The First Few Days

About 2 minutes before I started hiking.

It's been an eventful few days so far. I started at the Amicalola State Park Visitors' Center at around 10:00 am on Thursday, March 17th.

If you start there, you have to endure a grueling 8.8 mile hike on the approach trail (the first mile is the worst) up to the summit of Springer Mountain, Georgia, the official southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. About half start there, and the other half get a ride via a forest service road up to within a mile of the official start point. I chose the former. Although I regretted it at the time, it was quite character building. Of the people I've met on the trail, all who have done the approach trail were glad they did. I've met a few that didn't that sort of wish they had, just for the experience.

The Summit of Springer Mountain is less than awe-inspiring. There is a fair view and a few bronze plaques which I almost missed, but otherwise pretty ho-hum. I've seen better views in New Jersey. The next five or six miles were spectacular though, leading through incredibly tall old pine trees and rhododendrons, paralleling a nice mountain stream. I camped in a nice spot in the pines, next to a stream after walking about 13 miles that day.

If you want to keep your food you have to hang it in a bear bag, suspended from a tree branch. You put a rock in a small nylon bag, attach it to a cord, and throw it over a vertical tree branch about 15 feet in the air. You then attach your food bag and haul it up and tie the free end off. It generally works with all but the most cunning bears.

It wasn't bears I had to worry about, but rodents. I forgot about a zip lock bag, partially filled with trail mix that I left in one of the hip belt pockets of my backpack. A rodent chewed through the nylon pocket, the plastic bag, and ate every nut, raisin and M&M. Lesson learned.

I woke up early the next day, determined to cover even more ground than on day 1. I began to develop a healthy respect for the North Georgia mountains. They can be very steep and rocky.  While there were a few smooth sections of relatively flat terrain, these were the exception. By the end of the day I had traversed 16 miles. I noticed toward the end of the day that my right knee was beginning to hurt, particularly on downhills, but I didn't give it much thought. I was just excited to be on the trail.

Mostly bare deciduous trees, but pockets of green make for spectacular hiking.