This article contains affiliate links. When you click these links and make a purchase, I may get a small commission. It won’t cost you anything, but it helps me run this site.
I had to do it, it was all I could think about! I had to do the Appalachian Trail. I was going to force myself to do it, no matter what! I tried to prepare myself as best as possible. I knew it would be tough, I just had no idea just how hard. I live in Ohio. We don’t have mountains, we have hills. I would hike 8 miles a day or do 10 mile walks thinking that I was going to do great! I was getting in shape and preparing my legs for the hard work to come. Here’s how it actually went.
On April 13, 2021, I left my hotel room in Atlanta, GA early in the morning to catch an Uber. My driver drove me to Amicalola Falls where I began my journey. I began my registering my hike and having my backpack and gear weighed. I weighed in 41 pounds!! 10 pounds more than I had anticipated! I’ll explain in a later post some things that you don’t need.
I began my journey with the Approach Trail at Amicalola Falls. Most hikers will start a Springer Mountain, where the trail officially starts. I figured, if I couldn’t do the Approach Trail, then I shouldn’t be doing the trail at all. So that was where I started. I’m really disappointed in myself though because the ranger convinced me to go around the falls to the top, so I missed the beauty of all the falls. This was the best view of the falls that I got.
Even though I was hiking in early Spring, I didn’t take into consideration the difference in weather between Ohio and Georgia. The sun was so warm and I quickly overheated. I began taking off layers and putting them back into my pack, which just added to the weight I was carrying. I stopped often, enjoying the sights and scenery that I wasn’t used to. I noticed that the rocks here were different. They were shimmery and I just couldn’t figure out why. I kept trying to take pictures to send home and show my friends but the shimmer just wouldn’t come through. It was the the mica in the rocks that I hadn’t been expecting! I continued on my way and just as I thought I was making actual progress, I came to this sign:
Here I thought I was doing great, I was making it, I was there and then I saw that I still had 7.3 miles to go. Just to get to the start… But I still thought, I can do this. 6 hours (according to the sign), that’s not bad, I can do that! So I kept going, pushing with all my might. I refilled my water often and stayed hydrated. I stopped often to snack and rest. When I got to a stream, I filtered some water and sat at the edge for about 20 minutes, just resting and enjoying the scene. An hour later, I realized that was the last water source for awhile. I had to be more sparing with my water and didn’t know it. Because of the sun, I wanted to just keep drinking! The next water source was at mile 6, much further ahead of me. I wasn’t going to make it there my first night, I was just so exhausted and couldn’t do anymore. I stopped and setup camp. I had to make a decision about using my remaining water to make myself dinner or save it for the morning until I got to the water source. I chose to go to bed hungry, afraid that even if I ate something that didn’t require water, I would be so thirsty and would finish the little bit I had left.
Find out what happened next! Go to the next part!