Date: 2015-04-13
From: Springer

To: Hiawasse, Georgia
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

This is my first post from the trail. Hello to any of the approx 100 peaople I told that I was thru-hiking the AT. That last spelling was a misspelled word, but it was exactly how the van driver sounded "people" this morning.   I am definitely an out-of-towner here.   People can identify me from my Minnesota accent. Anyways, a couple key thoughts, to tell you my progress. The number of posts at this journal are likely to be 1-3 weeks apart.   So If you don't see anything here for multiple weeks, think nothing of it.   IF I ever quit the trail, I will post it here.      Here are the reasons for very few posts:R1) I am now at the Hiawasse (Georgia) public library. I am taking a near-zero day.   Although I have a Sprint-based smartphone, I seem to rarely have cell service.   The best service is, as I was told, from Verizon, but I don't have a Verizon phone. R2) I dislike typing on my smartphone.   It's so slow compared to this keyboard I am using. R3) I am spending substantial time just hiking.   I have got into camp at 6PM or even later several times, and by the time I filter water and setup camp and eat, it is time for bed, at 8PM.   So I just don't have time to do do these posts, other than when I am in town, and I hope the town stays will be once a week or slightly less. R4) The AT is a long hike, about 5-6 months. I never intended to document what I did every day, nor would most of you want to know to that detail. OK, enough reasons why there will be not so many trail posts here. TO tell you about the trip so far. Overall, things are well with me.   This is hiking day six (Monday Apr 13), and I am at milepost 70.   My daily hiking distances have been approximately 8, 12, 15, 15, 16 and today, 4.   I left the hostel at the start with 10 others, and I think Brad and I are leading the pack.   Not that this is a race. It isn't.   And the guidebooks tell us to go slow at the start, so I did, the first 2 days.   That was enough going slow.   We met several people yesterday that had been on the trail for 11 days.   They won't make it to Maine, not south to northbound all the way.   Anyways, I am pleased with my progress. Things are also fine now with my hiking machine, my body.   I have continued to wear knee stabilizer braces on both knees, and my knees remain in good working order. The knee braces serve me to keep "walking like an old man". That is, I am careful to use my hiking poles fully going downhill, so as not to put too much stress on my knees.   So I feel well now.   That was not the case on the first day. Starting Monday, 1 day before departure, I got significant GI problems.   I will spare you the details.   But it made the flight unpleasant, and the 1 hour and 10 minute van ride from the starting hostel to the start of the trail was about the most uncomfortable hour of my life.   I spent the first day taking four hours of naps, and eating absolutely nothing, but still walking 8 miles.   My GI troubles ended on day #2.   Glad for that. I'm reasonably well prepared, probably better than most, but, slightly worrisome, not as well prepared as some of those hiking with me now.   Specifically, my pack weight is about 10 pounds more than it should be.   That is why I obsessed over my pack weight, but, since I didn't want to swap out all of my gear, I stuck with it. In 200-300 miles I will send home my cold weather gear, but, until then, I know I am carrying to much weight, partially due to the pack I have which I know is heavy.   Oh well.   I will continue on until I decide to swap out nearly all of my gear, if I ever decide to do that.   Brad, my hiking buddy, carries 20-25 pounds. I carry 30-35 pounds. I am shocked at the crowds on the trail, on the number of hikers.   There were 40-50 hikers and tents on the first night. This is the opposite of the Superior Hiking Trail.   The shelter/camping area last night had 30 people/tents.   Thus far, I have not slept in a shelter.   Not sure when I will.   Maybe Virginia in 300 more miles.      As stated in the books I've read, the most typical hiker age is 20-30. That makes for somewhat of a party atmosphere at the shelters, which I'm not thrilled with.   But all the hikers go to bed by 8:30-9PM, because even the youngsters need sleep. There are some old people like me, but we kind of stick out. That's OK. I started with Brad at the Hiker Hostel. We met each other on day three, and have decided to hike together when possible.   That makes it more enjoyable for both of us.   Since there are SO many hikers, it's not like I recognize all of them. I don't. I try to be especially friendly to those that I might hike with, if not now, then later. The weather is good enough, my favorite expression.   We had some rain on day 3, no big deal, even though it was a thunderstorm. Lightning was about a mile away. No problem.   But Brad decided to come to town today because the weather forecast is for FIVE days of rain.   It rained last night, but it is only slightly raining now.   I can hike in rain.   They say: "No Rain - No Pain - No Maine" So rain at 60 degrees is no big deal. Rain at 35 degrees is what I dread. My typical day: 6:30 Get up7:45, after stowing my gear, and eating oatmeal, on the trail. I take short breaks during the day.   Lunchtime is short and varies by nearly shelter or water source. by 5PM-6PM   Arrive at camp. from then until 8:30 or 9PM I setup camp, filter water, eat, and mingle and compare information if the occasion presents itself.So I spend a lot of time on the trail, or taking down or setting up. And that's OK, and about what I expected. My feet are fine.   One small blister. No problem. I am still applying some moleskin, but not as much as I did on the SHT hike. I have taken about 3 pictures.   That's all.   I may upload them if I can, but they are not that photo-worthy. One other significant item - This trail has far more vertical than the SHT.   Lots of it.   Seems the trail is usually going up, or going down. Some level, but not so much.   I've heard Georgia (as well as NC/Tennessee) can be tough.   The middle states are the easier ones. One other item - I attended an AT presentation 10 days ago where the speaker said 99% of the hikers take an alcohol stove.   Don't believe everything somebody tells you.   Most people have a stove, but about 90% are the same iso-butane canister type I have.   Not so many JetBoils, but most are Isobutane/pocket-rocket type.   So the alcohol stove was misinformation, or obsolete, one of the two. OK, that's enough for this post.   I am doing reasonably well. Never perfect, just "Good Enough".   I don't have a trail name other than the lame "Pauly". I think trail names are more for the youngsters, who want to be somebody completely new.   I am not trying to be anybody than who I am.   So if I never get a trail name, that's fine.   I tell people of my family and who I am. All the other seniors like me are retired.   I can't pretend I'm 25, because I'm not.