Neel's Gap

hey all! at Neel's Gap, in GA, about 40 mi in. Had to hitchhike/walk to the start of the trail from Dalton, as it turns out there's no shuttle service there. Fun fun. took two days, and gave me tons of blisters, so I had to hike a couple days in moccasins, which gave me my trail name, Moccasin. Met up with a pretty cool guy, we've been hiking together, and there's some cool girls (from Detroit, even) who have camped most nights with us as well. At a hostel tonight, good to be out of the rain. it's been foggy as hell too, so after every mountain climb, there's no view as a reward. Just a knee crushing walk downhill to look forward to, and a soaked-wet camp. Spirits remain high, though, and have no thoughts of quitting yet. Hope to update again soon, peace!

The Plan

Hello everyone! This blog is intended to be a sort of trail journal for the people back home while I hike the Appalachian Trail. It won't really get going for a few weeks, because I won't be starting the trail for a few weeks, so don't expect a ton of updates for a while. I'm still just working and waiting, and psyching myself up for this.

For those who don't know, the Appalachian Trail is a footpath that leads along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains through 14 states for over 2,100 miles. I hear that about 2000 people start out every year to hike the whole thing (called thru-hikers) and about 200 actually finish. Poor odds, and I'm sure most of you who think I'm going to get eaten by a bear also think that I won't make it. Well, think what you will, but I have confidence. Either way, it will be good just to be out there.

Now, I'm not sure how regularly I'm going to update this. My uncle Mike suggested I set up a blog, and I like the idea, but have reservations. As I'm trying to do this hike as cheaply as possible, I'll be avoiding towns when possible, since it's hard to spend money in a forest, and so very easy in towns. Town stops are mainly going to be for getting food and stove fuel. Any stays in town will be at the cheaper hostels, or where there's free places there to camp. That mentality could change once I'm face to face with the rigors of the Trail, but for now that's my plan. So there may be weekly updates, maybe not even that. Depends on internet availability; I don't know how many of those small towns will have libraries, and if those libraries will have internet. I may also decide it's just not worth the trouble.

Also, I don't have a digital camera, so there won't be any pictures. Sorry. You'll just have to meet up with me when I get back to see the photos.

Anyways, I just wanted to post this so this blog site doesn't think I'm a spam-blog, as it did a few days ago.