Day 0

Good evening. We are now officially back on trail. And as for Spencer, he's on trail for the first time. It's good to be back!

Our time line for the day was as follows:

Woke up at 5:15 

Started driving at 6:05

Left Kristina at 6:35

Met Walker and Spencer at 6:36

Learned that Walker left his phone with Ashley at 6:37

Ashley came back at 6:48

Checked a bag and got through security by 7:10

Finished breakfast by 7:45

Boarded at 8:00

Got on the runway at 8:10

Took off at 8:22

Landed at 10:33

Got picked up at 11:10

Got dropped off at amicalola at 12:50

Started hiking at 1:15

Finished hiking by 4:30

Had camp set up by 4:45

Finished the blog by: right now

Before I start talking about the trail, the whole concept that we as humans just fly around in metal boxes and view it as completely normal is mind boggling. I know it's just physics and engineering but still, that fact that I was going 550 mph at 30k elevation is crazy. 

Okay -- trail time. Walker and I both looked at each other this morning and just quickly remarked that this is so dang strange flying back down to Georgia. 

If I thought that I was 100% committed last time I hiked the trail, then I'm certainly 150% committed now. I think even if I broke my ankle I'd just lop it off, put a prosthetic on, and keep going.... yah maybe not, but this trail is getting completed. 

What's nice to know is that I didn't really have any moments last time where I found it overbearing or impossibly difficult. This is not me saying that the trail is easy or simple by any means, but I have better gear, years of experience, and more people supporting me now. Overall, everything just feels great.

The hardest part is getting through the initial soreness. Your body and mind constantly fight with you at the start and ask for a break. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and building up my hiking muscles again. I'll need em to hike 25+ miles a day in a month from now...

I think there is a bit of imposter syndrome that's setting in. Besides getting used to the soreness, it certainly hasn't fully hit me that I'm back on trail, or what I'll be doing. Of course, I know that I'll be hiking for 4 months, and where the trail goes, but it's hard to conceptualize it to some degree as well. 

As I've always done, hikes, or extended trips for that matter (hunting and fishing too), are always broken up into segments. Since there's no reasonable way for me to envision 4 months, I just section it off by resupplies. The first few resupplies are listed below:

Day 3: Neels Gap (mile 31)

Day 6: Hiawassee (mile 70)

Day 9 or 10: The Noc (mile 140)

Day 11 or 12: Fontana Dam (mile 170)

Day 15 through Day 17: Standing Bear (mile 240)

Once we hit standing bear, we'll be officially out of the smoky mountains, and behind a section of trail that if there's bad weather, we'd need to let it clear. Regardless, the weather looks quite warm and there's a chance we won't even have much snow for the first two weeks. That would really be something else! 

I've been interested in research showing how it's more during the pursuit of a goal, not the achievement, that our bodies release dopamine. And I think that's another reason why segmenting the hike into conceptually absorbable sections is a good way to go. Although I'll get enjoyment from simply being in nature and the challenge nature imposes, as well as spending time with Walker and Spencer, the more of a positive feedback loop that I can establish, the better. Checking off a section of the trail feels great. 

With that said, tomorrow we'll summit Springer. We only have a few miles until we're there, so I'm sure we'll hit it early in the morning. I'd love to think that I'm going to sleep well tonight, but there's no way that I sleep good for the next 3 or 4 nights or so. Just to excited to get this hike really underway. And admittedly, it also takes me a couple of days to get adjusted to sleeping outside again. 

So, how was the trail today? Pretty straightforward. The approach trail begins at Amicalola state park, at roughly 1800 feet of elevation. Springer mountain on the other hand, sits at 3800 feet of elevation. Spread out over roughly 8.8 miles, 2000 feet of elevation gain isn't bad. However, we are in the mountains of Georgia at the end of the day, which means that we certainly didn't go straight up the entire time. There was a good bit of up and down, but the trend was certainly in the uphill direction. 

What's odd is that Walker and I remember the approach trail being so much harder than we experienced today. We actually flew down the trail. We mostly took pictures of the falls and ate lunch up until 2:15 / 2:30 pm and at this time we were at mile marker 1. We then ticked off 4.5 miles in 2 hours or so, which included some bathroom breaks and stopping to fill up water. For some time we were considering going another 5 miles since it was so early but we decided to just take it easy and have a 5.5 mile day. The campsite is also incredible so that was a major selling point. 

I remember last time on my blog that pictures really didn't like uploading. I'll attempt to post them alongside of this post, but I may do separate posts for photos -- we'll see what ends up happening. 

I guess that's most of my thoughts? Overall, I'm looking forward to tomorrow starting. Travelling is always somewhat of a headache, especially when relying on other people and not just driving 45 hours somewhere like I usually do. Really, I'm looking forward to being back into the swing of things. 

Last but not least, the recap of the day is: 

Hiked from amicalola state park to a campsite 5.6 miles into the approach trail. We ascended a total of 2244 feet and descended 686 feet.

Tomorrow, we hit Springer -- it's really good to be back on trail!