[Matt] Hi guys, I'm here too

So this is supposed to be a two person blog, but I've also been keeping my journal. You all should expect updates around weekly from me, I think. That said, its been almost a week and a half since we started. (Wow...) The reason I haven't posted yet (and fell a few days behind in my journal) is that I was close to finished The Lord of Chaos (Book 6 of the Wheel of Time). I devoted all of my free time to it, and was quite pleased with the result.

Today was our first (full) day in North Carolina, and it welcomed us by raining all day. Yay! We got started late (woke up at 8:30), and toon our time getting out (left at 9:45). Once we were moving we tried not to be too disappointed by the return of the grey wall. We saw some areas that we assumed would have had good views, but we didn't bother to stop, since visibility was under 200 ft at times. The rain did give us an excuse to stop at the two shelters we passed for extended visits, though.

At the first, I had to use the privy, and we talked to the people who were still cooking breakfast there. There is apparently a festival in Franklin today and tomorrow (our next resupply point). We decided against going, since it would seem to be a cop out to avoid the rain.

We ate a late lunch at the second shelter (we wanted to have a roof over our heads). We talked with some people who were just finished lunch, and were booking. They were at Springer 5 days ago. Dang. When they left, they forgot a water bottle and a filter. I considered bringing it with, but figured there was no way we could catch them. Sure enough, when we stopped at Beech Gap, the group was there finishing up with their break. Whoops.

There was a break in the rain for us to set up camp,  cook, hang some bears, and get into the tent. It seems to have started up again now.

Everything I own is slightly damp, but that's much better than the situation outside the tent.

On to A Crown of Swords (Book 7),
Matt

North Carolina!

ONE STATE DOWN, THIRTEEN TO GO!

[Derek] Out like a lamb?

3/26/14

Somebody forgot to tell Georgia that it's generally nice out towards the end of March.

The last two mornings have been pretty cold - as you can see in the pics below, we had snow yesterday morning! This morning was snowless, but chillier at around 20 degrees. Both of us woke up to frozen water bottles (though Matt was smart enough to keep one of his in the tent).

But, we've been surviving it, and getting some fantastic views in the process! We're staying at the Top of Georgia hostel tonight and will be crossing the state line tomorrow afternoon. Onwards to North Carolina!

[Derek] Hitching a Ride

3/23/14

Today was our first town day! We got into Mountain Crossings, a nicely situated hiker supply station, last night, and today we headed into nearby Blairsville to resupply and eat some real food.

Mountain Crossings occupies a nice niche: it's far enough along to catch the unprepared thru-hikers and sell them what they've realized they forgot. Their prices are high, but the people are wonderful.

Blairsville is about 15 miles away from Mountain Crossings, so we had to find a ride in. Since there's no public transportation, that mean hitchhiking. Neither Matt nor myself had ever hitched before, so it was an adventure. But it turns out people around here really like thru-hikers - after about 10 minutes standing with our thumbs out on the side of the road, a previous thru-hiker by the name of Shots Fired picked us up and took us in!

Once in town, we descended on the nearest restaurant and ordered two breakfasts each! I had 2 pancakes, a 3-egg western omelette, rye toast, and hash browns. Yum.

We also hit up a local grocery store to supplement the food we got from Mountain Crossings. Pics below - we bought more conservatively this time, but it's still a lot of food (and we also have leftovers from the first grocery trip).

Headed back to the trail soon to hike a mile to our campsite (today's our rest day) and start back up in earnest in the morning!

Pics below: Matt hitching, our food, Mountain Crossings, and two shots of Blairsville, GA.

[Derek] Springer / Days 0 and 1

3/20/14 - Day 1

We got to Amicalola Falls (that's pronounced AM-i-ca-LO-la, with am as in lamb and i as in kitten) around 10 in the morning yesterday. Inside the Visitor Center, we signed in at the official logbook. Only a few people had gotten there before us that morning, but 20-25 had signed in the day before, all bound for Katahdin. We took our obligatory pictures at the AT arch (pics below!) and started up the 8.8 mile Approach Trail to Springer.

Immediately, we came up against Amicalola Falls themselves, which involved 600 steps straight up to the top of the falls. Fog was everywhere, but we got a good view of the rushing water disappearing into the cloudy air from the top.

We summitted Springer early to a beautiful view (hint: think of staring at a gray wall). After talking with the other thru- and section- hikers up there, we stepped onto the Appalachian Trail, hiked down to the nearby shelter, and set up camp. As I commented to Matt, I felt almost like a Tenderfoot Scout again - I've never used an alcohol stove to cook or Aquamira to purify water, so figuring out how to use those was an adventure.

After dinner, we ran back up to Springer to grab a rock each to carry to Katahdin. Our rocks aren't big, but we'll carry them all the way!

This morning, we woke to more fog and chilly temperatures. We broke down camp and tried (and failed) to leave quickly. I'm sure we'll get into the swing of it soon, but it took us an hour and a half! Shame on us!

Fortunately, it warmed up quickly, giving us a beautiful fogless view of the Georgian Appalachians. We hiked another 8 miles (our last warmup day) to the Hawk Mountain Shelter.

Soon after arriving, someone told me that they "had smelled bud" and that they "had $60 if I was willing to sell any of it". I don't know where he smelled it, but it certainly wasn't coming from us... But most of the other people we've met so far have been very friendly and talkative. We've already privately nicknamed one guy "The Voice" because he sings along to his music while he hikes.

The campsites and shelters in Georgia have bear cables (with pulleys and built-in wire ropes!), which is a nice change from the CT and MA version where you hang your bear bag in a tree. Very convenient.

Tomorrow is 13 miles across some potentially challenging terrain. I guess we'll see how it goes!

(Update from the morning: Heard something loud and mechanized and frighteningly close to our tent last night. Matt thinks it might've been a helicopter. I have no idea why though.) 

[Derek] Arrival Logistics

As I write this, Matt and I are on our way to Amicalola Falls State Park, the starting point of our trip!

I arrived in Atlanta yesterday afternoon... The flight from Hartford was uneventful, and in fact arrived earlier than scheduled (I didn't know that happened anymore!). Matt met me at the airport and we did the touristy stuff for a while, walking around the Centennial Olympic Park and such.

We took the MARTA rail north out of the city. The MARTA seems to differ from the T in Boston in that the trains come much less frequently and have fewer stops, but are faster and go farther than the T. It reminded me of a cross between the Orange and Purple lines in Boston.

Then it was a bus to Roswell, where we found our super-sketchy hotel. It was cheap, but I guess you get what you pay for. No latch on the bathroom door, cop car watching the parking lot, etc. David and I stayed in sketches hostels in Europe, but not by much.

Amicalola Falls is some 60 miles north of the city, so it's not serviced by any public transit. We called 10 different shuttle services and Trail Angels before finding one that would take us to the trailhead. (Several said that they would only take us to a point 0.2 miles north of Springer, but we wanted to go to the Falls to do the Approach Trail.)

So, we're on our way to the Falls with Hank, ready to hit the trail. The Approach Trail goes for 8 miles, and we'll camp near Springer. SO EXCITED

[Derek] Food

Here's a picture of our food for the first few days... Heading to Springer in the morning!

{sent from our super-sketchy hotel room}

[Derek] Packing List

Just finished packing up! I'm flying to Atlanta (and meeting Matt there) tomorrow, and I'm super pumped. Here's my packing list:

The big things

Hubba Hubba Tent
White Box Alcohol Stove
Osprey Atmos 65 Pack (blue)
3x Platypus
Nalgene
Trekking Poles

Clothing
2x Zip-off pants
2x Exofficios
Long-sleeve shirt
2x Short-sleeve shirt
Down jacket
Long underwear (top and bottom)
Light gloves
Hat

Baseball cap

Cooking
Fozzils bowl
MSR folding spork

Tools and small items
Compass
Allergy Meds
Ibuprofen
Blister Aids
Bic Lighter

TP

2x Bandanas

Gerber Evo knife

Aquamira (water purification)

Ibuprofen

Moleskin

Writing home

Paper

Pen

Envelopes

Stamps

Luxuries
Phone (Galaxy S III)
Extra battery (13000 mAh)
USB wall charger (4 port)
SPOT Gen 3

Total base weight: 23 lbs. Not too bad, considering I have a whole 2-person tent included in that (Matt and I will distribute weight once we meet up). Now to add food and water.