Week 1 Retrospect

I'd like to do a weekly retrospect where I go over what I think worked and what I think we can improve on. We'll see if I stick to this format as it may become not as useful the longer we hike.

What went well:

Packed enough food

Prepared well enough to survive a week in the woods

Started with low mileage to ease us into long distance hiking

Took breaks to enjoy good views and rest

What didn't go so well:

I lost my knife and water filter and almost lost my jacket (remembered where it was and avoided a major loss)

Woke up late almost every day and didn't start hiking usually until after 10 AM

Didn't do as much reading as I would have liked

One thing to work on the next week:

Louisa and I decided to work on getting up earlier. This should help us hike during cooler parts of the day so we won't be as likely to get sunburned. Plus, as we add on more miles to our days, it will be necessary to start earlier or we will end up setting up camp in the dark. 

Day 5 and 6

Day 5:

With only 5 miles to Neels gap and our cabin, we woke up eager to get going. We skipped breakfast as we knew we would be able to get a bunch of good food at the outfitter at the bottom of Blood Mountain. After a couple of miles, we began our ascent up the mountain and it began to rain. We shrugged it off and continued trudging on. After a while, I took off to hike at my own pace and told Louisa I would meet her at the shelter at the summit. Once I reached the top, I rested in the shelter to await Louisa. 

Blood Mountain shelter

Unfortunately, since it was such a foggy day, we were unable to see any of the scenic views from the summit. The descent was much tougher than the ascent since it was littered with large boulders that we had to hike on. To make matters worse, it was rainy and windy, so we had to be extra careful navigating the terrain. One thing I have found is that downhill walking is much harder on my knees. I bend my knees when stepping down off rocks as well as using my trekking poles, which helps to reduce the impact to my knees, but there is still a fair amount of strain. The pain is manageable and hasn't been getting any worse, so I think I'll be ok but I'm definitely looking for ways to reduce strain on my knees. 

Anyways, the pain I had and Louisa's pain in her feet and the rain and wind made for a grueling descent and we were both miserable. However, the day turned out to be a good one once we reached the outfitter. Mountain crossings in Neels gap offers a bunch of food for thru hikers to resupply with and we definitely took advantage. We both picked up a frozen pizza and snacks and soda and settled into our cabin. We showered up and brought our dirty laundry up to the main lodge where the owner washed and dried our clothes for us. We both rested up and went to bed early. 

Day 6:

We planned out our next week to make it to Hiawassee, GA and decided that day 6 would be a shorter day in terms of mileage. This gave us some time to resupply our hiking food at the outfitter and pick up some items I lost during the last week. I lost my knife and water purifier on day 4 :(

We also sent some items back home to help us save weight. Once we were done at the outfitter, we continued onto the trail. We took a quick lunch break soon after that. There were several beautiful lookouts we came across today and the weather was clear so I was able to get some good photos. 

The shelter we were going to stay at was 1.2 miles off the trail, so we decided to keep going and find a campsite along the trail. Every place we have stayed before had a pre built system for storing food at night (to keep bears out of it). This is the first night not at a place that has that or without the bear canister we rented (see day 4). I watched a video on YouTube on how to hang a bear bag PCT style. It took some time for me to figure it out, but I got our food hung properly after about 15 minutes of messing around. 

It's supposed to get down to 35 degrees tonight, so we are huddled up with our sleeping bag liners and coats on. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so we are looking forward to tomorrow's hike. 

Day 3 and 4 aka Trail magic is real

Day 3 started out in Black hawk campground. We needed to get to Gooch mountain shelter, which was about 9 miles away. An uneventful morning of hiking had us thirsty and unsure where exactly the next water source was. After a fairly grueling climb and descent, we came across some trail magic. Some trail angels hauled a large tank of water to the gap we hiked into. It was perfect timing for us since it was turning into a hot and sweaty day. There was a group of about 8 veterans there filling up with water. They are part of a program known as "walk off the war". One of the gentlemen we met gave us some food including a dehydrated ice cream sandwich. The Appalachian trail, as I am finding, is unique in the aspect that since so many people hike it, there is a lot of help from other hikers or just random good doers. The afternoon had us both tired and ready for rest. For the last mile, Louisa and I walked separately since her feet were hurting and I thought it would be more efficient for me to arrive at camp earlier and find a spot (which are at a premium due to large volume of hikers). At the intersection of the shelter trail and main trail were a couple of men handing out apples. Oddly enough, I had been craving apples all day. I stopped to chat with the guys for a bit and the subject of pain came up. I told them of Louisa's foot pain and why we were walking apart. They asked me when she would be by and I told them about a half hour. My estimation was based on me walking 2 miles per hour and Louisa walking 1 mile per hour for 1 mile. As soon as I was done explaining this, James spots Louisa crushing it up the hill. They got to make fun of me for my gross miscalculation of Louisa's speed :)

Day 3 ended around a campfire with about 10 other hikers and one of the ridge runners. A ridge runner is someone who walks the trail throughout the day and offers guidance to other hikers. The conversation around the campfire was filled with laughter and stories of the days hike. 

Day 4:

I woke up at about 7 EST to sit on a log outside our tent and watch the sunrise and listen to birds chirp. Feeling not quite rested, I went back to bed until about 8:30. Louisa and I didn't start hiking until about 10:15. After a mile and a half, we arrived in Gooch gap. James, from the day before, had setup in the gap and had been making hot breakfast for hikers all morning long. We had yogurt, more apples, banana bread, orange juice, and sausage biscuits. Then, I had James perform a shakedown of our gear. I laid out everyone on a tarp and we went over what we actually needed and were able to shed a small amount of weight. 

It took us about an hour to get out of Gooch gap, but it was well worth the time. We hiked another 4 miles to the next gap. By this time, it was 2:30 and we still weren't exactly sure where we going to stay. The problem is that there is a 5 miles stretch that requires hikers to use a non pliable bear canister to store food. We don't have one since they are bulky and heavy and not necessary for most of the trail. Fortunately, there is a grocery store in Suches, GA that rents then to hikers. Even luckier yet, there is a free shuttle that runs to the town from the gap that we were in. So we caught the shuttle to town and got the very last bear canister they had. We also got to order a small, yet very delicious pizza. We made it back to the gap around 3:15. At this point, we had hiked 5.5 miles already, and the next gap we wanted to get to was another 6 miles away. So we got trekking. About an hour in, it started raining. We quickly threw on our rain jackets and kept going. Unfortunately, we were doing a lot of up and down on slippery rocks, but we took it slow and made it through safely. One thing we forgot to check was if there was any camping at the gap we wanted to get to. Turns out there is a campground a mile west so we cut the hike a little short, probably less than a half mile. We found a single camp spot high up in the hills. For once, there is one else around. The silence is deafening and I love it. 

View from our current campsite.

Tomorrow, we have a 5 mile hike up and over and back down Blood mountain. It will spit us out into Neels gap, where we have a cabin booked for Easter Sunday. We are both looking forward to a shower and getting to do laundry (yes, having clean clothes is a luxury). 

Day 1 and 2

Warning: stream of conscious incoming

Day 1:

The big day arrived. Time to hit the trail. We woke up and had some time to kill before our ride to Amicolala Falls state park. I decided to call our ride to make sure the guy was still going to pick us up. As it turns out, he never received my confirmation email that 11:30am was going to work for us to be picked up at the airport. So we were SOL. The guy had no more room, so we got an Uber ride to the start of the trail. Which turned out to be interesting because, Eric, our driver, is originally from Sioux Falls. We ended up chatting for the duration of the ride, which ended up being over an hour. He was one of the most genuine people I have had the privilege to talk with. 

Once we were dropped off, we checked in with the ATC (Appalalchian Trail Conservancy) and weighed our packs. With food, my weighed in at 35lbs and Louisa's was 30lbs. We were shooting for less than that, but the lady who weighed her pack before us made us feel better. Her pack was 50lbs and that was after shedding 25lbs of gear she decided wasn't worth the effort of carrying. 

After filling up with water, we hit the approach trail. We had 8 miles to cover and about 6 hours until the sun set. We made it to Springer Mountain right as the sun was setting over the horizon. We got our tent up, made dinner, cleaned up, and were asleep by 9:45 EST. 

Day 2:

Woke up very rested. Rehydrated some scrambled eggs, filtered more water and officially started the Appalchain trail. We ended up following a small creek for a while through a very green section of the trail, which definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. 

We hiked about 7.5 miles and made camp. I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday then listened to music and read the remainder of the night. So far, Louisa is the only one with blisters, but fortunately we have some special tape to cover them so they don't get worse. I put some tape between my toes as a preventative measure. No aches or pains to report, so I think we are off to a good start. There is supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight so hopefully we get some rest tonight. 

Edit: wrote this before I went to bed last night. The thunderstorm never hit but it did rain a good amount. We're both feeling good this morning! 

Driving down to Georgia

Louisa and I are in Atlanta tonight and will begin our hike tomorrow, however we will not officially be on the Appalachian trail until the Thursday. We will hike the 8 mile approach trail that starts at Amicalola Falls state park and ends at Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the trail. 

Since we both left our jobs and packed all our things into a storage unit, we have been visiting family and friends in Aberdeen and Rapid City. We began driving down to Georgia on Sunday afternoon. Our route took us through Omaha, St. Louis, and now into Atlanta. We plan on being picked up at the airport tomorrow at 11:30am so we can hit the trail by early afternoon. We are looking forward to the start of our adventure!

Some pictures we have been taking:

https://imgur.com/gallery/RyTAe

Testing out the tent

We spent our first night in the tent last night in Hot Springs, SD. The low temperature was 20 degrees F. We made it until about 6 AM before we had to head inside due to the cold. The biggest issue was that the shared sleeping bag let heat escape between us when one person slept on their side. The other issue was that we just had a hard time getting to sleep, but that was due to us not being used to tenting. We might get individual sleeping bags for the start of the trail and switch back to the shared sleeping bag once we hit warmer weather. Hopefully a long day of hiking on the trail will help us to fall asleep faster. 

Testing out the pack

Today, Louisa and I went to Buffalo State Park to do some hiking. I brought my pack along to see how I would fare with 20+ pounds on my back. For the most part, I was fine but the balls of my left foot started to hurt toward the end. Perhaps I will need an insole to keep my foot from hurting. I also found out that my trekking poles need some adjustment. Only one week until we move out!