A"Thru-hike" begins with short walks

My hike of the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one trip started well before I set foot on the Trail in Maine.  It  started as a glimmer sparked by my dad’s unrealized dream when I was a child.  I only remember him mentioning the Appalachian Trail a few times and I didn’t even try  backpacking until I borrowed his canvas rucksack for a weekend trip with my college friends.

Nearby, a narrow trail  beckoned us up a mountain, rather unceremoniously I recall.  “This is the fabled Appalachian Trail?”, I remarked.  As we entered the woods and passed a worn wooden sign that read Blood Mountain Wilderness, I noticed that the trail was just wide enough for one person.  It wound up the mountain, rather steeply, too.  Still, this footpath called me somehow.  Within minutes, still climbing  the narrow, rocky path, I started feeling a thrill of excitement. 

Voices, and visions of hikers, began drifting into my mind.  I tingled with the realization that hundreds, if not thousands, of others had gone before me, walking this same path!  Legends like Grandma Gatewood, a woman who had walked the trail alone in her sixties, had stood right here!  Now, here I was, on the Appalachian Trail myself!  “If I just keep walking”, I thought, “I could go all the way to Maine!”  I was hooked!

We only walked two miles up to Preaching Rock that day before descending back to our car at Woody Gap.  But, my heart never left!  I was lured by the AT like Ulysses by the Sirens!

It took another six years to begin my thru hike at Mt. Katahdin, Maine, but I as I look back, I realize that those years comprised a thorough and natural training for my seven-month walk.  A few weeks from that first visit, we returned to the Trail, this time walking six miles from Jarrard Gap to Woody Gap.  We had just one car, so my husband and I hiked alone  in opposite directions, doing a “key swap” in the middle.  I was impressed with how quickly that walk went.  It took just under three hours, and I thought that the trail was simply beautiful!  I was hungry for more!

Over the next three years, we hiked the southern 100  miles of the AT in 6 sections:

Garrard Gap to Cooper Gap (9.2 miles)
Gooch Gap to Amicalola Falls (24.5 miles)
Garrard Gap to Neels Gap (5 miles)
Neels Gap to Unicoi Gap (27.2 miles)
Dicks Creek Gap to Unicoi Gap (17.6 miles)
Dick’s Creek Gap to Deep Gap, NC (17.7 miles)

On each of these weekend hikes, we refined our gear, trying out new equipment, letting go of non-essential items, and learning the ways of the trail.    We used a two-car shuttle system.  This  allowed us to take one-way walks, but required many hours of driving on the winding mountain roads of north Georgia.  The 17.7  trail miles between Dick’s Creek Gap and Deep Gap required about 600 miles of road miles in the two shuttle cars!  We were ready for more hiking and less driving!

Our trips got longer as our enjoyment of the trail got stronger.  The next 600 miles of the Trail were walked in just 4 trips! 

Arriving in Damascus, VA

Wallace Gap to Fontana Dam (57.8 miles in 5 days)
Fontana Dam to Hot Springs, NC (109.2 miles in 10 days)
Rt. 19E to Hot Springs, NC (114.9 miles in 14 days)
RT 19E to Catawba, VA (294 miles in 25 days)

My pack got lighter as I learned about lightweight backpacking and how to focus paring down the weight of  the “big three”: pack, sleeping bag, and tent.  I dropped the fanny-pack topper from my pack, bought a women’s length mummy bag, and made a silnylon tarp from a RayWay kit.

Our month-long section from 19E to Catawba, VA galvanized my love of the
AT and my desire to hike the whole thing – all 2,173 miles from Georgia to Maine.  My husband’s job got more demanding, however, and during the year following our month-long  section, we didn’t hike the AT at all!  It was on a winter overnight to Springer Mountain that I crooned that in a year I could be completing a southbound hike of the AT.  My husband responded that he didn’t really care if he finished the trail.  My heart sank, but not  for long.  “I’ll just have to do this myself!”  I thought.  And the planning began!

At that moment, my 2007 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike began.  I didn’t know then that it was to be a life-changing journey, both personally and professionally.   And that’s another story!