Date: 2007-03-01
From: AT Hiker Hostel

To: AT Hiker Hostel (bonus nite!)
Miles today: 19.9

FIRST DAY OUTWhat an awesome reception at the Hiker Hostel. Josh & Leigh (owners)& Paul & Jamie were oh so kind. Fabulous Palace. Lots of clean space in a huge contemporary wood stained house. FREE laundry, kitchen, showers, bathrooms, bunks, TV, internet and a HUGE family style breakfast - scrambled eggs,grits, toast, home fries, juice, coffee and more....for $15!!! Plus shuttles to the trailhead.For those of us that needed a ride from the airport, I got shuttled & the whole package for $62 which is an incredible deal since all the shuttles I checked were $75-100 for JUST the shuttle ride.Hard to explain, but the hostel staff was so outgoing, kind and helpful, whatever you needed.First day we got started March 1st steady rain predicted all day. Great day to start. Suck it up!Got a late start gettin everybody outta the house-we left a little afta 9 am.Josh gave us the high speed ride in a suburban through ??10 or 15 miles of winding forest service road to the top of Springer Mountain. Both girls said they get car sick. One sat in the middle seat, fortunately her nausea was cured with rolling down the window.The second in the REAR seat wasn't so lucky. Had to make a quick stop and she puked a mouthful or so. But then jumped right back in and said Let's go! She and her boyfriend are from Alaska. She's a gear nazi with lots of homemade or custom made stuff. I forget their names now since I took so long to write this, but I hope they make it. They seemed cool.Anyway, the nausea couldn't possibly be because of the NASCAR ride Josh gave us, slidin around most corners on the gravel road while talking on the cell phone, never missing a word or even pausing. He seemed quite at home. It made the long ride go by pretty quick and added a little excitement.Finally hit the trail, only 0.9 miles to the top of Springer Mountain where the AT actually begins. (We all voted to blow off the approach trail which adds another 8 or so miles of sillyness.)Got to the top first (but of course!); Very anticlimatic, not much to see-glad I'm not a southbounder (SOBO) or this would be disappointing after 2175 miles! Snapped a photo or two and was packing up when the rain hit. Got my coat on and hit the road.Everyone in the group said they would stop after just a few miles (some only 2.5 the first shelter!). I was determined to suck it up and stick to my plan of at least trying to do 20 a day.And I did. It was long chilly day of mostly steady rain. Venting and zipping back up periodically during climbs and descents. All day I kept thinking, hmmmmmm....The last shelter before the road at Woody's gap is only 15 miles. The next shelter is 12 miles further. That would be a long day and it would be late. And it's typically slower goin in the rain.So I decided, why not? I called the Hiker Hostel from Woody's gap and said Come get me! They're actually located just down the road 7 miles and I earned it. I did my 20 in a hilaciou day of rain.So I went back for a second nite at the hostel!Had homemade soup, dried out all my stuff and had another Fabulous breakfast of French Toast, homemade oatmeal with raisins & cinnamon sugar, eggs, juice, coffee, etc.I noticed most of the section hikers (Scum!)were still there watchin TV, talking big talk, but they hadn't moved. Guess they're afraid of the rain.There is a little respect from thru-hikers for section hikers who are systematically hiking the whole trail, agressively going at it.But the weekend wanna bees.....they're another bunch.Hit the road first thing in the morning. Unfortunately a soon to be familiar theme popped up.Apparently I left my trekking poles in Jamie's (trailname Navigator) SUV from the ride back last nite. And she already left with a different group shuttling some slack packers somewhere else. (Slack Packers hike sections with no pack or just a small light day pack with snacks and water, no tent, sleeping bag, etc.; generally they're also considered slackers by thru-hikers.)So I had to suck it up without poles. Paul (trailname Old Man)left a cell message in case they found them quickly. So I hike about 12 miles without poles to Neel's gap hoping they'd have dropped them off at the gear store.And voilla! My poles were there. Spent a while checking out a great outfitter/gear store at Neel's Gap. This is the first place most new hikers dump a lot of stuff they don't need. And swap out gear for lighter and multi use gear. A sign brags they will go thru your pack with you and typically dump about 12.5 lbs of gear!I didn't need to do this since I weighed my pack before we left on day 1.25.3 lbs with 2L water and 4-5 days food. Cool.Just like I had hoped, planned, guessed it might be. It shouldn't be heavier than that since I should be able to get off and resupply every 3-5 days assuming I can do 20's regularly. If I do less, then I gots to carry more food. Ugggh!Bought a couple minor things. A different pair of outer glove shells, mittens actually since my others wet thru. Though it was a VERY wet day, not typical of rainny days. Turns out everyone on the trail talks about March 1st as big rainny day to remember. Most stayed put in sheters, hostels or wherever they were. A few ventured on but did short days. Almost nobody i talked with did full days. So I feel good I sucked it up big my first day out with a fully loaded pack!Hoorah!And unbeknownst to me Tornados were rippin up South Georgia the same day!Oh yah. Gotta love the trail.The rest of Day 2 was windy but sunny. Lots of rain to dry up.Anyway, more on Day 2, etc. lata. Gotta go.Havin Fun!FedEx