March 7th - Day 6

Sleeping on top of a mountain like we did last night has its ups and downs. The wind was howling all night and it was very cold, well in the teens. Although when the sun came up in the morning all we had to do was walk out of the shelter to catch an amazing sunrise. Sofia and I were running very low on food and we were happy that Hiawasee was only about 10 miles away and the terrain was mostly down hill. Hiawassee is right by Lake Burton where were going to stay with Matt's mom. Still having frozen water I made the mistake of drinking a lot of unfiltered water and got desperate enough to eat some snow, more than I'm proud to admit. The day went by pretty quick and I was happy that I was going to see the family and eat real food. I was pretty bummed Pop couldn't come because I would've liked him to help me resupply, but the man's got to work and I understand that. After seeing the family and introducing my hiking buddies to all my grandparents and mother I started to feel sick, I think all the dirty water was starting to catch up to me. I went behind the car and yakked all over the place, I felt pretty sick until I drank a ton of water and some soda. I resupplied way too much food and gained way more gear than I got rid of so my pack is now heavy as hell. The lake house stay was an awesome getaway from the wilderness and Matt's mom was a super nice lady. I ate three good meals and slept in a comfortable queen-size bed, what more can a man ask for? Went to bed around 11:00pm, which is crazy because lights out is around sunset when I'm in the woods. It was a well-needed rest after 2 tough days.

the first glimpse of sunlight from inside the Tray Mountain Shelter, GA

What a view!  Waking up to this is awesome. Tray Mountain Shelter, GA

on our way down the mountain to Dick's Creek Gap in Hiawassee, GA

Almost there. Thank goodness for warmer weather.

Finally made it to the trail head. It's been a tough couple of days. I was starved and dehydrated.

Sofia is ready to go home with Mama, the Witos and Heidi. She better come back.

mmmm... Chick-fil-A

restocking for the next few days

So happy to be at Matt's lake house. His mom is great! I'm so thankful.

March 6th - Day 5

I had to go to the bathroom very early the next day so I poked my head out of my sleeping bag, only to have my face hit with snowy ice. I decided it wasn't worth it and held it until I woke up. The entire inside of the shelter had been covered in a layer of snow/ice. The snow fell hard that night, but that didnt stop us from planning to hike 15 miles to Tray Mountain Shelter. It was by far the snowiest day I've ever hiked in my life and the winds were slapping me on the face real hard. The tubes in my Camelback froze the night before so I was low on water all day. The hike ended with two intense and long climbs back to back but I staggered my way up to the top of Tray Mountain where we were going to sleep. Although the last shelter stay was really cold the night before, Sofia and I decided it was a better idea then to put our tent up in the snow. I got the coldest I've ever been in my life that afternoon. We were on top of a mountain the wind was whipping around everywhere and most of my clothes were damp. I had to change everything and go without socks for the night. Can't wait for warmer weather.

A very snowy trail day!

atop Tray Mountain...  What a difficult climb!

Ross striking a pose for my sister, the photographer

March 5th - Day 4

After comfortably sleeping in a bed for the first time in a few nights sofia woke me up at 6:50 to grab some breakfast Pirate had cooked up, pancakes and great coffee. I said my goodbyes to Blue Moon and Dixie because it was probably going to be the last time I saw them due to there slower pace and taking a zero today. We got our stuff together and left with a new crew consisting of my friends from GA Tech and Florida, Matt, Michael, and Ross. There was no rain at first, but it was very windy and there was a thick spooky fog over the woods. We started with a long climb that went by very quickly but didn't reward us with a pretty view, although the light rain and fog had a beauty of its own. The new group hiked well together and we made great time hiking the 11.6 mile stretch to Low Gap by 1:00. With the sky looking like it was going to pour down on us, we decided to stay there. With heavy rain setting in we were happy to see there was room in the shelter. We thought it would be easier than setting up the tent in the rain. I plopped my pad and sleeping bag in between Ross and a cool lesbian couple from New Hampshire. Some how Sofia didn't set up next to me but that's not too bad, even though I was looking forward to being able to lean closer to her instead of being very careful not to disrupt the two strangers to my left and right. Hikers were flowing in disappointed that there was no room in the shelter and with the rain coming down hard at this time they were forced to figure out a way to camp and stay dry through the night. This shelter is in a prime location with a scenic little creek flowing very close to it and the fog and rain made the day relaxing. We were invited to stay the night in Matt's family's lake house to resupply. It's going to take us two days to get there but I'm happy that I'm in a group of nice guys with whom I enjoy hiking with. A group of hikers in their mid 20s came in and kept us all very entertained with jokes and a good time. The shelter stay has been very pleasant so far and I will tell y'all more about how I slept tomorrow.

the trail heading out of Neels Gap, GA

Ross, Matt, Michael, and I admiring the "view"

you could barely see 2 ft in front of you

living on the trail... up close and personal, Low Gap Shelter, GA

March 4th - Day 3

We woke up around 8:00 and we weren't positive how far we were hiking. We were a little quicker to pack up the tent and gear this morning; we were hiking before 9:30. Today we decided that my trail name was going to be No Rush because I'm always taking long and Sofia tends to complain while I take my time making sure everything is exactly how I want it. Sofia's trail name is now Hot Hands because the circulation in her hands apparently isn't very good, and she decided to bring 10 pairs of hot hands. With our newly given trail names we were off to Neels Gap where we were set on staying at the hostile there. 

climbing up Blood Mountain

We climbed up the 6th highest summit in GA, Blood Mountain, which was a tough snowy climb but the view at the top was fantastic and worth it. Neels Gap was located directly across the street at the bottom of Blood Mountain and we had read in a shelter journal that there was pizza, we were very excited. Once we checked into the hostel for the night we found out there wasn't pizza but a delicious barbecue chicken and pork chop dinner with baked beans cooked by the hostel owner Pirate. Pirate was exactly what I envisioned when I thought of an AT hostel owner, an older man who had a funny walk about him, probably from the rumor I heard that he's thru hiked the AT 4 times in his life, and of course he had a huge beard and spoke with an extremely heavy southern drawl. The hostel was a basement room with 8 bunk beds that all had someone sleeping in them that night. The group varied from older thru hikers in their late 50s to early 60s to college kids just like me, taking a semester off to thru hike the AT, also a couple section hikers from Michigan that were on spring break. My favorite older thru hikers were two gentlemen trail named Blue Moon and Dixie. Blue moon was from upstate New York and loved to talk, but not in an annoying way I truly liked conversing with him and he showed us a fun card game called 31, real good guy. Dixie was from Mississippi and he started the AT on his 60th birthday with the aspiration of thru hiking. I also met 2 guys that happen to go to Georgia Tech and were in the same frat as Casey and Dan (buddies from Roswell) named Michael and Matt, they hiked the first couple days with a 21 year old from florida named Ross. Although we heard the weather was going to be bad the next day Sofia, Michael, Matt, Ross, and I were motivated to hike 11 miles to low gap shelter despite the rainy rumors we were hearing. Blue Moon and Dixie got a cabin with a few other older thru hikers near Neels Gap to take a zero and stay out of the nasty weather. It was the first night in a few nights I got to sleep in a bed and it was well worth the $16 stay.

Sofia and I atop Blood Mountain

Sofia always makes friends with random cats

bunks at the Walasayi Inn, Neels Gap, GA

Blue Moon and I

March 3rd - Day 2

headed to Woody Gap

We woke up in the tent way too late, around 9:00. I wasn't as sore as I thought I was going to be but the wind was blowing and it was very cold. We took a long time getting our stuff together and after everything was ready we noticed we were just about the last people leaving the shelter. We hit the trail sometime around 10:30, with the late start Sofia and I were not positive how far we were going that day. We did know that we were going to resupply with Pop at Woody Gap which was a short 5 miles from the shelter. Morning flew by and before I knew it we were on Woody Gap and pop was there waiting for us with a trunk full of food. Woody Gap was extremely windy and it was cold. We met a man with the trail name fresh ground, who had some trail magic waiting for us, hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup he was a great guy. We took a pretty long break talking to Fresh Ground and telling pop about the first day. We were there for a total of an hour and a half and decided to camp out at Lance Creek which was only 3.3 miles from Woody Gap. We said our goodbyes to pop and thank you to fresh ground and were on our way to lance creek. It was a steep climb but after .8 miles there was a fantastic view that I took a picture of and put on Instagram. We got to Lance Creek in the early afternoon, we set up camp and I completely failed at trying to start a fire. I had a dinner that consisted of mashed potatoes with pepperoni and had some tuna on a tortilla. I was quite full and was in bed early as soon as the sun went down. I started reading the Deep Survival book, thought it was appropriate. I was asleep by 10:00.

experimenting with the Timer App on Sofia's iPhone

taking a quick break to soak in the amazing view

March 2nd - Day 1

The first day on the trail was delightful. The 0.9 mile hike to the summit of Springer Mountain with the entire family had potential to be stressful but they were all troopers and I had a great time. Once the goodbyes and tears from the family were done with, I was on my way.

the whole family at the start of the 0.9mi hike up Springer Mountain, GA

conga line to the summit of Springer Mountain

Sofia and I ascending Springer Mountain

Even Heidi was in on it. She loves hiking!

Finally chipping away at the 2175 miles to Mt. Katahdin and there was a huge smile on my face. We started late, somewhere around 11:30 but Sofia and I were motivated to skip the first shelter at Hawk Mountain which would have been at 8.1 miles. Gooch Mountain Shelter, the next shelter, was a 15.6 mile hike. We were not positive it was a great idea but I had the adrenaline to take on the task. Only about 5 miles in on a snowy day with steady flurries falling we ran into the first act of trail magic. The people from The Georgia Adventures Group had a canopy style tent with hot tomato soup and cheese sandwiches and also other goodies. They were the nicest people and happen to also be from Roswell, Ga, my hometown. After I said thank you about 100 times, we were off again and my morale was super high but that didnt last all the way to Gooch Mountain Shelter. After mile 11, I was dead, Sofia and I had nothing left in the tank, my knees were cramping and my pace was much slower than the beginning but we wanted to make it. Almost at sunset, around 5:30, we saw the shelter. We had made it, almost 16 miles the first day made me feel very good about myself and Sofia. The night was well in the teens with wind chill around 0, one of my fellow thru hikers informed me in the morning. I wasn't too cold at night but the morning was awfully cold and windy.

Springer Mountain summit

the official photo

So amazing!!