[ad_1]
It’s been go go go since I started the trail almost 2 weeks ago. So much has happened andI haven’t had a chance to sit and post about any of it. I’m at Glorious Stays Hostel for the night and will try to draft some posts to come out over the next few days based on the notes that I’ve been taking. Let’s start with the first(ish) three days.
Day 0: Roller Coaster University
In the days leading up to my departure, I started I would watch folks (some of whom are fellow Trek bloggers!) post about beginning their hikes. They’d post their photo under the arch and off they went! It was like being in line for a roller coaster. The closer you get, the more the anticipation builds. You eventually start to see people get in their seats and leave the gate and it becomes very real as you realize you’re next in line. You get in your seat and then there’s no turning back. You’re on the ride.
When the day came to drive to the lodge at Amicalola Falls State Park, I joked to my partner Andrea that it started to feel like she was dropping me off at my first day of college. I was surprisingly nervous. After we checked in and got settled in our room, I asked her to conduct an interview with me about how I was feeling the night before starting. I looked back at the footage recently and I could see how nervous I was. That nervousness carried over into the next day and you can see it in my face in my arch picture.
Day 1: My New Friend
The next morning we pulled up to the AFSP visitors center the morning of my hike, I went through their hiker orientation, got my hiker tag, and said my goodbyes to Andrea.
Before going through the arch myself, I was able to pull aside a few hikers who were about to start their hikes and ask them a few questions on camera. I’m not very good at asking people for stuff like that and it was really uncomfortable, but I did it anyway. It felt good to start my hike with a couple of interviews under my belt. It helped me feel confident that I would be able to ask more people along the way for interviews.
It was the day after a huge storm, and the waterfall was raging, which was really cool to see. The stairs at the beginning of the approach trail are absolutely no joke, but it was a good reminder of a promise that I made to myself to take it slow at the very beginning.
The weather was actually pretty nice. It was overcast all day and sometimes eerily foggy, with temps in the 50s which to me was perfect. I hiked mostly alone all day, which is what I wanted. I got to become acquainted with my new friend that I’d be walking on for the next 2200 miles and my nerves quickly settled.
After 5 ¼ hours of hiking, I made it to Springer mountain and the official start of the trail.
There were a good handful of us there, including the guys from the night before and a British couple, Alex and Poppy, that I interviewed that morning. We got to talking and it quickly became apparent to me that talking to people and making friends would be easier than I heard it would.
Day 2: Trail Magic of a Different Sort
It was a chilly night without much consistent sleep, but I woke up to a beautiful sunrise and a lovely little note from Andrea in my coffee cup.
It was another day hiking alone, which I enjoyed. Along the way, I realized I dropped my lens cap. Not knowing how far back it was, I deliberated whether to go back and look. There was a little stream that I crossed a few minutes back and I told myself I would go that far and if I didn’t see it, I’d turn back around and forget about the cap. While walking, I ran into Alex and Poppy who said they saw it a little ways back and he set it on a rock – how fortuitous!
Knowing that the cap had been spotted, I continued past the stream and down the trail. Along the way, I met a young guy hiking with his dog. He asked if I was a thru hiker and when I said I was, he explained he thru hiked a couple of years ago and was back out doing a stretch of it. He went on to tell me how much the trail meant to him and he agreed to tell me on camera and pose for a picture. I felt like this whole series of events were my first dose of true trail magic.
That night, I made it to Hawk Mountain Shelter, where I stayed with Odie, Sunshine, Ian, Lilith (fellow Trek blogger!), Harry, Wooford, Pearl, a guy whose name I can’t remember (🤦🏻♂️), and Julie, who would become my hiking partner for the next couple of days.
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek’s ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!
To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.
[ad_2]
Source link
