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Miles breakdown
Day 1 – 8.8 miles on the Approach trail + 2.8 miles on the AT to Stover Creek Shelter
Day 2 – 12.9 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter
Day 3 – 12 miles to Wood’s Hole Shelter (0.4 miles off trail)
First things first – the arrival
After landing in Atlanta, I spent 2 days in a hotel to adjust to get over the jet lag and take care of some things. After more than 20 hours of travelling I was really looking forward to a comfy bed. The next day I got a bear canister where you store your food. You could also hang a bag over a branch, but it takes a little bit more skill, and don’t want to bother with finding a good tree everyday. Unless the shelter has bear cables, which is also fine. I also got a SIM card to call my shuttles in the trail, and stay in touch with people. And of course I got my first supply. 5 days worth of food, I later realized that the first resupply was only after 3.5 days, but you learn. Fortunately, I managed to get everything in the canister, if just so.
First days on the trail
Just saying it first, I’m enjoying the trail so far. It has welcomed me with open arms, and I hugged it back. On the first day I had perfect weather. I even got sunburned, I didn’t expect that on the first day. Temperature was good to hike. The approach trail is no joke though. There was quite some elevation to it, although I completely missed the steps up Amicalola Falls by mistake, because for the first mile or so I wasn’t even on the approach trail, but took a wrong turn and ended up on the Eastern Ridge Trail which goes parallel to the approach trail for the first mile. It wasn’t too bad though. I still got a nice view from the top of the falls.
Where are you headed? Maine, hopefully!
Got to answer that question one hour into the trail, and I was really delighted. I got to the top of Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the AT, around 3pm, and this is where I finally and officially stepped onto the Appalachian Trail. What a feeling! I’m finally where I wanted to be for so long, and now the real adventure starts.
The right people will find you on the trail
While I didn’t really see a lot of people in the Approach Trail, plenty of us came together at the first shelter. It was really fun getting to know everyone. One of us got his trail name on the first evening. I called him Six String since he carries a little electric guitar with him. In the morning, it was my turn to get a name: Poptart! Honestly, I didn’t expect to get on the second day, but it really stuck to me. It’s because I have pop tarts for breakfast, and was so excited to try them since we don’t have them at home. I started with cinnamon and brown sugar, and I’m determined to try all the flavours and live up to my name.
One day you get rain, the other you get trail magic
Actually, we got rain and trail magic on the same day. But we were also hit by a thunderstorm on day 2! Fortunately, my tramily and I got to the shelter in time and were cozy in our sleeping bags. I was a bit cold though, the nights are in the 40s, colder than expected. I got my first trail magic at Gooch Gap (an orange), and the second one just about 1.5h later at Woody Gap. The second one was huge, they had hot dogs, and cookies, and crackers. They were also preparing hot water for some coffee and hot chocolate, but we didn’t wait for that, as we got cold standing in the parking lot. Still, they were very kind people, and I appreciated their efforts. It rained a little later in the day, but we had a good pace going and got to the shelter at only 2:30 pm. If there wasn’t more rain on the forecast, we could have pushed a little further. But I also want to take my first days slow and not over exert myself. I definitely need to grow into my trail legs yet.
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