More Scenes from Georgia

Section hiker Two-Thirty talking with Y-Knot

The green tunnel

Lunch break at Tray Mt shelter

The Blueberry Patch hostel in Hiawassee. We took a 'nero' (near zero) day here. It was worth it - nice place, run by great people, with a great breakfast in the morning.

Trail scenes in Georgia

Hiking through rhodedendren forests

Setting up the tent away from the shelters (and mice, and snoring, and crowding)

View from Blood Mt, GA. View of Springer Mt to the South.

Neel's Gap - the first place to re-supply along the trail. A church group was giving free burgers to the hikers - yeah! The limit was 9 per hiker.

Break spot along the trail.

Trail Scenes

We want to average 12 miles per day (in order to reach Katahdin in 6 months). We're supposed to start slow and build up miles, but we've done several 13 mile days and feel ok. No injuries yet.

We've had sunny weather after the first night of rain, and the last couple of days have been hot - over 80 degrees. Last night was the first big storm we've hit, and our tent held up ok (although we did get wet, and have to dry out our gear).

Going through the arch after signing in at the Ranger station at Amicalola Falls.

First night in the shelter at Springer Mt (after that, we camped).

Cloudy weather for the first couple of days, but no heavy rain.

Hiker Hostel - March 29-30

We stayed at the Hiker Hostel, run by 2 former thru-hikers, on March 29th. They picked us up at the end of the train line from Atlanta, and drove us to the hiker hostel in Dahlongea. In the morning, they shuttled us to Amicalola Falls on 3/30. We started the hike with 3 others: Freeway, the Milkman, and Griz (Mel).

It's a 9 mile hike up Springer Mtn to the terminus of the AT. It turns out that you can drive almost to the top, but we wanted to hike the approach trail. We stayed at the Springer Mtn shelter Wednesday night, and officially started getting AT mileage the next day.

The official terminus of the AT at Springer Mountain, GA.

South Carolina

We've been visiting Mike's mom in Bluffton, SC for the past several days. Tomorrow we fly to Atlanta and stay at a hiker hostel, and Wednesday, March 30th we actually start our hike. Forecast is for 60% thunderstorms, cold and rainy. Great!

We've had some nice days in SC - warm and sunny. Alligators swim in the lagoons and sun themselves on the banks. You can see them all over the place.

Another Lifetime

I just read an acticle in my Adventure Cycling Association magazine, titled "Solo Power" by Jill Homer. It talks about her bicycle tour around Alaska. What caught my eye in this article, was about a women Jill meet during her tour. After talking together for some time the women told Jill that she too had always wanted to bicycle tour around Alaska as she was doing. After all this women lives in Haines, Alaska and would just have to jump on her bike and start riding. "Are you all alone?" The women asked Jill. "Yup. All Alone." The women shook her head. "I could never do that. Another lifetime, perhaps". Never mind that each of us only has one. People seem prone to making excuses for why they can't pursue their dreams. We have families to take care of, jobs to complete, house projects to tackle. We're afraid or unwilling to travel by ourselves. Eventually, our dreams fall so far to the wayside that someone who has the fantastic allure of Alaska in her backyard believes she has to wait until "another lifetime" to explore it. There are always excuses, obligations, and limitations. But life is too short to save dreams for "another lifetime". This was written by Jill Homer, but I see we think alike!

Test Run 2



Our second test hike took place at one of our favorite spots to trail run. The North Hill Marsh Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary is over 500 acres, with ponds, marshes, cranberry bogs, and many trails to walk, run, or mountain bike. We hiked for over an hour on this test, and both of us felt some rubbing from our shoulder straps of the packs. We are hoping our bodies will toughen up over time and that our 30 pound pack that feels more like a sack of concrete, will eventually start feeling like a bag of feathers. What is heavier: 30 pounds of concrete or 30 pounds of feathers? Your right - 30 pounds is 30 pounds. We are always thinking of items that we may not need in our packs, but there is only so much you can give up and still have your safety on the trail. We have heard that some hikers have started A.T. with 50 to 60 pound backpacks. I have no idea how, my back hurts just thinking about that. We have just two weeks before we depart for Springer Mountain, Georgia. More test hikes to come!