And now for something...

There are a few things I'll interject between now and the finish that don't necessarily have anything to do with the day-to-day stuff, but does have a lot to do with hiking. For instance, about Gorp. •Aka ‘Trail Mix’ I think Gorp stands for Good Old Raisins and Peanuts, and if I'm wrong, please tell me. Because I love this stuff so much, and don't want to defame it by calling it something it's not. Usually, the more stuff the better. You can't ever make a 'wrong' batch of Gorp, although I did have one that I didn't like so much that involved corn chips. They went stale en route to my brother and I, and therefor, were very chewy. It wasn't good at all. The other stuff made it pretty tasty, but those corn chips...oof. So far, this is the best recipe I've had:

•

–Peanuts, raisins, craisins, cinnamon toast crunch, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, M&Ms, banana chips, almonds, and sunflower seeds.

Feel free to omit or add any items that you'd like to. I, in wikipedia-ing Gorp, came across another acronym for it: granola, oats, raisins, and peanuts. I think I have to create some gorp with granola in it now. As a friend of mine pointed out to me recently, its pretty fat-intensive, what with all the nuts in it. So adding carbs are definitely the answer. And granola is tasty.

Another good recipe:

Almonds, dark chocolate chips, coconut, and golden raisins.

Simple, really tasty.

Day 3

•The primary thing that happened this day revolved around the knee. We started out trying to lighten Dad’s load, but the knee wasn’t getting any better. This had all of us worried. We came up with a plan, modified it several times, and then hit a dirt road that allowed Josh and Dad to be picked up by some cool people that we had been hiking with that were headed back towards Amicalola Falls, where Dad and Josh needed to get to. They graciously provided a ride, and in a whirlwind of craziness, Caleb and I are watching the SUV rumble down the road, our packs way heavy with the extra food. We were both very sad to see them go, we wanted them along the trail for the week we had planned.

•The extra food we had loaded in our packs turned out for the best though. That night we stayed at a shelter that had a group of about 8 kids there. 5 girls, 2-3 guys, and the dad of one of the girls. It was a high school graduation trip, and they seemed to be hooked. Anyway, they had overestimated the distance that they could cover, and needed some extra food. Caleb and I gave them a sheath of bagels and some cheese. We’re not sure if they realized how valuable the cheese was, but cheese is super awesome for you on the trail, it’s loaded with lots of great stuff (fat) that you need. We didn’t truly realize how much extra food we had, or we would have given them much more. We were still pretty heavy on the packs, but that was also alright, because our trail legs were coming.

•

•Although the pictures are a bit on the silly side of life, we did very much miss them. We were thinking of them the entire way. They were with us in our thoughts.

I know that sounds corny, but they were. We kept mentioning, ‘Oh, wouldn’t Dad like this view’, or, ‘Josh would totally dig this river’ throughout the trip.










Caleb and I. I'm not sure what the significance of this spot was, other than we were taking a break.












Caleb, rolling down the trail. I like this shot a lot.













A big rock. I'm pretty sure we balanced the camera on a rock and had it take our picture. Because...yeah, I don't know how else, unless we ran into someone.

Day 2

•This day was quite incredible. We bopped along and turned out about 7 miles that day, our packs still feeling pretty heavy. About halfway through the day, we find a sign that mentions ‘Long Falls’, and that they’re only .1 or .2 miles down the trail. We dropped our packs at the sign (perfectly safe, Caleb and I would continue to do this throughout the trip. Noone out there wants to carry more) and zipped up to the falls. Well, they just begged to be gotten in, so all the brothers had a turn. It was cold. But cold can’t quite describe it. It was freezing. While I was under the water, I couldn’t breathe normally, only in gasps. Like a cup of cold water being dumped on you in the shower, except a never ending torrent of icy drenching. And it was powerful. Moving water is quite an impressive force.

•Day Two was also the first day for two other events, one very tragic, one a harbinger of things to come. The former revolved around an injury. Dad, although regularly active, was so determined to keep up with his sons (and he did a really incredible job of doing it), that he started to separate a tendon from the bone. This is obviously something that shouldn’t happen, and began to cause him a great deal of discomfort. We gave him some pain killer and then decided to take an easy Day 3.

•We camped at a shelter that night, and another couple camped near us. They were named Mark and Gretchen, a couple from Milwaukee that were out for 10 days. Caleb and I were to play tag with them for the duration of their trip.

Dad, Josh around the tree, and I













Dad, happy to be in the woods, and loving the trees, which were very impressive.

















Me, getting drenched. I sorta had to get in the water. It was cold.












Caleb, doing his best impression of a swimsuit model. It works, too.

















A hammock of glorious comfort...they're great!

















Caleb stretching out, and J giving a Peace sign from his sleeping bag. J and D were in a shelter...C and I in the hammocks of wonderful awesomeness.

Day 1

•Day One was both tougher and easier than I had imagined. Tougher: 8.8 miles is a long way to walk. And that's all there is to it. Add on a roughly 40 lb pack, then add on the fact that its basically from close to sea level to the top of Springer Mountain (which isn't actually that big, as mountains go), and its gonna be rough. However, we sorta dawdled on our way...we had to go see the actual Amicalola Falls, and a few other spots along the way. There are a lot of horror stories about the Approach trail, one of which can be found in “A Walk in the Woods”, by Bill Bryson, whom I’ll have more to say about later. For now, I'll say I dislike him.

US! We've walked a little at this point, I'm not sure how far, but we're doing well.
Dad, Josh, Caleb, and I











The actual factual Amicalola Falls that the State Park was built around. Lots of stairs down to the base, and then back up...lots. But worth it. Very much so.
















Caleb, noshing some GORP. Gorp is glorious. More on that later.

















Dad journaling. He pulled that out every time we stopped. Good times.












Caleb grabbed this during a breather.













And there it is...













The plaque says: A Footpath for those who seek Fellowship with the Wilderness. And the first blaze of the AT. 2 x 6 white stripe.











We had to get a picture here. It was a requirement. Once again: Dad, Caleb, I, and Josh.

Day 0

We arrived at Amicalola State Park in Georgia on June 14th, too late to get any serious hiking in that day. So we took some pictures, wandered around the office area, and decided to stay the night in a shelter that's right off of the Approach Trail at the beginning. It was a good night, and the excitement was skyrocketing at this point, as I finally realized that I was actually going to be setting foot on the AT the next morning, something I had planned on doing for a long time.


This Arch marked the beginning of the Approach Trail, and a park ranger happened to be wandering by, so he took our picture. From L to R: Dad (The Adjuster), Josh (Tailgate), Caleb (Bobbin), and I (Oops).














Caleb getting his pack ready.



















Me, and my pack is there somewhere.



















Closeup of the mileage. Its a long way to Maine...