Date: 2015-03-28
From: Amicalola Falls, Georgia

To: "The First 5 Days"
Miles today: 10.0

Well, we started off Tuesday on the Appalachian Trail from Amicalola Falls. It was a real experience. Despite being meticulous about my packing list I seem to have overpacked terribly. Now, today we are at Neel¢s Gap and I will be offloading a lot of gear. There is a lot of emotion going through me. This trail is by no means easy. There are a lot of ups and a lot of downs. The ups are very difficult and the downs are equally difficult which was surprising to me. In spite of everything I read, I was thinking it would be like the Ohio trail, that¢s the tow path trail. Wow! Was I woefully underestimating this trek. The first day was beautiful with temperatures in the 70s and hardly a cloud in the sky. We made it to the first stop which was Black Gap shelter, still about a mile short of Springer Mountain. There we shared the shelter with two men from Kentucky who we were leapfrogging all day. One had an old fashioned aluminum frame ruck with an old fashioned canteen hanging off the side. Erin chatted with the guys from Kentucky, I frankly was pooped and went right to bed. There must be a Ranger Training Battalion (RTB) nearby doing mountain phase training. Blackhawks were flying close all night.   The next day we awoke to dense fog and dampness in the air. When we got to the top of Springer Mountain it wasn¢t anything like I had anticipated. I was looking for something like golden gates, arches, crowds of cheering people. All there was was a really nice caretaker. His trail name sounded like C-So and he gave us a briefing, took our pictures together and took our pictures individually. He gave us an inservice on what we should and shouldn¢t do. We ran into people who parked below Springer Mountain and were day-hiking up and back down. We found out that the AT is now 2189 miles. After a long day¢s hike we ended up at Hawk Mountain shelter that was quite nice. There were several people there including a lady from Colorado, a girl on her 21st birthday, a sergeant from the 82nd, a group of German hikers, a guy from New Hampshire, with a bottle of Scotch, and two guys from Massachusetts, one with a guitar. I went to bed but Erin shared jokes, stories, and planned the next day. They ended the evening all together singing ¢Country Road¢ by John Denver accompanied by the guy with the guitar.   Of course it rained all night and it was cold the next morning. We got up bright and early at 7am ¢ which now that I think about it that isn¢t really early as I used to get up at 4am. All morning we heard gun fire and explosions, again the RTB. About half way through the day we stopped at Gooch Gap for a lunch break. There were many hikers from Hawk Mountain and some were calling it a night. Erin was talking to the German people who didn¢t come here together but hooked up on the trail. She asked how on earth they decided to do this. They said there is a three-hour documentary on German Public TV that runs twice a year about hiking the Appalachian Trail. They said that in it ¢ it is always sunny with blue sky ¢ it doesn¢t rain once! After lunch, we continued on to Woody Gap making it another hard day of up and down, up and down, up and down. At Woody Gap we met with the guys from Hawk Shelter, the girl from Colorado, the New Hampshire guy with Scotch (it is already gone), a couple of other girls. We witnessed our first Trail Magic: colas in a pyramid on a rock. The view was amazing. There was a group on a ledge trying to start a fire to no avail. Erin threw in a few sticks and blew on it a little and Poof! Fire. They were amazed ¢ I was pretty proud of her skill. Down for the night and it rained all night long. Again up at 7am. Yes another day of up and down, up and down, which wasn¢t too bad. Then we made it up Blood Mountain which was quite a climb. The view from there was astounding. It was named after a Cherokee battle and I just cannot imagine running up and down the mountain with axes, killing people and stuff. There is a beautiful stone shelter on top of the mountain but most people don¢t camp up there as fires are not permitted. It was interesting to me that down for me is much more difficult than up. We made it to Neel¢s Gap. Unfortunately there was no room in the inn (hostel) so we met up with trail angels who gave us a ride into Blairsville, Georgia where we stayed in a hotel for the night. All of our stuff was soaked and we took this opportunity to dry out everything. We didn¢t realize how big the tents were. One filled the room and we set up two. Sleeping bags hung from the curtain rod. I took a long hot bath while Erin rounded up a hot pizza. The emotional roller coaster hit me. Parkinson¢s is beginning to take its toll on me. I have a tremendous amount of tremors and medication doesn¢t seem to make a difference. What I think I understand from Dr. Walter is that this is good news/bad news. Good ¢ dopamine is being flooded into my system because of the exercise. Bad ¢ there are no receptors, which leads to tremors. I think that¢s right. The other interesting thing is for the first time in several years, I¢m actually swinging my right arm a little. My gait is better. However, I have to be guarded particularly going down the mountains. I have to be honest I have serious questions as this is extremely difficult. These are real mountains. I am so beat at night I just don¢t have time or energy for journal entries. Tremors are bothering me a lot. I understand now what I have gotten into. We are shipping about 20 pounds of stuff home. All I have is water, tent, sleeping bag, poncho liner, crocks, and I am down to one carabineer. I got rid of 2 shirts, my leatherman, baby wipes and hand cleaner. Three liters of water weigh 6.6 pounds. Erin carries a lot of the mutual stuff. She is frustrated with me as she had goals and we are already behind. We are going to move on and reassess in a few days.   As we left Amicalola Falls a day hiker passed us going the opposite direction and said, ¢Good morning, Chief.¢ I was surprised and moved that he recognized me, maybe the Louisville Slugger hat was the giveaway. Once we hit Neel¢s Gap the leader of the Trail Angels introduced himself to us. They are a religious order out of Alabama, very kind and very helpful. The #2 guy of the group, forgive me that I don¢t remember his name, asked who I was. I introduced myself as the Chief and he said, ¢Oh you are the guy with Parkinson¢s Disease walking the AT for Parkinson¢s Research. That brought tears to my eyes. Today we woke up at 7:30am fully intending to hit the trail. We spent time packing and weeding out weight. We have a shopping bagful of stuff going back to Ohio. We had a great breakfast at the aptly named diner, ¢Hole in the Wall¢, where everyone knew everyone by name. Then we waited for the shuttle. The driver said he was currently at Walmart with a couple that needed a new tent, their dog chewed a hole in the old one. At least we don¢t have a dog eating holes in our tents! As we sat in the hotel lobby hikers were arriving by the minute and checking in. It was going to be below 23 F and even colder with the wind chill. We aren¢t trying to be heros ¢ we booked another day at the hotel, cancelled today¢s shuttle and lined up a ride for tomorrow.Green lights and blue sky to you all!!