Date: 2018-03-14
From: Amicalola State Park

To: Max Emmerson Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

The first day of my trip. Man, it's already going quick. I began with my flight being cancelled the day before. With that, my mom, dad and I awoke early to shovel out the driveway of the near 20" of snow we received the night before and head to Boston Logan airport. Roads were slick but we made it safely.In the airport, I said my final goodbye to my mom and made my way through security and to my gate... Unreal. My new flight plan was a trip to Richmond, VA where I would have a two hour layover then connect to another flight into Atlanta. I sat in the terminal as nervous as ever. The days leading up to this were nothing in comparison. We loaded the plane and I sat silently looking at the seat back in front of me, terrified. What was I doing?The plane ended up being delayed roughly 2 hours. Every airline was doing their best to send out flights after yesterday's storm. When we finally took off, I sat motionless the entire hour and a half contemplating exactly what I was about to do.We landed at the exact moment my connecting flight was scheduled to take off. Me and ten other passengers raced to the other terminal in the small Richmond airport and managed to make our connecting flight. Good and bad. I was hoping to charge my phone during the layover but I had to take what I could get!We landed in Atlanta no problem and on the trip I couldn't help but realize the "sea to summit" 2L bag I had used as my carry-on item. I was literally going from sea to summit! Upon landing I had no time to think. I was wisked away by the hustle of the Atlanta airport and ended up at baggage claim as my box containing my 6 months of goods was coming out. I quickly crushed the box, left it near a recycling bin and filled my water bottles while I had the chance. I had to look so strange to the regular business attire everyone else was wearing!I phoned my ride to Amicalola State Park. His name was Survivor Dave and he had thru hiked in 2008. He picked me up at the end of the hour long subway ride north of Atlanta in North Springs, GA. I had ZERO time to wrap my head around all this. Dave was the last connection I would have to "society" and it was surreal. We stopped at the supermarket during the hour and a half ride and I grabbed a sub and a half for dinner and lunch the next day! Glad I made that decision. I had a chance to charge my phone during the ride which was crucial.On arrival at Amicalola State Park, I set up my sleeping bag and pad in the Max Emmerson shelter just behind the HQ building. In ceremony, I had my picture taken under the arch and made sure to phone home to let everyone know of my safe travels. I had made it to the trail and I had no idea what I was in for...That night I slept in what I had thought was a 20 degree bag. Turns out that it had lost a lot of loft since I first got it and was not nearly what I needed. It proved an abrupt start to the trail but I was rejuvenated meeting Hank and the old lineman who would both set out on the same journey as myself. We all made it through the night and had an early morning start to our Appalachian Trail Hike.