Day 7-8 The Naming

Day 7 Hiawassie - Zero

Nothing of note.

Day 8 - On the road again

Met up with my buddy Garrett at the grocery store in anticipation of getting on the free shuttle that the town sponsors to get hikers into and out of town. We were sitting there BS’ing when this guy walks in wearing a fight club t-shirt and points at us and asks which gap we are going to. We tell him and he asks if we want a ride. We accept and he tells us his trail name is Roadhouse. On the way to Unicoi Gap he asks us our stories and tells us he loves giving hikers rides just to get to hear their stories. I tell him I just completed a 22 year career as a Green Beret and that I am here to reconcile the things I had done and to find myself and to hopefully get closer with my higher power. We get to the gap and there is a church group there frying up hamburgers with all the fixings and handing them out to hikers. I came to the realization that I forgot my trekking poles at the grocery store. I tell RoadHouse and he tells me he will take me back into town. We grab 3 other hikers and head into town. On the way Roadhouse says to me that he will have a recommendation for me on a possible trail name. We drop the other hikers off and I grab my trekking poles. We get back to the Gap and I reminded Roadhouse that he was supposed to recommend a trail name for me. He looks me in the eye for a thoughtful moment and says “wars over.” I start to cry and I give him a hug and he tells me “your war is over and its now your time to give back and to find yourself.” 

It is hard hiking the Appalachian Trail with tears in your eyes. 

Unicoi Gap -> Steeltrap Gap

Distance: 7.4 miles 

Time: 6 hrs

Avg speed: 1.2 mph

Total accent: 2,631’

Day 5-6 Don’t Camp There!

I'm not homeless, I live in a mobile home. I have an address, you just need to tell me when I need to be there and I can tell you my address. 

I have been forced into town for a number of reasons: 

1. I ran out of food
2. My shoes have been destroying my Achilles tendons 
3. I needed to wash my clothes and take a shower

I learned a very important lesson the other day and maybe someone else did as well. It is just the beginning of spring in the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia and there is not a lot of vegetation yet. Long story short, I needed to off load some weight into a hole in the ground and I came along a nice brushy area. Perfect! A nice blind that will keep passerbys from having to witness me doing my duty. I do my thing, pack up and make it back to the trail. I walk like five feet down the trail and some dude has made camp in the same brushy area. I probably could have thrown a rock and hit that guy from where I was at earlier. Yup, that poor guy was just minding his own business and my big ass crashed through the woods and takes a dump right next to his camp. If you are not tracking the lesson to this story, its don't camp in the only brushy part of a highly used trail. 

Stats: 

Day 5

Bull Gap -> Poplar Stamp Gap

Distance: 12 miles 

Time: 5:24

Avg speed: 2.3 mph

Total accent: 2,655’

Day 6

Poplar Stamp Gap -> Unicoi Gap

Distance: 8.3 miles 

Time: 3:06

Avg speed: 2.5 mph

Total accent: 1,392’

Day 3-5 Thunder Run

 In the last three days the weather gods decided to dump 5 inches of rain onto the trail and then drop the overnight temperatures to below freezing. I hiked through the night on day 3 to get to the next shelter before the storm hit. I am glad I did! That storm was nasty! It rained for 25 hours straight and the lightning and thunder rolled constantly. The storm ended up soaking most peoples tents and sleeping bags and forced them off the trail due to the sub freezing temps. I stopped of at Neel Gap today and it was awesome. Neel Gap is the first resupply point along the trail (without getting off the trail). I got a pizza, bought a bunch of snacks, and shipped 4 lbs of stuff home. I bought some much needed motrin. My Achilles tendons have been killing me. Each day I feel better on the trail. The beginning portion of the AT is setup to basically stop every 8 miles. Every 8 miles there is a shelter and a nearby water source. So you can either walk 8 miles or 16 miles. 

The last three day stats:

Miles hiked: 25 miles

Avg miles per day: 8.3

Gear shipped home (4 lbs):

Hard sided bear vault (only needed it for a section of the trail that I didn't even sleep in) 

Stove w/ cook pot

Coffee filter

Favorite piece of gear: treking poles. I feel like Timmy from South Park using my poles going down hill. Just a bunch of highly enabled sounds and flying metal poles. 

Day 2 Black Gap to Hawk Mountain

Hiked from Black Gap Shelter to Hawk Mountain Shelter (9.7 miles). The first five miles were awesome. The last 4.7 miles sucked big ones. Still better than yesterday. A pretty big storm is supposed to roll through tomorrow, with a forecasted rain fall of 2.5”. That is a shit ton of rain! Hopefully the lightning minds its manners and leaves me alone. Pretty scary running down a trail in torrential rain trying to out run lightning like its Russian artillery. Better put some pitter in my patter.

Hike Time: 6:56

Distance: 9.7

Average speed: 1.4 mph

Elevation gain: 1667’

Least favorite piece of gear: hard sided bear vault. Damn thing weighs a ton. I am supposed to have it up until Neel Gap where I will ship that SOB back to the house. 

Day 1 - Amicalola Falls

04 April, first day on trail. The Appalachian Trail entry fee is pretty steep. The stairs leading up to Amicalola Falls are no joke. I got 7.3 miles in today and stopped at Black Gap Shelter for the night. Come on hiker midnight I got some snoring to do.

Stats

Hike time: 6:17

Distance: 7.3 miles, 

Elevation gain: 2388’

Average speed: 1.16 mph (definitely not NC flat)

Favorite food: Nutella + tortilla (a banana would be awesome)

Favorite piece of gear: Treking poles

Gear ditched: sun block, bug repellent, compass, and Gatorade pee bottle.

D-1

 As long as Murphy and Finagle keep their BS to themselves, I will be headed to Amicalola Falls tomorrow (03 April 2025). I was able to cut three pounds from my pack but quickly filled that space with food and water. 

I see people online with base weights as low as 15-20 pounds and wonder how, if we have the same packing list, why is my pack so much heavier. Then I realized that most people don't wear XXL tee-shirts and size 15 shoes. I looked it up, and the fabric required to make a single XXL tee shirt can be used to make 1.5-2 medium-sized tee shirts. So my two shirts are close to four shirts for someone else. 

I am excited but also apprehensive about this journey. The unknown is what is causing my apprehension. Like jumping out of an aircraft, everything up to that light turning green is filled with wonder and worry. I know for a fact that once that light turns green, my feet will carry me into the abyss, and at that point, nothing matters anymore. One of two things is going to happen. I am either going to plummet to my death, or I am going to fly this parachute-like Ricky Bobby drives a race car. Amicalola Falls has an archway that signifies the beginning of the Appalachian Trail, and I see that archway as the ramp of an aircraft. Once I cross it, there is no going back. Whatever comes, I will be there to witness it.

Some interesting facts about the Appalachian Trail.

https://www.rei.com/blog/hike/21-appalachian-trail-statistics-that-will-surprise-entertain-and-inform-you?cm_mmc=email_com_lm-_-skills_knowledge-_-080915-_-bt_appalachian&ev36=NULL&RMID=20150809_SK_BHI_SL1&RRID=2535599&ev11=