Spring Forward (Springer to Neels Gap)

On Friday night, Kori, Mom, Jack, and I discussed how we were going to have to wake up an hour earlier for the trail because of daylight savings time. Jack set the microwave clock an hour early and we went to sleep. Of course, none of us thought that daylight savings time only happens on Sunday, not Saturday, so we woke up at 5am and wondered aloud for 15 minutes why our phones didn’t adjust to the time. We figured it out eventually. Anyway, we went to a Waffle House for breakfast and I scarfed down my eggs, even though they weren’t cooked all the way, and then we were off like a herd of turtles towards Springer Mountain.

The parking lot is a mile into the trail, so we hiked a mile south to get to the terminus of the AT and Mom, not understanding that we had already hiked on the trail, suggested we go further south to start our journey. Good news is that we didn’t listen to her and we’re heading north! And not south! We said our goodbyes in the parking lot and Kori and I were off.

The weather was foggy and chilly, but we warmed up as we hiked. I felt free and excited. I was going to hike for 6 months! That night we stayed at Hawk Shelter and pitched our tent. It turns out that everything we thought worked, didn't. Our water filter wouldn’t filter so we had to ask for help from a friendly ridge runner who backflushed it with warm water. It rained during the night, and Kori and I got splashed in the face from condensation because we didn’t ventilate our tent properly, and our stove wouldn’t stay lit to boil water in one go. Amazing.

But we hiked on the next morning to Gooch Gap with great weather and clear views of the mountains. I‘ve hiked for longer than two days in the past easy, but with the mountains in Georgia, even going 7 miles was brutal. There we steep inclines and declines the whole way there. We got into camp, stretched, and tried to mess with our water filter, which was still being painfully slow. For dinner we ate dehydrated Pad Thai, which was tasty and set up our tent to dry (which it does super quick).

The next morning we set off for Lance Creek, which was about 8 miles away and an easier hike than the day before. My legs hurt, especially my calves, but I found a hiking rhythm and cruised through the woods. I was worried that it would be boring and brown in Georgia, but there was rodedendrum growing by the rivers and buds on many of the saplings by the trail. About halfway through our hike that day we stopped at Woody Gap. Here we met Mike giving out some trail magic! We got candy bars, ramen, hot chocolate, and instant coffee mix. He also had fresh fruit and we ate a delicious orange! The perfect surprise to fuel us for the next part of the hike. It started pouring rain a 1/4 mile from our campsite, but we powered through and set up camp as quick as we could so we could huddle in our sleeping quilts. The rain cleared up an hour later and we made friends at camp. At one point we mentioned our faulty water filter, and 3 people rushed to help us. It turns out that we were screwing the cap too tight and we were creating an air seal so the water couldn’t go anywhere. Now our water filter works great! Thank you guy from Syracuse who also plays ultimate!

Our last day of hiking was summiting Blood Mountain, the highest peak on the AT in Georgia. It was a 3 mile incline, but the views at the top were gorgeous! The downhill though was mostly rock and not a lot of trail, and at one point we went down steep slabs of rock and ran into a sign that said “This is not the AT, turn around go up and then go right”. Oh boy. So we climbed up the steep rocks and found the trail again, but it was a brutal downhill and we were glad to get to Neels Gap, where I bought a new stove at the outfitter store. Kori and I got a shuttle to a campground a mile away and had a relaxing night knowing we were taking a zero day the next day. And that’s where we are now! In Blairsville Georgia, excited to get back on the trail and grateful for $7 all you can eat pizza buffets. It’s clear we have a lot more to learn, but it’s an exciting adventure ahead of us and we’re (hopefully) ready to go!