(2/22) Beautiful and Butt-kicking

     Today started off rough but enjoyable. Last night I had a minor gear failure where my sleeping bag bumped the side of my tent which was full of condensation. Long story short my down sleeping bag got wet. Down doesn’t keep you warm when it’s wet and last night was in the low 20’s. After waking up confused and cold I was able to find my jacket and get warm. It was a restless night but I still got the sleep I needed. 

     The weather today was beautiful. It got into the 50’s with perfectly blue skies. The hike itself was challenging as our bodies aren’t used to hiking 15 miles while carrying 25 pounds. But the experience were worth it. 

     We started the day by breaking down our tent site and walking around a half mile down to the visitor center of Amicalola falls where the was a gear weigh in, a registration, and a brief lecture on leave no trace, the policy where you hike with the least impact on nature. We were given our through-hiker badges. There are 320 people ahead of us on the AT already. Both my bag and Tyler’s bag each weigh around 27 pounds with food, water and all of our gear.

    After orientation it was time to hit the trail— but not the Appalachian trail just yet. To get to the start of the AT we hiked 9 miles on the Approach trail to the top of Springer Mt, the southern terminus of the AT. Reaching the start of the AT was somewhat strenuous but being there was truly a surreal moment.

     We ran into a lot of hikers today, but most were day and section hikers. However, we did encounter between 5 and 10 other through hikers throughout the day. We also had our first trail angel- a person who provides for through hikers expecting nothing in return. The trail angel we ran into goes by Cayenne. He took our trash for us and offer food and drinks. Tyler and I each took a snack and stayed to talk with him. He hiked the whole trail last year. It is so encouraging how generous people have been towards us so far.

     After summitting Springer Mt we hiked for another three miles to a camp site where we set up for the night. Tomorrow we plan on hiking another 15 miles but we won’t push ourselves too hard if we don’t feel up to it. Thanks everyone for reading and following as we start out on this adventure. 

Goodnight.

Walker

Ps reception has been spotty so this one is uploaded late and without pictures. I will add pictures when in town.

Check out Tyler’s blog too- https://tylerat2020.blogspot.com/?m=1