The approach

The drive is complete. I left town around 8:00 AM with an eight hour drive in front of me. It was pretty uneventful until I hit the Atlanta area when things slowed to a tortoise crawl. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do not know how people can live in an urban environment. Why in the world would you want to spend a good portion of your day in a vehicle! Even the so called HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane was crawling along. It took me almost 2 hours to go the last 34 miles but I did make it.

It is now early Saturday morning and after we do a few things (I'm dropping it in the mail today, Ash) Jim and I will head to Amicalola Falls to start the trail. We had a good time catching up last night and it looks like I have a ride set up from where I decide to end this little hike. I am leaving my car at his place so everything is falling into place. When Jim told me he plan was to do the approach trail I cringed. That trail is a humbler of all aspiring thru hikers and it quickly weeds out the ones that think the Appalachian Trail is a mere jaunt.

It is 8.8 miles long from the start of the approach to the top of Springer Mtn., the "official" start of the Appalachian Trail. I did it in '04 and when I got to the top I wondered what I was doing out here. In '05 I rationalized that since I had already done it I didn't have to do it again! Here I am again but it may , and I use that word loosely, may be better because I am carrying much less pack weigh, body weight and I have hiked. There was one thing I told Jim though. I said the approach trail is kinda like women and childbirth. Very painful and you wonder what the hell but once it is done it recedes from memory and only the good remains.

I think I am going to give birth to a child later today!

I have no agenda or time frame out here this time. I will hike as I please and as fa as I please. Depending on our start time we may stop at the shelter before the top of Springer or push on thru. Either way we are just going to enjoy. I plan on taking it a little slow because I mentioned in m previous post that Moonpie will be in Franklin, NC on the 12th and I want to time my hike so arrive there then.

I do believe there will be a lot of thru hikers starting today and tomorrow. Monday is March 1 and that is one of the heavier star times for those that want to do the long walk to Maine. The weather looks very promising for the next 10 days. The only potentially bad day is supposed to be Tuesday. The temps look yo be in the high 40's to mid 50's during the day and the mid 30's to high 20's at night. I can deal with that! I am packing a LOT of layers. Warmth is my friend and I plan on keeping it a good friend!

So that's it. The day has come. I am ready to roll. I have not really decided how I am going to chronicle this hike yet. format wise. I guess it all depends on what kind of reception I have in the hills and how cold my fingers get while I am typing away up there. No matter what I will get posts to Ash and she will put them up. Here is a special shout out to you Ash ... Thanks for your help and I will see you in May!