Day 0 Good Beginnings

Four years ago Tyler and I woke up at Amicalola Falls: at the start of the Appalachian Trail. I nearly froze during the night. I had a fresh buzz cut that didn’t suit me at all. We were excited but in a lot of ways had no idea what was actually ahead of us. Over the following 40 days we had an incredible journey and covered over 600 miles. Ultimately we failed our goal.

I want to apologize for ending my last blog without updating everyone on what happened and why we got off trail. I spent multiple hours agonizing over an entry but couldn’t bring myself to post it. The post was too sad and angry and bitter. I didn’t have the mental energy to revisit our reasons for quitting. It took me months to come to terms with the fact that we had gotten off trail. To be honest the thought still tortures me. The goal of hiking the entire length of the AT stuck with me, strengthened by the fact that we had covered a third of the trail but hadn’t finished.

With that behind us, I am currently sitting on a plane headed to Atlanta. I am starting again, from the beginning of the Appalachian trail. My closest friends Tyler and Spencer are coming with me.

For those who don’t know, the Appalachian Trail is a 2,197 mile continuous footpath from Springer Mountain Georgia to Mt Khatadin Maine. Every year a few thousand crazy people set out with the goal of walking every step in between the two mountains. Only a quarter of those who start will actually finish it. As with most pilgrimages there is a unique community and culture among the pilgrims. We call ourselves hikers. I’ll share more about this culture over the coming months.

I have learned that doing hard things, especially doing hard things in beautiful places, forces learning and growth. I am particularly interested in difficult goals. Hiking the AT provides the opportunity to accomplish something hard and grow along the way. It’s a journey of discovering yourself, learning about the world, experiencing nature, living in the moment, and pushing yourself to overcome no matter what.

I want to begin my travel logs by thanking a few people.

First, my beautiful fiancée. Ashley, thank you for being by my side and encouraging me to go for it. Thank you for supporting me and caring for me. I hope that the growth from this trip will benefit us both for our whole lives. Thank you for wanting to be a part of the journey and my life. Being away from you will be the hardest part of all this. Harder than the rain, cold, blisters, rocks, mud. And I know that it will be just as difficult for you. So thank you for doing the hardest part with me.

Thank you to all of my family, future family, and friends who are supporting, following, and praying for us. I have really appreciated talking with each of you in the lead up to the hike. Your interest in our journey gives motivation when I need it the most. I know that there are many people back home rooting for me. Your support is very deeply appreciated. If you are reading this, thank you so much for your support!

Finally I want to thank Tyler and Spencer. Our friendship has been deeply formative to me as a person. Without you two I would never have learned that I love nature, hiking, fishing, or hunting. I would not be hiking the trail. I am very excited to be undertaking this journey together. I look forward to growing closer together through the miles.

I am incredibly grateful and excited to be hiking this trail. My anger and bitterness from quitting last time has turned into gratitude and joy for every blessing in my life. I will still use my frustration from last time as motivation to push through the hardest miles, when I’m wet, cold, and tired at the end of a long day. But the much deeper motivation is gratitude and joy for everyone and for the experience. I’m grateful that I was able to hike over 600 miles before, and I’m grateful that I get to hike those miles again. I’m grateful for what I learned last time, the people I met along the way. A lot has changed in the last 4 years. I’m engaged, have worked over three years of my career, met some awesome new people, seen a lot more of the world. I most look forward to living in the moment, taking the hard and the beautiful in stride and learning what the journey will teach me.

Thank you for following along. I will keep this log updated no matter what this time.

In two hours we will land in Atlanta, take a 1.5 hour shuttle to Amicalola State Park, and begin hiking around 2pm. We plan to cover around 4 or 5 miles this afternoon and set up camp before dark.

The journey begins.

Writing later that day from my tent at the campsite for the night.

We got off the plane and had a very smooth and quick shuttle from an awesome guy named Ron. He has been shuttling and supporting hikers for 18 years often giving them free support out of the goodness of his heart. He tried hiking the trail himself on two separate occasions when he was younger. He was very helpful and gave us excellent information about the trail- places to avoid because of crowding and bears that steal bear bags. No- they aren’t dangerous to humans, but have learned how to steal food, and having your food stolen makes things difficult. But we know how to hang a bear bag the right way and will avoid high bear areas. Ron helped us weigh our packs- we each came in between 21-23 lbs with 3 days of food and the amount of water that we will carry while hiking. This is around 7 lbs lighter than the last time I hiked. Having good gear makes such a difference.

THE WEATHER HAS BEEN IDEAL! We honestly couldn’t ask for better. It was 60 degrees and sunny. Tonight will be in the low 40s. Literally perfect for hiking and sleeping. And the trail feels significantly easier so far. Not sure if it’s because of the lighter gear, the additional experience we have, the good weather, or any other factor. But the approach trail was way easier than Tyler or I remember. For those who don’t know, the approach trail is a short 7(?) mile trail that leads from a visitor center up to Springer Mt, the official start of the AT. Most thru hikers begin by hiking the approach even though it isn’t technically the Appalachian Trail.

After getting dropped off by Ron we hiked 5 miles from the visitor center to a campsite, about 2 miles from Springer. We met a few other day hikers along the way. Some were excited to ask us if we are thru hiking, and when we answered yes they gave impressed responses, some expressing a desire to hike it themselves. We also met a few other thru hikers, one of which was hiking bare foot! I have never seen that before. Hope that works out well for him.

We are around the 320th people to begin a thru hike attempt this year. There are a good number of people ahead of us.

It feels very strange to be back. It hasn’t quite sunk in that I will be out here for the next four months. But at the same time it feels very familiar. I just can’t get over how well everything has gone so far. Incredibly grateful for the awesome weather, people, and hiking so far. We got to our campsite after hiking around 5 miles in about 2.5 hours. We thought about pushing further but weren’t sure we would have a good campsite. So we decided to play it safe and camp here. It’s a beautiful campsite at the top of a hill, looking in at Spring: how will will begin tomorrow morning. I’m very excited to get in the actual AT and keep walking toward Khatadin.

I will update with pictures as soon as I have reception.

Here are some quick photos of Amicalola Falls, the 5 miles of the trail we hiked, and our first tent site: