I’ve been thinking lately about my 2010 hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail. It was only twenty miles, but it was something I called a great feat. Of course, there have been people who have completed all roughly 2,190 miles (3524.463 km). For someone who one day said, “I want to hike part of the trail”, I believe it was the best trip I’d ever taken. Could it have been better, for damn sure! But, out of everything I have physically done, it was by far the most rewarding.
The first thing that people may think was totally stupid is that I did it in June. In the South, anytime between June and September is hot. Sometimes, it’s overly oppressive. I took my chances. During those months, the chances of rain is also pretty high as we tend to get lots of thunder boomers during the day. The second thing that was wrong is that when my friend and I were dropped off at the start and we retrieved our gear from the back, I realized I had forgotten my hiking poles on the dining room table at home. I could have sworn I had triple checked everything to take. I guess I had not. The third thing that could be seen as bad and was not known until we ended the hike is that when our ride was going back to the main road, he had to stop to allow a mountain lion cross the road. We didn’t know so it didn’t bother us.
I knew as soon as we started that we were in for a great time in nature. Looking back, I knew that was filled with optimism and a bit of concern. I had hiked up Stone Mountain with my loaded hiking pack to prove to myself that I could carry it. It was over 25 lbs (11.34 kg) but I could manage. Day one of our trip was pretty awesome. We crossed bridges over cool streams. We crossed forestry roads. We stopped at a waterfall and had lunch with the calming sounds. We had hiked 7 miles (11.27 km) when we reached Hawk Mountain Shelter. I cooked dinner for myself and sat around for a while. We decided that it would be good to call it a night since we were tired and needed to get up and go the next morning. I figured since I was out in nature, I would feel free. I had set up my tent but decided to just get my sleeping mat. It was warm out and sleeping naked in my tent felt about as free as you could get. I wrote in my hiking journal and shortly fell asleep.
About 2 AM, I woke up with goose bumps all over my body and shivering. No one had told me that in the North Georgia mountains, the temperatures plummet in the valleys. I threw on some clothes and opened my tent. My friend had decided to not bring a tent for the comforts and ease of a hammock. I woke him up and told him that it was freezing. He agreed that it was much colder than we anticipated as the cold was circulating around him in the hammock. We got my bag down from the bear cable and retrieved my sleeping bag. Needless to say, we both ended up in my tent, naked bodies cuddled up to share body heat.
We woke up the following morning around 8 AM and got our breakfast made. I should have taken more with me than ramen noodles. Not eating enough can cause a feeling of weakness. I know that now. We took off and eventually came to a clearing next to the forestry road. A guy walked out of the woods, looking like some Amazon explorer. He saw us sitting around and told us he had been out in the woods searching for ginseng root. We were impressed! What he came out of was not just trees. It was thick undergrowth with briars and weeds. We were soon to find out that he wasn’t the only ones in the woods. A truck with about six military men pulled up and told us that we should probably carry on with our hike as soon, 300+ soldiers would be descending upon where we were. We had no idea that it was a service weekend in the mountains. I have to say I was excited to see one or two of the soldiers as they were well built and cute in their getup. We said thanks and started back on the trail.
When I say that the next few steps warned us of the hell before us, I can’t stress it enough. We soon were hiking up Sassafras Mountain. I will never forget it as long as I live. My friend found a limb that had a bend in it and broke it off so that I could use it as a walking stick. He had a monopod for his camera and decided to make it a multi-use tool. At various points, We had to stop, hold onto a tree, and take a breather. Thankfully, I had brought along some energy jelly beans. I needed the electrolytes as much as I was sweating. I was wearing breathable clothes and they were soaked. This mountain seemed to go up and up to the point where we thought it would never flatten out. Eventually, it flattened out enough that we could rest our legs for a minute. We went through a patch of grass that was a bit too high for my liking. I was constantly looking out for snakes. We hiked another 7 miles (11.27 km) and we thankfully arrived at Gooch Mountain Shelter.
We once again sat around and drank water. It was very much needed. We walked down to the creek to get water. I saw the water and my brain screamed “Bath time!” I couldn’t wait to get all those clothes off and bathe naked in the woods. It felt so wonderful. The cold, fresh, clear water cleared all the sweat and weirdly eased my muscles. I walked back up to the campsite and we set up the tent with the sleeping bag. The sun went down and we crawled in for a much needed rest.
I think it was around 4 AM when it sounded like dynamite exploded. It woke up everyone in the camp. Since we were in a valley, the sound echoed off the mountains around us. It’s an understatement to say that it scared the hell out of us all. My friend and I, cuddled again to stay warm, shook awake and laid there for a minute before falling back to sleep. It was not in our cards to get a peaceful night’s sleep as not much later, a second explosion rang through the mountains. Those soldiers were shooting something very powerful. I wish they had chosen to do it later in the day. We would have all been appreciative.
We woke up sometime around 8 AM and made our way a couple yards to the shelter. I noticed I was not feeling my best. I was rather weak and just not “all there.” I cooked what I was having for breakfast and we packed up the campsite. It was around 10 AM when we decided to start our day on the trail. I don’t remember how long after we started hiking that we started thinking if we really wanted to hike the length we had planned. We started hearing thunder in the distance and we felt a drop or two of rain. We heard a creek nearby and we kept walking as my Garmon said that we would be crossing a creek soon. When we got to the creek, we stopped and filled our bottles again. When we got to a higher spot, we checked my friend’s phone for a signal. I had Cingular and he had Verizon. He had the signal. We called our ride and told him that we had made the decision to come out of the woods. We told him to meet us at Woody Gap where the trail crosses GA Hwy 60. We arrived at the gap and sat around for a while before he could reach us. I didn’t think I would be so happy to see a paved road and know I was heading home.
Even though it was only 20 miles (32.19 km), it felt like we had hiked many more. For the rest of that evening, my feet felt as though they would fall off. I sat on the couch with my feet propped up for hours. Even though I was in pain, I went over our trip in my mind. It was something that brought me joy. I was able to walk through the North Georgia mountains, drink from creeks (filtered and doctored with UV light), smell rhododendron throughout the hike, and meet people doing the same thing. It wasn’t the almost 60 miles (96.56 km) planned, but maybe sometime in my life, I’ll get back into the woods and finish them. We were supposed to camp at the Blood Mountain Shelter, but in all honesty, I can hike up that mountain any time I want. There’s an approach trail that leads to the AT and then on up to the shelter. It’s great exercise. I may just do that sometime soon.