Date: 2022-11-01
From: Cooper Gap GA 12.3

To: Springer Mountain GA 0.0
Miles today: 12.3

Made it!The final leg of this southern AT journey to Springer Mountain had a little bit of everything. Sun dappled forests and mist; rhododendron groves; waterfalls; streams; and, of course, rocks. I took my time, meandering along the trail trying to imprint the sights, sounds, and aromas on my memory. I have been fortunate over the course of my life to be able to travel widely, and have always found myself enriched by the experience. The past 10 weeks on the AT have been no different¢¦except perhaps more intense. Much of that learning has come courtesy of my companions on the trail, who have uniformly tried to help me to succeed. I am only halfway through the trail, but a couple of reflections:Gratitude - there is nothing like stripping out all of life¢s luxuries and being away from home for an extended period of time to highlight how much there is to be grateful for. Family and friends; running water and hot showers; health; trail maintainers; the kindness of total strangers. When you are hiking for 8-10 hours per day, it gives you a chance to be grateful for many things. Caution - 5,000,000 steps in the wilderness (2.2 MM so far). What could go wrong? Thanks to Coach for teaching me to always have a Plan A, B, and C for every step I take, and to the Damascus outfitter for finally getting me into shoes with some grip. Courage - there are so many kinds of courage. Many of the people I met on the trail were on a journey of recovery - loss of a loved one, health issues, psychological trauma. A number were working through injury, determined not to be stopped. Most were battling the mental grind of getting up each day to march forward, cold, wet, cold and wet, hot, thirsty, hot and thirsty, and always hungry. I admire my fellow hikers more than I can express. A special thanks to Float, who taught me about all of these, and never hesitated to push me to go ¢just 3 more miles.¢Humility - honestly, getting even this far is a lucky roll of the dice. Weather, injury, illness - all can disrupt or end a hike of this length. I have been very fortunate to dodge these so far. I am also gobsmacked by just how much I did not know when I started 10 weeks ago¢¦which leads me to be suspicious that there is still a lot more to learn. I have spent the last 10 weeks watching and learning from others, and I do not want to stop. Community - I am awed by the AT community - other thruhikers, hostel owners, shuttle operators, trail angels, volunteer trail maintainers, small businesses in smal trail towns - who collectively operate to support and nurture the hikers on the Appalachian Trail. I have had so many caring and positive encounters on the way, of people paying it forward on a daily basis. Too many to thank - but thank you. Mountains - I had not anticipated how much I would be drawn to these mountains of the Southern Appalachians. I feel privileged and lucky to have hiked them during the spectacular fall foliage season, but suspect that all seasons hold their own special allure. Driving away from Springer towards Atlanta today I found myself staring pensively out of the car window, feeling their pull as they vanished in the distance. Persistence - it is amazing what can be accomplished by focus and repetition. There was not a mountain I could not climb as long as I kept putting one front in front of the other (hey, sometimes they were tiny steps and I was pretty slow, but I did not go backwards). In a life defined by sunlight hours, I found that you can get a lot done before sunrise. And I found that putting miles on the scoreboard almost every day (I only took 5 zeros) helped move me steadily towards the end. Gear and planning - this is where I spent all my time in advance of my hike, and I have some thoughts which I might detail in a future post. But honestly? It was the stuff above that mattered. I am going to take a bit of a break for the winter. I hope to knock off some of the PA rocks during that time, then start up going north in April. I hear there are mountains there.