Here Goes Nothing!

First night’s setup

Day one of my thru-hike is done, and I'm in my tent. I've eaten dinner (chicken casserole). I've had dessert (Snickers). I've cleaned up everything, and my food's in the bear box. I had the chance to talk to some people for a little bit. I don't know if it's always going to be like this, but here we are at 7 o'clock, and people have retreated to their sleeping bags. That said, it's pretty damn cold right now. It's supposed to get down to the mid-20s tonight, and it's already pretty windy. But it feels pretty weird to be laying here in my tent in broad daylight. My feet are cold, though, and at least they're warming up in my sleeping bag.

So that's the current state, but I’ll back up and start from the beginning of the day. We woke up in the Comfort Inn & Suites in Dahlonega. I’d unpacked and repacked my stuff (again) the night before, so there wasn’t much to be done in that respect. I think S. and I both were both a bit nervous, given that I was about to leave. So we went to get breakfast in the hotel lobby but only had coffee. No food. A quick tooth brush, and then we piled our stuff into the car and headed to Amicalola Falls State Park. When we got there, we went into the visitor’s center to get a parking pass for the day and so S. could get one of those souvenir pressed pennies. Of course, she chose the design with the AT hiker on it.

We drove to the upper parking lot, at the top of the falls, to begin our hike. I didn't want to start out from the visitor center lot with a full backpack and have to immediately climb 400-something stairs. The day before, we’d come straight to the visitor’s center from the airport so I could officially register and pick up my tag. We took some photos of the falls and checked out the various parking options, and the approach trail starts not far from the upper lot, so we planned to set out from there.

S. hiked with me for the first three miles — a little over an hour — and then we said our goodbyes. They were surprisingly not as weepy as I was expecting. But I think we’d gotten a lot of that out beforehand.

Officially registering

It was great to have S. come up the trail a bit, but now, I was on my own. The approach trail had always been a little bit intimidating to me, because I just kind of feared it being really steep and difficult. It didn't really start out that way, but it certainly finished that way. It was a bit painful, but after a few hours (and about 7.5 miles), I made it to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail: Springer Mountain. The wind was starting to kick up, and it was getting chilly, but I saw several hikers there that were signing the logbook. I had some snacks and then walked about 2.8 miles further to set up at the Stover Creek campsite. There's probably 20 people staying here tonight.

And so it begins.

First white blaze (of many)

It took me about 35 minutes to set up camp. I found a tent site that was pretty far away from everybody else, so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty if I started snoring. Most people are tightly packed around the shelter.

Most of the hikers I’ve seen are kind of keeping to themselves, but I had the chance to meet a handful of people, and they all seem very nice. There’s a married couple that are both general practitioners, and there’s a pair of nice young women from Northern Indiana hiking together. One's a nurse, and one works at a summer camp.

I also met another married couple, and when I asked them what their inspiration was for doing the hike, the man said, “We're retired, and we wanted to do something stupid.” So there you go.

How’s this for an obvious observation? Water is heavy. My pack was so much lighter after I drank a lot of water, but I drank two liters of water and didn't have to pee the entire day. And I barely sweat. So that's an indication that I'm going to need to have a lot of water.

I’m definitely feeling some soreness. My pack's a little bit too heavy at the moment, but every day, it'll get lighter, and I'll get a little stronger. So I hope that evens out in the end. Overall, it was a pretty good first day.