Day 1 - Getting there

Getting to the start

I woke up this morning and the first thought that hit me was "oh God you're actually doing this". I first learned about the Appalachian Trail sometime in November 2020, and planning a 2022 thru-hike felt so far into the future, like it would never actually happen. And now that day is actually here.

It feels a bit surreal still. I had a very similar feeling the days I left for drum corps. Knowing that it would be months before I saw anything familiar again, and that every day would challenge me physically and mentally.

I spent a lot of time on my flight to Atlanta thinking about why I was doing this, and I still don't have a concrete reason yet. I'll give myself more time to think that over. I'll have more than enough time in my own head the next couple of months.

I didn't sleep all that well last night and I couldn't fall asleep on the airplane even though I felt tired. It's kinda crazy how I traveled almost 1,000 miles in a little over two hours, and that it will take me about three months to travel that same distance on foot.

I took the MARTA from the airport as far north as I could. I'm currently sitting in a Honey Baked Ham writing this and waiting on my shuttle driver, Ron, to pick me up. I should get to Amicalola Falls around 4 or so.

My current plan is to hike the approach trail this afternoon and to get to Black Gap shelter. It's about 7 miles with 2,500 ft of elevation gain. I'll be about 1 mile from Springer Mountain, the actual southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which I'll hit tomorrow. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

Black Gap shelter

It's around 10 and I'm laying in my quilt inside Black Gap shelter. Ron got held up by traffic and picked me up around 3:30. Ron is awesome. He gave me and the other passengers in the shuttle, an older couple from Florida, so much great advice for our first stretch of the trail. I hope I'm able to actually remember everything he told us, because it was a lot.

We arrived at Amicalola Falls around 5. I was able to register as a thru-hiker and was given a tag to put on my pack. I'm hiker #2163!

Then I went over and got my picture taken at the famous arch (as seen above). After that I finally embarked on my thru-hike!

The first thing on the approach trail is hiking the infamous stairs of Amicalola Falls. There's about 600 steps that are known for brutally kicking the asses of new thru-hikers. Boosted by my excitement, I attacked the stairs with too much vigor. By the time I got to the top my back was covered in sweat, but I climbed it!

Next was to get to Black Gap shelter, around 7 miles away. Ron told me earlier about another trail, the Hike Inn trail, that branches from the approach trail and converges back a few miles later. This trail is slightly longer distance wise, but has easier elevation gains/losses. Since I was running out of daylight, I decided to take that trail. The trail runs by its namesake, the Hike Inn:

The trail going up to Black Gap shelter wasn't too bad, but it was a lot more elevation gain than I was used to. The sun started to set when I was about 3 miles from the shelter, so I ended up doing my first night hiking.

I got to Black Gap shelter around 9. There were some tents around the shelter, but for some odd reason no one was in the shelter itself. It was dark and I didn't feel like pitching my tent so I figured why not and set up my stuff in the shelter. I then cooked my first dinner, a Knorr rice side with salmon, ghee, and dried vegetables.

That's pretty much it for the day. I did all my remaining chores like brushing my teeth and putting away my food in the bear box, then snuggled into my quilt. I should get to Springer Mountain tomorrow morning and actually get on the Appalachian Trail!