then headed to bed. Evidently I snored and kept Infinity awake - oops! Like most people, if I end up on my back, I am going to snore. I always tell people to just tell me to roll over and magically the snoring will stop. I am sympathetic as I am a light sleeper myself and can't sleep if snoring is really loud, so I apologized to her and told her to next time we are in close quarters, let me know and I would roll over.
Day 2
Infinity was up at 5 a.m. so I got up as well (2 a.m. Cali time - yikes!). Made some very good coffee, checked emails, and then headed to hostel for breakfast. I stuffed a few more items into my box to be mailed home, hoping to lighten my pack a bit.
Breakfast was French toast, eggs, and orange juice (YUM!) and then we headed to shuttle. They loaded all our backpacks on top of the van and we were off. The road was twisty and windy, so I was glad to be sitting up front as I get carsick easily. Before we knew it, we were in the parking lot and I was shouldering my pack to head over to Springer Mountain.
Just for the record, my pack weighed 29 lbs, which is heavy for me. I like to keep it around 25, so more trimming was going to have to happen. My knees are not what they used to be so the less impact, the better.
The weather was beautiful, sunny, and warm, perfect hiking weather. We headed over to Springer and made it there fairly quickly (it was only a mile), took the obligatory photos, and then headed back to the parking lot to start the trail from there. I believe we hiked 9 miles that day, but I am guessing.
It was a pleasant hike that went fairly quick. One thing I noticed right off that bat is the amount of trash and t.p. there is along the trail - tons of it. I am not used to seeing this as the trails out west are fairly pristine. The other thing, which I was expecting, was the lack of views. The foliage is so thick there that you really do not get much of a view of everything. Again, I am spoiled, as the trails are wide open with gorgeous views back in California. This was going to take some getting used to and reminded me a lot of hiking in Maine.
We made it to the first shelter, Hawk Mountain I believe, and I set my tent up, relaxed a while and chatted with other hikers, made dinner, and then settled in to my tent to read and unwind. I was still very exhausted from the time change and lack of sleep. I also still had this feeling of "not belonging," and wishing Kate was there, i.e., homesickness. I figured I would eventually adjust and feel better and I was right.
I hung my food bag on the cables and then went to bed, sleeping actually quite well, and woke up early, it was still dark, and there was a thick fog.
Day 3
I knew Infinity was already up as I could hear her in her tent packing things up. I figured I'd best hurry up and eat breakfast and drink my coffee if I was going to try to keep up with her. I couldn't see anything in the fog, so I wandered in the general direction of the shelter where my food bag was hanging and I almost passed the shelter, but I saw the corner of it. Retrieved my bag and headed back, but headed in wrong direction (as I said, fog was THICK!). I realized my mistake and made my way back by listening to the sound of Infinity packing her stuff up.
Went in my tent and soon had a nice, hot cup of coffee and a delicious cherry frosted pop tart for breakfast. I love backpacking! Downed that as quickly as I could and then packed my gear up. Infinity was already packed and ready to go and chatting with hikers at the shelter.
My memory is not good, but I think we headed out together or perhaps she was a bit ahead, but either way, I ended up behind her and within about 15 or 20 minutes of hiking, it started raining. Got my pack cover out and put it on my pack (Osprey - 3 oz, and worked great!) and donned my rain jacket and proceeded. It rained off and on all morning and finally cleared up sometime early afternoon.
Came into the shelter, Gooch Mountain, which had a nice, covered eating area and a sleeping loft! Infinity was going to sleep in shelter and said it's better to sleep in shelter when there is rain, so I unrolled my bed in the loft. I laid my tent and a few other items out to dry and chatted with other hikes and eventually made my dinner. Honda Hawk and Bounder showed up (two nice elderly guys) and it was fun listening to their stories. Bounder slept on the other side of the loft and there was only two of us up there, so that was nice. Shrub, Mark, and Lois showed up as well and they all slept downstairs.
I read for a while and eventually put my earplugs in and went to sleep. Sometime in the morning it started pouring outside and the rain on the metal roof woke me up, but I eventually went back to sleep. I thought for sure mice would be crawling everywhere, but if there were, I didn't see or feel them (which was a relief as I am terrified of them). I wouldn't say I slept great, but not bad, just a lot of tossing and turning.
Day 4
Headed out early again to keep up with Infinity as she is an early riser/hiker. We were headed to a stealth hiker site before Blood Mountain that Infinity knew of, so I wanted to stay with her so as to not miss where we needed to go. I believe it rained off and on again that morning and it was pretty much uneventful hiking. About a mile before our campsite we got to a creek and a nice lady was hiking down from the opposite direction. It turns out she lives in the house near the stealth spot and Infinity had met her before. She had had a stroke a year ago and was recovering from it. Honestly, she looked great and she left us in the dust as we hiked to the spot. She asked that we keep the space clean and not build fires, which of course we respected her wishes. Evidently hikers the night before were not that respectful.
We arrived to the site and sure enough, there was a fire pit with trash in it. We got rid of the fire pit and then set our tents up. I knew we were expecting rain so I was careful to make sure my fly gave coverage, but allowed for air circulation. Eventually, Shrub, Mark, and Lois came along and got set up as well. It was great to see them and I loved chatting with them. Lois is one tough cookie, let me tell you! Her pack was heavy plus it rode on her shoulders, but she never, ever complained, just always had a smile on her face.
Infinity wanted us to get up early so we could get to Blood Mt Cabins and get one before they were all reserved. We went to bed fairly early and I had another somewhat fitful night of sleep, worrying about the incoming weather (weather forecast was grim - cold, windy, and rainy). The rain started early again, around 4 a.m. or so, with gusty winds.
Day 5
I woke up at 5 a.m. and started gathering my items when I discovered that water had leaked in my tent. There was a huge puddle under my mattress so I sopped up everything as best I could and rung out the items that got wet.
I was confused as to how so much water had leaked into my tent and figured I did something wrong when setting it up (but what, I had no idea!). I thought maybe I was just in a low spot and water somehow leaked in. Oh well, no time to worry, it was time to get moving!
Off we went, before it was even light. No time for coffee or breakfast for me, Infinity was on the move. It was very cold and windy, but the rain held off, but was mostly blowing off the trees, so it was almost like getting rained on. We hiked steadily uphill, but nothing too killer.
As we climbed, it got colder and there was snow mixed with rain. As I hike in trail runners, my feet are always at danger of getting cold so I was wearing my RAB vapor barrier socks to keep my feet dry and they worked great! I was also wearing fleece gloves with Mountain Laurel Design waterproof mittens on top. Infinity asked me if I had tried them out prior to coming here and I reminded her that it doesn't rain in California, which is true! I had not tested my tent or any of my gear in rain. I guess I could've run the sprinklers on it, but as we're in a drought, that's pretty wasteful. I suppose it was kind of dumb of me to not test them, but nevertheless, here I was and so far all was working as it should.
We made it to the top of Blood Mountain (not too difficult of a climb) and there was the beautiful stone shelter there. Stopped in for a few pictures and made a quick call to Kate and then headed out to keep up with Infinity. She said the way down Blood Mt was a bit tricky, so I didn't want to lose her. She was right - there was one turn I surely would've missed had I not been following her.
Her friend, Tom, a nice guy who shuttles hikers, made us a reservation at Blood Mt cabins, so we were all set! He was also going to pick up our group and take us into Blairsville for dinner and grocery shopping.
Anyway, on the hike off Blood Mt, my hands got very, very cold. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the temp had dropped, so I was very happy to finally see the outdoor center. There was a church group there grilling hamburgers and they offered us some, which I declined as I am a vegetarian, but Infinity took them up on their offer. I headed into the outdoor center to see if they had sandwiches or something, but they didn't have any vegetarian ones. Anyway, Infinity's friends Oops and Mary Poppins (they thru-hiked in 2014) were there and gave us donuts and strawberries and a ride down to our cabin, so thank you Oops and Mary Poppins for your kindness and generosity!
We checked in and headed to our cabin which had a bed in the loft that I claimed and a separate bedroom downstairs with Infinity claimed. Lois was to share with us and she, unfortunately, had the couch bed in the living room since she was arriving later. When she arrived, she was cheerful as always and didn't seem to mind. What a sweet lady!
I went up to the office and bought a frozen cheese pizza, cooked it, and promptly ate half of it. Related all evening, read my Kindle, and let my body recover. The next day was a zero day - yay!
I would like to add here that when I arrived at the cabin, I really wanted to go home at this point. I was homesick and my day had been very rough. However, after a hot shower, change of clean clothes, and a nice dinner, I was back on for more hiking with a more refreshed attitude.
Day 6
Rest day! I didn't do much today other than finish drying my sleeping bag, liner, mattress, tent, etc., all of which got sopping wet when my tent leaked, organized my gear, read my book, and relaxed. Met Susan up at the office, so it was great to finally meet her. Also met Catwalk and Bon Bon who came up with the great idea of us all getting together to have a spaghetti dinner that night. We invited Mark, Shrub, Honda Hawk and Bounder and the party was on! We ate tons of spaghetti and Honda Hawk brought Kit Kats for desert. It was a lovely evening with great folks.
Infinity wanted to leave at 6 a.m. the next morning as we had an over 11-mile day plus she wanted to get to the shelter, which only slept 7, first since it was going to rain that night. I got all my stuff ready to go for an early morning.
Day 7
Barely slept then got up at 5 a.m. so I could have coffee and pop tart before heading out. Accomplished all that then grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. Lois had a bit of trouble finding batteries for her headlamp - her headlamp had accidentally switched on and burnt out the batteries. I felt bad because she was trying to hurry as she felt she was holding us up, but I told her to relax, take her time in finding them, we're not in that big of a hurry. I mean, we're on vacation, right? She eventually found them and we headed out around 6:15 or so.
I had my new touch activated headlamp on and it worked great! It was dark and very cold outside, but the air was crisp and clean. The trail was all uphill for a while, so it was easy to stay warm. Eventually the sky turned red off to the east and it was so beautiful watching the sunrise! I am not much of an early riser, but that was a nice treat. We went up and downhills for quite some time and even got a lovely view from a slab on the far side of one of the mountains we went over.
Made it to Tenatsee (sp?) gap and there was so much trash there! Looked like trail angels left boxes of goodies, but hikers just threw their trash everywhere. Anyway, there was a very steep climb out of there, but I didn't mind it and then back down a hill (kind of a recurring them on the AT) and more of the same all the way to our shelter for the night, Low Gap.
We were the first ones to claim spaces in the shelter (of course) and we relaxed and chatted with many hikers who came, made a meal, and then headed on. Our plan was to hike for I believe 3 more days and then stay at the Top of Georgia Hostel, where I had a bounce box waiting.
It was a nice afternoon and lovely evening. I made a delicious meal mixing dried veggies into my Mary Jane organic meal and adding chunks of cheese - yummy! Two of the German guys, Lightening Bolt and I forget the other one's name, and Silent Force claimed space in the shelter as well as Bounder. I was very, very tired so went to bed early.
I had been asleep for about 1.5 hours or so when I was awakened in the middle of the night by someone snoring very, very loudly. I mean it was like a freight train running through the shelter. I had earplugs in, but they were useless with this kind of snoring. I tried the trick of laying on my side and plugging my ear tightly until I fell back to sleep, but that didn't block out the snoring. I lay there for a while and checked the time - 10:30 p.m. Time to go find a place to put my tent up as I knew if I stayed in the shelter I wouldn't get any sleep. I walked up the trail a bit and found a nice, flat spot to pitch my tent, again taking pains to make sure I put the fly on properly.
Around 4:30 or 5 a.m., a big thunderstorm roared through. The rain was intense and lasted about half an hour or 45 minutes. I was really hoping that my tent had stayed dry, but nope, it had a lake in it and everything on the floor was soaked, including my clothes, sleeping bag, and backpack. I cleaned up the mess as best as I could and made the decision to hike to Unicoi gap and catch a ride into town to dry my stuff out and contact Big Agnes to tell them of the problem I was having with my tent as this did not seem right.
At daylight, I went over and told Lois and Infinity of my plan, said goodbye, and headed out as I had about 9 miles to hike. It was foggy and rainy, but pleasant hiking otherwise as it was flat for the first 7 or so miles. I stopped at Blue Mountain Shelter for some lunch and chatted with a hiker named Stretch who had got caught in the thunderstorm that morning and all his gear was soaked, so he was headed out at Unicoi gap as well.
When I left the shelter, I ran into Infinity. She told me that she was hiking to Unicoi gap as well and catching a ride to Top of Georgia hostel, getting a new headlamp, and then was going to start hiking from there. I asked her if she had let Lois know that since Lois was supposed to meet her at the Blue Mountain Shelter and she said that she hadn't seen Lois since that morning so she had not told her of her new plan. I wish I would've thought of leaving Lois a note to let her know that Infinity was heading on, but it didn't occur to me. I felt bad about that, but I proceeded on to the gap.
At the gap, I contacted Best Western and made a reservation. Then a guy showed up with a van and offered to shuttle us down to Helen, GA (where BW was), for $10/apiece. Me, the two German guys, Silent Force, and Stretch all took him up on the offer.
What a cute little town Helen is! It's like a little German settlement with windmills and quaint shops. I checked into the hotel, hiker trashed my room by stretching everything out to dry, grabbed a shower, and then headed out to get something to eat.
Came back and gave Big Agnes a phone call. I spoke to a customer service lady and told her what had happened with my tent. I am not going to go into detail here, but let's say that I was not exactly happy with the proposed solution of using my tent without the footprint and seeing how that went. That was not a good solution in my opinion and with the next 8 out of 10 days projected for rain, I decided to throw in the towel and head home. Slogging through rain with a tent I could not depend on was not my idea of fun.
I walked around the town for a while and really enjoyed the warm sun and lovely scenery. Kate was working on my flight reservations and I was a bit sad about leaving so soon, but happy to be reunited with my beloved family that I missed so much. There are tons of trail in California so I had much more hiking in my future.
I went to the store and got a bottled coke and sat on the Adirondack chairs outside, enjoying the relaxation time and lovely, warm weather. Life was good!
Infinity texted me and said she was taking a rest day at Top of Georgia hostel and then back on the trail and asked me what my plan was. I told her I was headed home. A few hours later, she asked if she could catch a ride with me and I told her of course.
Day 8
I got a rental care the next day, picked up Infinity, dropped her at the Atlanta airport so she could pick up her rental car, and then I checked into a hotel as my flight was the next day.
Upon reflection of my week-long hike, I can say that I met some truly wonderful and inspirational people, ate some good (but naughty!) food, lost a couple of pounds in spite of said naughty food (yay!), and had a good time! I will be honest, though, as I was not super impressed with the trail. I had known all along that there would be very few views, but the amount of trash all along the trail was a bit dismaying. I know it's the start of the trail and there are so many people out there, but these are hikers trashing these trails and they should know better. It's shameful! I have hiked much of the northern section of it, including the Presidentials and Katahdin and those are all very pristine trails with amazing views, so I know that not all of the AT is that trashed.
There are many, many trails out there that I would like to hike and hiking a section of the southern part of the AT is now crossed of my list. What's next? We shall see...
More adventures to come!
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