Date: 2010-04-13
From: Damascus

To: Pizza Joint Again
Miles today: 0.0

It already seems like it was so long ago when that shuttle took me and 6 others up to the trailhead at Springer Mountain. My expectations were limited to just hike and camp. The WONDER of what was about to begin was very narrow and restricted to the obvious. There is a marked trail,follow it. When you get thirsty, drink. When you are hungry, eat. When tired and had enough for the day stop and camp. Sounded simple enough. I carried a bit of anxiety that was going to present itself as everything else that was going to be besides the hike and the camp. The trail begins by conditioning you, way beyond the physical. Tight out of the shoot the legs, ankles, knees, feet, thighs, hips and shoulders immediatly revolt against the days routine. You wrap, bandage, adjust and limp the best you can. Georgia had some killer mountain climbs and steep drops into deep Gaps. At the end of a long, hard day you begin to curse the False summits and steep drops because there is always another mountain steering you right in the face. The further you go down the higher the further the climb is up. Is SHIT still a bad word. I think after repeating it so many times it shouldn't be. Oh for just a mile or two of level hiking is all I ask. All of Georgia and a large chunk of Tennessee and North Carolina was a series of high Mountains 6600ft and deep low Gaps 1900ft.The weather was as rough as the trail. The common view was heavy fog rising up out of the unseen valleys and the dark gray clouds that hung on the peaks at the higher elevations. Each day would be a cold mixture of rain, sleet, snow that was being driven by strong winds. The trail was ice, snow, roots, rocks and mud. The combination of all of that, was the task that each hiker had to endure and it was difficult at best. The trail can only condition you if you continue to hike. By hiking, your further conditioning and eventually it becomes easier.At first everyone is a stranger. A sign of recognition might be only a head nod, as you pass, going up hill. Thats all the energy that you can muster as your trying to breath and climb at the same time. Over the passing days and many hard hiking miles some faces become familiar. Small talk happens. Shelters become lunch stops and over night stays. Trail talk is what we all have in common. That is where conversation begins. The frequency and the time spent at the same place eventually leads to talk beyond the trail. We have all come from some place. We have families. We are all in differant phases of life. That ability to get to know others well is very limited. We move at varied speeds. We are able to do differant miles everyday. Some arrive early at shelters while some old guys roll in later in the day. A bond that comes from the price paid being on the trail develops. No one knows who will make it, who will be around next week or next month. Being on the trail today is all we can ask. We are all aware of that and it is more or less an unspoken truth. Its easy to appreciate those who have made it as far as me.We at this point have made it through the toughest part of the south. Mountain wise and weather wise. A strength has been developing in our bodies and in our minds. There is now a knowing that we are fully capable. We can now say less sheepishly when asked. Yes, I am a thru hiker. I am dirty. Me and my clothes stink. My pants no longer fit and I have a great tan on 30% of my body. It has been worth every snowflake and rain drop that has fallen, every trip and stubbed toe, twisted ankle and every step taken. Only 500 miles left in Virginia. Bring it on.