Huffhike

Day 0:
Like all great adventures, this trip started with lack of sleep and pushing through some pre trail anxiety. Anxiety about every little thing that can and might go wrong. After a bit I silenced the what ifs, and by the bright time of 3am, I was off to Logan with Logan being my shofer. After an hour, we arrived in one piece (barely). I then said my goodbyes, and checked in my ikea bag, and made my way to my gate. Trying to not vomit again on the plane, I downed about 3 Dramamines and boarded the flight.
Pinching every penny possible, I opted for the middle seat. As the other passengers passed I realized I got lucky and was going to be able to take the aisle seat for free! Then my luck imploaded… A lady hopped on the plane walked over and said I was in her seat. So I shifted over brugently, and 10 minutes later, the pilot went over the intercom and said that the flight was having mechanical issues and they needed IT. Seeing how much I love flying I instantly started to think of 9/11 as one does. Believe it or not I over reacted, and after a half an hour later we were in the air.
After 3 hours of being way to aware of every creek I landed in Atlanta feeling tired, worn out and achy. But the trail provided and Matt (Damsel’s boyfriend) was kind enough to give me a ride to her house. I then got the tour of her apartment. Then we got down to business with a pack shake down, afterwards we all hung out (Damsel explained why she loved the Long Trail so much (who wouldnt)), and we headed to do a quick resupply.
Our first stop being REI for some fuel, followed by the Dollar Tree for a full resupply at a really really good deal. For those who havent thru-hiked before the Dollar Tree as all the essentials, Pop Tarts, Ramen, Candy, granola bars, pain meds, etc. We then went back to her place had some wicked good nachos. After letting the nachos digest we went for a quick walk. As we were finishing the walk, I felt my back seize up. So I instantly went to work on that streching, rolling, the whole nine yards. I kept up on that for the reminder of the night, and applied a Tiger balm patch and went to bed.

Day 1 (mile 2.8):
Due to the flight amd lack of sleep the moment I laid down, I was out. Thankfully, that meant I avoided any pre trail anxiety the night before, however that did not stop the tight back. So after I woke up I instantly got to work, I started with my daily streches for my legs, and then threw in some back specific streches to get the blood flowing. It ended up work because after a bit I was feeling less and less tight. After a few times of re shuffling my pack, I had it set and we packed into the car and were off.
As we got in the car it got real for the first time, I looked down and my hands were shaking and I became extremely chatty (both signs of a nervous Jt). But I powered through and we took the hour and a half drive to Amicalola Falls, after checking in I was told I was hiker #2126 for this season, however Id have to wait till Damacus for my hiker tag. I then did the obligated photo shoot and began walking to the falls. Matt, Damsel, and I walked the first 175 steps to the base of the falls; we said our good byes, and I took the remainder 425 steps to the top of the falls. After catching my breath, I continued on the approach trail towards the Appalachian Trail.
After 8.8 miles I finally hit Springer Mountain, the start of the AT. I saw the plack and saw the first white blaze that I will be following the whole way to Maine. I was so excited that I almost forgot to take a picture, but after a bit I found another thru hiker from Japan, mimed the international sign for picture; and we both took pictures for one another. I then walked 2.8 miles to Stover Creek Shelter. I then took some time to do some streching, writing, and ate some Mac and cheese. All in all a pretty solid first day on the trail.

Day 2 (mile 24):
Prior to the start of the trail, I told myself that I would not have any 20 mile days within the first 200 miles. Just to prevent burning myself out too soon. That rule lasted a whole day. When I woke up I quietly packed up my sleeping stuff and headed off to trail. Normally, I dont figure out where I may stay until I look at a map. So after about a mile in I figured the best place to say would be gooch gap mountain shelter. It would be roughly a 13 mile hike. Nothing too crazy or unreasonable.
After planning my day, I started a new ritual where I spend an hour of my morning listening to a lecture from Alan Watts. Not to go too deep into it but it was incredible. One line that he said that stuck out was the idea that the verision of you in each moment of life is a different verision of yourself and thus you should embrace the uncertainty and change that exists in everyday life. For example, if a man goes on a train, the verision of him who leaves the train will be a different version then the person who entered the train.
That thought process ran around my brain for about 11 miles until I ran into another thruhiker named John. John’s a wicked cool guy from the rockies who I guess is running for president in the next election; so vote away. Anyways, we ended up hiking together for around 2 miles. As we approached the shelter another hiker came in, his name was Peter and he is thru hiking 25+ miles a day as he is trying to finish before he starts college in Canada.
After asking where he was heading today, he mentioned he was going to head to Lance Creek Campsite.  He explained to me that because he didnt have a bear canister he needed to push to that section, so he can easily cover the bear canister section without having any issues. Realizing that I also dont have a bear canister, I quickly packed up and asked if I could tag along with him.
After a bit of hiking I realized that I was talking to an Ultralight king. He had managed to cut his base weight down to 7lbs!! Anyways, after around 7 or 8 miles of hiking, we ended up making it to Lance Creek Shelter. All in all the total milage for the day ended up being around 21.1 miles, which felt very doable.

Day 3 (Mile 52.7):
When I woke up from the tent site I noticed that my sleeping pad seemed a bit low. Knowing that it was a cold night I investigated my pad and didnt notice any holes or anything so I assumed that the cold air caused the pad to delfate. After a quick 5-10 minutes I packed up my tent and headed off to Mountain Crossing to grab my resupply box (roughly a 7 mile hike).
After crossing Horseborne Gap I was headed up a hill when I saw a small back object cross the trail. Instantly I thought black bear as I was in the section where bear canisters were forced. Naturally, I said “Hey bear” and I kept walking up the trail, to try to scare it away. I then got closer and I saw a small grey dotted creature encompassing it. Obviously my first thought being an ugly duckling situation…. Reality hit me when I heard an onking sound and realized that it was a pack of maybe 30 wild pigs. As I got within 3 feet of them the pack split in either direction of the trail, and ran by me trying their hardest to avoid me.
I then continued on the trail summiting Blood Mountain, and eventually making it to Mountain Crossings and of course got a picture / video of the tree where hikers who get off trail throw their sneakers in the tree. I then checked in and where got my resupply box, and Peter and I split a frozen pizza that they offer.
I then kept on hiking; still unsure of where I wanted to end I told myself I would hike to Bull Gap campsite and reasses where I was at. When I got there I saw two hikers who told me there was trail magic at Tesnatee Gap. Obviously I then put on some RHCP and figured I would knock out some miles ASAP to not miss it.
Within a mile I ran back into Peter and we started to guesstimate what glorious trail magic was ahead of us. Of course we both were way to optomistic and settled on it being hamburgers and ice cream. Either way it caused us to push miles and eventually we hit the gap where we were greeted by a church group with soda, water (which was an amazing sight as I was in a 10 mile dry section with one liter) and ham and cheese sandwiches. Obviously I partook in everything and ate a bannana, sandwich, a strawberry fanta, and some liquid IVs. The best trail magic one could ask for!
About 3 miles later, I hit the 14 mile mark for the day, consequently there was a beautiful stealth campsite. So I pitched my tent, and made myself ready for the day. After about half an hour Huber, from the first night (from Austria) showed up and pitched his tent. So I had a friend for the night, after talking vegetables for a while, I hung my food and headed off to bed with a way too full stomach.

Day 4 (58.4):
After waking up I started to look at my map, to look for the next water source. Seeing that I didnt have any water left as I was in a dry section, I pushed the first 4 miles to the next shelter at low gap. When I got to the water source I instantly chugged a liter of water and re-filled my two liters. Feeling really good, I then put back on my podcast and got to walking.

One of my favorite things about hiking in Georgia is the terrain. For those who have hiked in New England youll know three things to be true, the trails are streams, the trails are rocky, and the trails are hilly. Fortunately in Georgia the trails have only been hilly which makes the miles feel incredibly cruisy. After maybe 5-10 miles I looked on Farout and noticed there was a shelter. Feeling a bit ready for lunch I stopped to have a bite to eat, after mowing down, I figured I would look through the log book where I noticed a note from Damsel, which was wicked cool.

After eating a bit more I packed up and hit the road, because of how beautiful it was (60s and not a cloud in the sky) I decided I would continue to push miles in an attempt to speed up my resuppy by a day, hoping to aim for Cheese Factory campsites. After about half an hour I ran into a fellow thru-hiker. He told me there was a free shuttle I could use to get a Ride to Hilloswasset tomorrow. So I snapped a picture of the schedule and kept on walking.  After about an hour I hit the campsite and my legs still felt great. So I pushed an extra 5 miles to Tray Mountain AT Shelter. At the shelter I ran into Hubert again and a handful of other hikers. While eating my ranch instant potatos (7/10) they informed me that the shuttle left Dicks Creek gap at 10am meeting to make the shuttle Id have to cover 11 miles by 10am. After a bit of streching and rolling, I made camp and slept for the night.


Baseweight: How much his pack weighs without food and water
Ultralight: You buy VERY VERY expensive equipment to try to lower your pack weight, anything below 10lbs is impressive.
Stealth Campsite: A site not listed on Farout or maps.