Reflections of the Appalachian Trail - Four Years Later

I recently had the opportunity to hit the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia right in the middle of thru hiker season.  It was such a wonderful chance for me to relive some memories from my first few days on the AT with a woman who was setting out on her own to try tackling the trail.  From meeting newbies in the Springer Mountain parking area to seeing the Benton MacKaye Trail terminus to summiting Springer for the third time this trip was full of memories.  Here are some reflections I have from those few days down on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail. 

Since it was a long ride down to the southern terminus I had lots of time to think about all the feelings I had flowing through me.  No matter how many times I head to Springer over the course of my lifetime, I suspect that I'll always feel that nervous energy.  While I know I've successfully completed two trails with a terminus here, the feeling in your stomach is always the same - the excitement of getting out on trail and the uncertainty of knowing what each day will bring.  When we went to Amicalola Falls Lodge to pick up the friend I'd be hiking with I was just so excited to be seeing the Approach Trail.  While I've been to Springer twice before, I have never hiked the Approach Trail to the top.  There were quite a few newbie thru hikers (thrubies I've seen them called) and you could almost feel their excitement.  From the lodge we had about an hours' drive to the top of Springer going the back way the GPS device took us (which I would never recommend by the way - ALWAYS take Doublehead Gap Road!)

After climbing out of the car in the Springer Mountain parking lot the nervous butterflies mostly disappeared and I was mostly feeling excitement - excitement for both myself and my friend who would be experiencing the trail for the first time.  I made the 0.9 mile walk up to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail with her, talking to all the other thrubies hitting the trail for the first time.  To my surprise, I met several blog followers and Instagram followers up there!  For being a Tuesday in April there was a lot of activity happening up there at the summit.  Signing the registry book in the rock up there for the third time just made me feel like I was at home.  After walking the 0.9 miles back to the parking area I was reintroduced to Warren Doyle, whom I had met briefly when working at the AT Lodge in Millinocket back in 2013.  

Hey there, Springer Mountain! 

The first day and evening on trail were a flurry of happy activity.  We did approximately 4 miles down to a campsite near a stream where I taught my friend how to throw a bear bag and we camped in relative cold temperatures.  The next day brought more hiking and quick thinking, using my finely tuned Yogi skills to get us a ride to cell phone service and a shuttle to Wolfpen Gap Country Store/Hostel in Suches, Georgia.  Riding through the Georgia countryside gave me a whole new view of the BMT and AT - it was very cool to see the mountains I have climbed so many times from a different perspective.  We stayed in the hostel and I got to see two old friends - Carry-On from my 2012 hike and Odie (of Hiker Yearbook fame) from my time working in the hostel in 2013 and going to The Gathering in 2014. I helped Carry-On do pack shakedowns at the amazing Top of Georgia Outfitters satellite store at Wolfpen Gap.  By the time our ride came to pick us up the next day I had felt like I already assimilated back into the Hikertrash Culture and wasn't ready to hit the real world again. 

Doing a pack shakedown with a client at the outfitter. 

Being back on the Georgia section of the AT brought back so many fond and happy memories for me.  I made it through Georgia in about 5 days during my thru hike, so going a little slower and meeting those hikers in the beginning really reminded me more of meeting hikers up in Maine.  Too many people with no experience wearing packs that don't fit and carrying so much gear they're blowing out their knees.  We saw so many injuries and so many ill-fitting packs!  I often wonder about some of those people I met down in Georgia that first week of April and I hope to see some evidence of them making it through the Smokies soon.  It was such a great experience to get to go back to those first few miles of trails with a thrubie and share those wonderful memories with her.  I can't wait for my next trip back one day. 

Day 7 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Today was going to go quickly because we knew showers and the Ocoee River were waiting for us! We started out our day by seeing two turkey hunters on horseback passing our camp just before we left.  We then had a short and easy climb up, you guessed it, and old fire road up to Hemp Top.  No view here, so we kept going until we made it to the state line at approximately 10 am! We filled up our water and then made the steep and surprisingly quick ascent on Big Frog Mountain, 1100 feet in a mile.

Welcome to Tennessee! 

From here it was nearly all downhill into Thunder Rock Campground and we made it down by 3:10.  When we came into the large campground, there was only one RV there, a tent, and the camp host.  I asked someone where the pay station was, paid up, and went for the bathhouse.  This place had HOT showers!  I even did some laundry in the shower but it didn't really dry due to the humidity. 

The Ocoee River behind our camp. 

While we were laying out clothes, a man came by and asked us if we were Benton MacKaye thru hikers. We told him yes and he said to come over for beers later.  We met Red and his wife, their friends who had recently relocated to NC and their son.  We also officially met the camp host and her son.  We hung out until 10 pm, which is WAYYYYYY later than hiker midnight ;)

A picnic table at our campsite!  Yay! 

Day 6 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Leaving our lovely campsite at Hatley Gap was tough, but we had to get moving.  Our first climb of the day was Fowler Mountain, which has five peaks, followed by Flat Top Mountain, which used to have a fire tower.  This part of the day went quickly, mostly because there wasn't much to look at. Our guidebook stated we'd have a few views this morning, but we never saw any.

Our hike from Flat Top was down a combination of old roadbed and steep trail.  When we reached the bottom at Dyer Gap, the trail turned into a combination of horse and hiking trail.  It was buggy, muddy, and kind of nasty walking due to all the erosion.  At the end of the combination trail was the northern terminus of the Pinhotti Trail that runs from Alabama.  It was kind of a weird place to end it, in the middle of two other trails!  From here, we began walking on the old roads that would make up the remainder of our day.

Pinhotti Trail North Terminus. 

When we reached the place we wanted to camp, we discovered no water and no campsite (no surprise!) and began walking until we could find one.  After going about 3 more miles I spotted a small fire ring someone made on the side of the old road and we set up camp pretty much right in the middle of the trail.  We did 17.7 miles and were spent.  Tomorrow we hit the TN state line!

Wilderness area is great! 

Of a different note, we saw a mule train today!  About 10-12 covered wagons filled with good Ol boys riding up the mountain drinkin beer, all while being pulled by mules!  Can't say I've ever seen that before... 

The importance of water on a long-distance hike

Water - does a body good! 

I know what you're thinking from the title of this blog... "Yes, I know water is important!  I always drink plenty!"  So do I... Usually.  On our fifth day on the Benton MacKaye Trail we ran into a dire water situation and I wanted to write this bonus blog about how important your water truly is.

When we left Blue Ridge, GA on our fifth morning, we were going to be doing a six mile road walk through vacation cabins, neighborhoods, and farmlands.  Our guidebook indicated that this valley walk didn't have a 'good' water source, so we walked out of town with approximately 3 liters of water a piece.  When we finally finished our road walk and stopped for lunch, we knew our book said water was 0.8 miles away on a side trail.  We drank most of it on the hot exposed roads and only had about 1/2 a liter of water between us (17 ounces).  We attempted to find this water source in two locations where it supposedly was, but recent development and cabins built on this mountain pretty much wiped out the springs. No problem. We had a few sips and decided to go up and over the mountain in front of us, approximately 2.4 miles, to the next source.

We arrived at the next gap and began surveying the situation. NoKey followed a trail down into a gulley and there was nothing there.  We walked every direction we could and no water.  Okay, 1.2 miles to a campsite and water source, again up and over a mountain!

We arrived at McKenney gap and not only was it NOT a campsite, not on a road (as the book suggested), and had evidence of bear activity, there was not a single place that even looked like there was water. Again, some old trails all converged here so we wandered around and found absolutely nothing. We didn't have a choice other than moving on for the night. This is where we had originally planned to camp, but the fact that I had physically seen a bear AND two coyote coming up over this ridge made me think again.  We drank the last of our water and powered up to the next gap where there was supposedly a stream crossing.

Something chomped this VERY recently. 

On the way into Hatley Gap we spotted some water close to the trail. We made the decision to bushwhack down the hill and make ourselves a way to fill up a bottle out of the spring.  We drank a few bottles a piece and walked on our way hoping to find a camp.  

Why am I telling you all this? Because I wanted to let people know that not all trails like the AT or trails in the Smokies where water is guaranteed just because a campsite is established.  Our first night on the BMT we also didn't find our supposed water source and had to trek back up the hill for water. When you see water running make sure you have enough!  We have Sawyer Mini filters and could have avoided this situation today if we had thought ahead and said "well our water source might not be there anymore."  Always have extra water because at the end of the day it's easier to dump out water than it is to seek it out!

Day 5 - Benton MacKaye Trail

With heavy packs and full bellies we made our way up highway 76 for a hitch back to the BMT. We only tried for a few minutes before being picked up by a nice guy named Justin Walker.  He actually had travelled to Millinocket when he was in his late teens!  Small world.  We began our walk into the most secluded portion of the BMT by first doing approximately 6 miles of road/backyard walking through a new development of vacation cabins all over the side of the mountain.  This is the reason you should celebrate national trail acts!  Every trail might have turned out looking like this one.

Wait... AT community?! What about the BMT? 

The downside to this, and that's a topic for another blog, is all the development completely wiped out our water sources for most of the day.  

A farm with cows on the road walk. 

After finally getting back into the woods, I saw a bear and two coyotes in the closet parts to the cabins. I guess they really do stay close to people. Scat covered the trail and trail signs had been chomped by sharp teeth!  After walking a few more miles and finally finding some water, we found a perfect campsite at Hatley Gap and built a fire to scare away any critters that might stop by tonight. The weather is supposed to cool off the next few days so we are hoping to get in bigger miles now that humidity is finally on our side.

NoKey at our great camp with our fire. 

Day 4 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We only had 8.5 miles to get to town today and I hit the ground running! NoKey has been pretty tired so far, but the push to get into town for showers is enough to get any hiker moving. Our first climb up Rocky Mountain was gradual but long.  The first 3.5 miles of our day were uphill.  After reaching the top, we had one more push to get over Rich Mountain before our descent to Blue Ridge.   

Double blazes means pay attention - faces are an added bonus :)

We began our descent on some old logging roads (which we discovered are a theme on this trail) and saw a wild hog with her piglet a short way down the hill. After descending steeply and passing Laurel Creek, we came out onto some old farm land and more private roads.  The meadow we walked through was absolutely beautiful and we quickly came to some more roads to complete our walk to Highway 76.Traffic on the highway was moving very fast, 70 mph, and I was afraid we wouldn't get a ride.

Georgia is gorgeous! 

Hikers only! Private land abounds! 

We managed to get one within 5 minutes and got into Blue Ridge by 1:00.  We did laundry, got our mail drop, and got a hotel room for showers before calling it a night.  Tomorrow we hit the most remote section of trail in Georgia... I hope our food bags aren't too heavy! 

I love this cute little town! 

Day 3 - Benton MacKaye Trail

The Game Changah!

Today started out a little earlier than day 2 but we thought we might get afternoon rain.  Add to that the fact that we wanted to see if the Tococca Riverside Restaurant was open and we were motivated to move! We were walking out of camp and found that just a tenth of a mile further was a campsite covered in lady slippers!  The first part of our day was overcast, but uneventful. We spent most of the morning following horseshoe prints down to the gap at Route 60.  We ran into some day hikers at the gap and figured we would see them again. By now it was 12:30 and hot. We had two mountains to climb and the first was rough but we met more day hikers at the top. They said we had an easy 5 miles to the road but we knew we still had to climb Brawley Mountain to the fire tower.  We got to the top in the searing sun and 90-degree temps to find that the tower wasn't accessible and the view was dismal.  We had mostly downhill walking from here, following a few old roadbeds.  We reached Dial Gap very quickly and began our first long road walk of the hike.  We reached the Tococca River and found out the restaurant was indeed open!! 

Hike n eat - my motto

We went into this incredibly nice restaurant smelling awful and looking even worse.  This place is NICE and we were out of place.  We went in and asked if we could sit on their patio and these people couldn't have been nicer!  They took our packs and put them away so we could enjoy our dinner.  We both got huge fried chicken dinners with mashed potatoes and green beans, the chicken smothered in country gravy!  We also had spicy fried pickles and I polished off a peach cobbler.  This meal was a huge game changer.  

NoKey enjoying fried chicken with some iced tea! 

By now, it's 5:15 and we have 3.9 miles of road walking to the next place we could get into the forest and camp.  This walk was long and hot, but we got it done by 6:30.  We camped just upstream from Fall Branch Falls. It was beautiful, secluded, and quiet!  We took hiker baths and did hiker laundry with our Dr Bronners and had an amazing night surrounded by fireflies in the North Georgia Woods. We pulled 18.7 miles today and our feet were feeling it!

Fall Branch Falls near our camp for the night. 

Day 1 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We made the four hour drive down to Springer Mountain in the Chatahoochee Forest... A place I was surprised to be again! After making the 1-mile trek up from the parking lot with my dad, we took some photos and said our goodbyes about 0.2 miles back down the trail at the official start of the BMT. A few hundred feet in we saw a plaque dedicated to Benton MacKaye and began our day in the hot GA mountains.  After doing copious amounts of downhill, we took a break at Three Forks, where the AT and BMT meet for a mile. We also took a 0.2 mile round trip to see Long Branch Falls, which is where NoKey camped on his first  night on the AT.

Our climb after this was a little steeper and we decided to camp in the unnamed gap at the Bottom of the hill. As soon as we stopped, thunder got loud and we set up the tent and quickly jumped inside for an hour and a half due to a thunderstorm. Looks like our timing was good!  We never found the spring here so I backtracked the quarter mile up the hill to one we saw on our way down for water.  Nerves didn't let me get much sleep the first night!

Long Branch Falls

A blaze leading the way to "The Bald".