AT #1: Mt Springer, GA to Nantahala, NC

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”, famously said Mike Tyson. That’s what happened to me at the end of Day 1 of my Appalachian Trail journey. I had planned 35 miles per day average and I felt good about this plan… while sitting on my couch. After an uneventful travel day from Boston, MA to Atlanta, GA to Amicalola Falls State Park, I settled in the campground and got everything ready for an early start the next day.
 
Wake-up call was at 3am, and I was in front of the arch to start the approach trail to Mt Springer, 8.8 miles with close to 3,000 feet of climbing, by 4am. It’s pretty brutal going up with a full backpack on but I was so excited being there that I didn’t mind. I arrived at the top of Mt Springer around 8am. After some snacks and obligatory photos, I officially started my AT journey going North. The scenery, basically a walk in the woods, was much different from the JMT last year, mostly high altitude trail above the tree line. Passes on the JMT were huge but at least there was a good respite on the other side of the mountain. The beginning of the AT is an unrelenting hike up and down for miles on end, with little time to recover. At the end of day 1, it took a toll on me, as I was trying to meet my 35 miles goal. I ended up stopping around 6pm, with 31 miles done and close to 8,000 feet of climbing. I was drained! After setting up camp and having dinner, I realized I would need to quickly adjust my strategy going forward.
 
Day 2 started at 4am again. I decided to go relatively easy for the day and try to recover from a brutal start. I managed to hike 21 miles, and I felt a little bit better by the end of the day. Day 3 was more of the same, which made me realize that, based on this difficult terrain, I could average around 20 miles per day relatively comfortably, without risking injuries/sickness or being entirely depleted each night. Of course, I was a little disappointed by my performance, or lack thereof, but keeping my original schedule would have been plain stupid. Except for the occasional hikers, I was all alone in the woods, and if things go wrong, it could become ugly quickly.
 
Having settled my pace strategy and swallowed my pride, I started Day 4 with peace of mind, and really began to fully enjoy the trail and what it has to offer. During the planning, I didn’t know what to expect about being alone in the woods for days…and nights, and if I would be anxious or even scared. I was thinking about bears and snakes, and psychos! To my surprise, I felt immediately at ease and safe. Actually, the time I enjoyed the most was when I hiked before sunrise. For a couple hours, the forest was pitch dark and completely silent. Then, at 5:30am sharp (!), birds started singing. Finally the sun rose slowly and another day, far away from the fury of our society, would start. Life is much simpler and slower on the AT. And it’s an incredible feeling of being disconnected, even for a short moment, from our daily routine of constant pressure. It was like hitting pause and discover the simple joy of being in the nature.
 
I could have gone on for weeks, but I had to plan my exit. I decided to stop 1 day earlier so that I could get a shuttle to a hiker’s hostel and then a ride to the Asheville airport the next day. I finished my 7-days hike at Nantahala, NC, after some 150 miles done. All in all, it was a great introduction to the Appalachian Trail. This week passed very quickly and I cannot wait to go back to Nantahala, NC to resume my AT journey.