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I started the Appalachian Trail by accidentally skipping the most infamous part of the Approach Trail — the endless stairs — only to find out they were closed anyway. By the time I reached Springer Mountain, my pack was heavier than planned, my tent was pitched crooked, and my sleeping bag was damp. Welcome to thru-hiking.
We pulled into the parking lot of Amicalola Falls State Park at just past 8:30am on Sunday, February 18, 2018. It was a lovely day, the skies having just cleared from days of rain, and I was extremely anxious. We walked into the lodge and signed in to get our ‘Leave No Trace’ Commemorative Tags. After signing in, a guy named Bob took us to weigh our packs.
After food and water was added I rang in at 40lbs. WAY heavier than I had anticipated. At that point I could have taken out some food. I only had 1L of water full so I couldn’t adjust that. But I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough variety and I wouldn’t eat enough out on trail so I kept it the way it was.
We moved around to the back side of the lodge to get our pictures taken:
After pictures we listened to a ridge runner lecture on ‘The 10 Essentials’. We found Dragon a shuttle to the Springer Mountain Trail Head with a cool shuttler named Duffy. With one last photo and a hug from Mom and Dad I was off.
I started my hike! I just kept thinking, ‘this is really happening?!’ I accidentally took the ‘old approach’ trail and successfully skipped the stairs... only to find out that the stairs were closed the day of my hike anyway. I finished the full 8.8 miles in 4 hours exactly! Those Nike Pro 7" shorts prevented all kinds of chafe that potentially could have occurred! They’re amazing! My hip belt was riding a little bit lower than it should be so I did get mild chafe and bruising from that. I adjusted it at camp that night. After drinking at least 100Fl/Oz of water daily at home usually, I was surprised I made it just fine with 1L. Someone suggested my name should be H2O or H2Go... it didn’t take, too common.
There was a trail angel at the top who had brought up ice cold beer and soda for hikers! My hiking buddy (Dragon) met me at the top of springer (she hiked up from the trail head instead of doing the approach trail). We went and made camp together at Springer Mountain Shelter.
After setting up my tent and sleep stuff we set out to get water for the first time! We followed the well marked trail to stream and filled up, probably too much (ALL) of our water bottles and headed back to camp.
Soon after we made dinner with Yogi, a fellow thru-hiker; Celeste, a weekend hiker; And Hannah, a ridge runner. I had some delicious cous cous with tuna. After dinner Hannah had to leave us but the rest of us hung out by the shelter for a while. Sleeves, another thru-hiker joined us as we tried to start a fire with very damp wood, leaves, and straw. After many attempts and the start of a rain storm, Dragon was able to catch one of the bigger logs and we had a fire! Even in the rain! Hence, her trail name Dragon.
After the rain fire I stored my food bag in the Bear Box (which are at every shelter in Georgia, THANKS GATC) and headed back to my tent.
When I woke up in the morning I realized I had guyed my tent in a slightly crooked way and my rain fly had gotten stuck to two sides of my tent. My down puffy coat, which had been sitting right under the screen on the right side of the tent, was soaked, my sleeping bag was damp... who am I kidding? EVERYTHING was damp. It was humid and a thick fog filled the mountain air that day. And every day following. In reality, I think I only slept 3 hours that night. I also realized that my sleeping pad was uninsulated, which I thought I wanted because I do sleep hot. But I realized the cold ground was making one side of my body freezing while the other side of my body was sweating from my sleeping bag. It was a rough one.
I tried to mop up the water as best I could and I packed up to leave camp...