Date: 2015-02-19
To: AF visitor center
Miles today: 0.0

Big DayKathy woke early and we started our day by throwing our clothes on and running to the decks to catch the sun as the ice filtered it through the trees. This part of Georgia received a half inch of ice Mon night, and much of the area is still without power. Consequently, the trees and shrubs in the sunlight cast a sparkling backdrop to our day. It was cold, even by my standards. Windy and five degrees make for a frigid out of doors. We headed to the visitor center to ck on registration to hike and had a nice visit with the staff. Sixteen hikers had been pulled off the trail in the previous couple days as ice, snow and cold made hiking very dangerous. The reality set in quickly that my planned start Friday was not going to happen. The best I could hope was to find a way to wait until Monday to begin when the weather breaks and I would only have to contend with rain. Kathy, however, needs to head back home tomorrow, so, what to do. We decided the best would be if I could find a bunk at a nearby hostel where I could wait out the weather, and have access to a shuttle back to Springer Mt. to start. We set out from Amicalola around 9:00 am. The nearest shuttle to the trail's genesis is available for guests of the Hiker Hostel near Dahlonega, pr. "Duh lawn uh guh" with emphasis on the lawn. Several hikers were already waiting out the weather there and sure enough, they had a bunk available for Fri and Sat nights and if the weather surprises us, perhaps Sun as well. Problem solved and we proceeded to original plans for the day! We enjoyed the rest of the day driving through the mountains to leave my first two resupply packages. Each resupply is five days of food and they are placed four days, or thirty two trail miles, apart at hostels where I sill stay. Early on I am moving slowly in order to recondition my legs and body to hiking form. I expect to travel 8 to 10 miles per day for the first 12 to 15 days in order to get fully conditioned. After that, terrain will determine how many daily miles but I will plan for 12 to 15, or as many as I can during daylight hours. We returned to Amicalola at 5:30 because the website said the visitors center was open until 7pm on Thursdays and I still needed to register as a thru hiker. When we arrived it was closed. This will delay our departure from here tomorrow by an hour or so as we wait for the center to open so I can register. Not a big deal, so we returned to the lodge, had a great dinner watching the sunset over the valley, and ended up back in our room to recheck and pack gear for leaving. My final check of my gear revealed that my rain pants, an important pert of my clothing system, were not with my gear. After searching the car, checking the desk and rechecking all of our stuff, we determined I must have left them at home. While this is very frustrating for someone who HATES to forget things, I will be able to purchase a new pair locally before setting out. I just hope I can find a pair as light with full side zips because I love my Marmot precip rain pants! While frustrating, the rain pants are just another part of this adventure. It has been interesting monitoring my feelings over the last few days. Sunday I was struck for the first time by the emotion of being able to fulfill this dream in my life. Since then I have been blessed by words of encouragement and support that have left me feeling very loved, and even liked. Additionally, I have experienced excitement and apprehension as two sides of a flipping coin, first daily, and then at times hourly as we drove to Georgia. Tonight, I just want to walk. Enough planning, it is time to get this thing in motion! More tomorrow as I wait on the weather......