Date: 2015-04-15
From: Springer Mountain, GA

To: Roan Mountain, TN
Miles today: 393.8

Welcome family and friends. For all of you interested in following my "Big Adventure" I'll post on "trail journals" weekly. Your comments and texts are welcome reminders of home. You can reach me via cell or as a guest on this site. Cell service and internet are unreliable but I eventually do connect. I'll update my journal and enjoy reading your comments. Let me know if you have an interest about hiking and I will be happy to comment.Today begins my 5th week on the AT. I'm now at mile 393.8. It's been an exciting four weeks. Ingrid sent me off at Springer Mountain, GA on St. Pat's Day. Since then I've been hiking with "Ox" and "Obsolete" who I met on the shuttle bus to the mountain. Our hiking pace and personalities clicked and we find ourselves walking a similar pace and ending our days at a common stopping point. They are encouraging and enthusiastic hiking companions. I'm grateful to be in their company.Hiking the trail has been a gift. To hike each day in the forests, breathe fresh air and to have the solitude and beauty of nature is a divine experience. Everything I need is carried on my back in a ~35 lbs pack. I'm enjoying each minute. Spending the day in nature, physically challenged without disruptions is a great way to remain "present".The hiking is strenuous with steep climbs, rocky terrain, deep forests and steep downhills. The weather has been cold, snowy, raining, foggy with some sunny days. Morning temps are often cold with warming to mid 50's and an occasional 70. Hourly I'm changing clothing to match the temp, precipitation and stress of the hike. Following breaking camp and breakfast I"m on the trail by 8:30am and finish between 4 and 5pm. About 15 miles a day.Hiking the AT burns about 4,000 - 5,000 calories each day. My appetite matches the effort and I eat everything in front of me. I'm enjoying things I haven't eaten in years while dropping a few pounds.I sleep in a tent (occasionally a shelter, hostel or B&B), filter water from streams, cook with a small propane stove, use a "privy", dig a hole and use a porcelain toilet at every opportunity. At worst these turn out to be small inconveniences to the benefits of being outside each day.The people on and about the AT are interesting, kind and generous. Everyone who "Thru Hikes" the AT does so for a reason. Each story is unique and often inspiring. The hikers are a mix of young people in a "gap" year before college, twenty and thirty somethings on their own adventure, military veterans, retirees and everything in between. They are a treasure to get to know on the trail and make the AT adventure more meaningful.There are Trail Angels who give generously of "Trail Magic". Former AT hikers how give generous gifts of hospitality where the Trail intersects with a road. Trail Magic has ranged from clean water bottles left by a tree, to cold beer, hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, a "hiker box" full of provisions for the taking and home made baked goods. No one has been willing to accept payment. They only ask that you pay it forward. Their generosity to perfect strangers has been humbling.It has been a joy to see the unfolding of spring in the forest. Pictures cannot describe the vistas and magnitude and variety of the trees and vegetation. "Spring Beauty" (small white flowers) cover the slopes of the bare mature tress. Intermingled among these flowers are others of a variety of yellows, purples, whites, greens and reds. Everyday I get to experience their unfolding. When the fog and rain persists they provide a beauty to the mountains as they roll through. When the moisture lifts the landscape is revealed to see the beauty of the forest, a bald and the rolling long range mountain views. Simply spectacular to be in the middle of all of it.The support of my family and friends has been great. Ingrid and my children have been my biggest cheerleaders. Ingrid's support has made my "Big Adventure" possible. I'm grateful for her encouragement, support and confidence. All the best.