Couple of Days Later
Monday, March 11, 2013
Got my Journal Act Together
3/11/2013
My very sincere appologies for the lengthy delay....... I think I have it somewhat figured out now. I am a dinosaur in a high tech world.
My very sincere appologies for the lengthy delay....... I think I have it somewhat figured out now. I am a dinosaur in a high tech world.
Right now it is raining and blowing. I did a short 7 miles today, and got in this shelter to try and figure things out ....journal wise. Got help from My new friend "Hotdog". She is Blogger educated.
If you are still there, we should be ok now. Phone service is very sporadic. You may want to check once a week only.
Thanks for your patience. Rain.... wind..... snow...... sleet...... fog. Welcome to the AT! Having a blast.
If you are still there, we should be ok now. Phone service is very sporadic. You may want to check once a week only.
Thanks for your patience. Rain.... wind..... snow...... sleet...... fog. Welcome to the AT! Having a blast.
Part Three of Three
3/6/2013
Note: this was written on Wed March 6th. Where was I?
Got up to the official AT (the actual southern terminus) today, and my phone battery was dead. So I emptied my whole pack onto the rock, in 50 mph wind, and charged the battery, while I signed my name to the trail register, that was stashed in the back side of the rock, into which the plaque was set. The ink in the pen was nearly frozen, so I mostly scratched my name into the register, which was just a spiral notebook. I could not think of anything epic to say anyhow......my brain was frozen too. Then took a picture of the AT plaque and my hiking poles. No one was there to take my picture, and I did not wait. I wanted to survive! Will get my picture taken in Maine. Am in Stover Creek Shelter, a double decker, with 10-12 people. 25 degrees 40mph wind. Having a blast!
Forgot to say no phone service right here. Don't know when it will send. Getting back into sleeping bag....hands are cold and so am I.
Sent from my iPhone
Note: this was written on Wed March 6th. Where was I?
Got up to the official AT (the actual southern terminus) today, and my phone battery was dead. So I emptied my whole pack onto the rock, in 50 mph wind, and charged the battery, while I signed my name to the trail register, that was stashed in the back side of the rock, into which the plaque was set. The ink in the pen was nearly frozen, so I mostly scratched my name into the register, which was just a spiral notebook. I could not think of anything epic to say anyhow......my brain was frozen too. Then took a picture of the AT plaque and my hiking poles. No one was there to take my picture, and I did not wait. I wanted to survive! Will get my picture taken in Maine. Am in Stover Creek Shelter, a double decker, with 10-12 people. 25 degrees 40mph wind. Having a blast!
Forgot to say no phone service right here. Don't know when it will send. Getting back into sleeping bag....hands are cold and so am I.
Sent from my iPhone
Part Two Three
Please note that these were written on March 6 as emails. I won't do that again. I promise!
3/6/2013
On the 9 mile approach trail up Springer Mountain, we hiked into light rain, then rain, then mist, then fog, then hard rain..... with lots of lightning. Earlier, I had stopped to sit on a rock, and call my sister. I wanted to tell her that I was indeed hiking the trail, and to thank her for helping me get through the airport and onto a plane. ( I will simplify....which is rare for me, and just say that I have not been on an airplane for a long, long time).
After a lengthy chat, and rest; I got back up to resume walking..... and both of my knees were crying. Both of them were protesting in unison. "Nope, we are done. Done, done, done. We are not going any farther....no more today. You should have warned us about all of those stairs."
This was not good. Here I am, on my very first day.....still a good mile, uphill, to make the very first shelter..... and both of my knees are refusing to go any farther. I struggled forward for 200 yards, then rested....then did another 200. It was a long, slow, mile to that shelter. And the whole time, I was thinking about what I would do if my knees were still this bad, on day two. Jeez....am I done, already? Are you kidding me?
I decided that I would have to hide out somewhere..... for awhile....quite a while. I simply could not endure the embarrassment of flying back home. No way. It's easy for me to see the worst possibilities in all things.... really easy. I told you that it was gonna be a bumpy ride. I simply did not expect any bumps, on my very first day.
So of course, as I said, it began to really pour. I beat most of the lightning, by hobbling to Black Gap Shelter, where I made my first new friend, "Griff". (Later to become "Tennessee Mike"). I asked Griff , whether he had heard my scream, when the lightning bolt hit the ground, between me and the shelter. Griff assured me, that he had indeed heard it. Seeing that I was gassed, after those stairs, 7 uphill miles, and the excitement of the first day; he volunteered to fill my water bottles; going down the steep hill to the water, a second time.... in between the thunder. We settled in for a cold night. Then it started blowing.....peaking at 76 miles per hour! Oh yeah, then it snowed! The howling wind blew the snow into the open side of the shelter...covering our sleeping bags in white.
The highlight of the first night was the mouse that scurried.....yes they do scurry.... right across my closed eyelids.....just as I was finally unwinding enough to be able to sleep. Before first light, I had another mouse on my hat, which was still on my head. Welcome to the AT!
Sent from my iPhone
3/6/2013
On the 9 mile approach trail up Springer Mountain, we hiked into light rain, then rain, then mist, then fog, then hard rain..... with lots of lightning. Earlier, I had stopped to sit on a rock, and call my sister. I wanted to tell her that I was indeed hiking the trail, and to thank her for helping me get through the airport and onto a plane. ( I will simplify....which is rare for me, and just say that I have not been on an airplane for a long, long time).
After a lengthy chat, and rest; I got back up to resume walking..... and both of my knees were crying. Both of them were protesting in unison. "Nope, we are done. Done, done, done. We are not going any farther....no more today. You should have warned us about all of those stairs."
This was not good. Here I am, on my very first day.....still a good mile, uphill, to make the very first shelter..... and both of my knees are refusing to go any farther. I struggled forward for 200 yards, then rested....then did another 200. It was a long, slow, mile to that shelter. And the whole time, I was thinking about what I would do if my knees were still this bad, on day two. Jeez....am I done, already? Are you kidding me?
I decided that I would have to hide out somewhere..... for awhile....quite a while. I simply could not endure the embarrassment of flying back home. No way. It's easy for me to see the worst possibilities in all things.... really easy. I told you that it was gonna be a bumpy ride. I simply did not expect any bumps, on my very first day.
So of course, as I said, it began to really pour. I beat most of the lightning, by hobbling to Black Gap Shelter, where I made my first new friend, "Griff". (Later to become "Tennessee Mike"). I asked Griff , whether he had heard my scream, when the lightning bolt hit the ground, between me and the shelter. Griff assured me, that he had indeed heard it. Seeing that I was gassed, after those stairs, 7 uphill miles, and the excitement of the first day; he volunteered to fill my water bottles; going down the steep hill to the water, a second time.... in between the thunder. We settled in for a cold night. Then it started blowing.....peaking at 76 miles per hour! Oh yeah, then it snowed! The howling wind blew the snow into the open side of the shelter...covering our sleeping bags in white.
The highlight of the first night was the mouse that scurried.....yes they do scurry.... right across my closed eyelids.....just as I was finally unwinding enough to be able to sleep. Before first light, I had another mouse on my hat, which was still on my head. Welcome to the AT!
Sent from my iPhone
First of Three
3/11/2013
Survived...........so far .
Flight from MSP to Atlanta....... then light rail(MARS) through
Atlanta....... then shuttle to Hiker Hostel. Lots of hikers already, from Germany, Georgia, Michigan, Oklahoma,Tennesee, New York, Pennsilvania, Florida, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and yup, Minnesota. Got about ten words out, in one conversation, Just North of the Springer Mountain Terminus, before the kid, "Doc", (and his buddy "Boone", both 21 ) says "You're from Minnesota!" I laughed and said "Yaaaaah..... you betcha!" Lots of people heading to Maine!
Yesterday, about 6 hikers from my hostel took the ride up to the top of Springer Mountain. Three of us, ( Andrew, From Boston, Ma.; Ethan, from Tulsa, Ok.; and me ), chose to go to Amicalola Falls State Park, and hike the nine mile approach trail to the top . That's kind of the old time, traditional, way to do it. I want to experience this journey the way earlier thru-hikers did, and consider it a gesture of respect to those who have traveled it before me. The falls is not 450 stairs like I told everyone.........it is 604! Whew!
Survived...........so far .
Flight from MSP to Atlanta....... then light rail(MARS) through
Atlanta....... then shuttle to Hiker Hostel. Lots of hikers already, from Germany, Georgia, Michigan, Oklahoma,Tennesee, New York, Pennsilvania, Florida, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and yup, Minnesota. Got about ten words out, in one conversation, Just North of the Springer Mountain Terminus, before the kid, "Doc", (and his buddy "Boone", both 21 ) says "You're from Minnesota!" I laughed and said "Yaaaaah..... you betcha!" Lots of people heading to Maine!
Yesterday, about 6 hikers from my hostel took the ride up to the top of Springer Mountain. Three of us, ( Andrew, From Boston, Ma.; Ethan, from Tulsa, Ok.; and me ), chose to go to Amicalola Falls State Park, and hike the nine mile approach trail to the top . That's kind of the old time, traditional, way to do it. I want to experience this journey the way earlier thru-hikers did, and consider it a gesture of respect to those who have traveled it before me. The falls is not 450 stairs like I told everyone.........it is 604! Whew!
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