AT
Email Update 1
Tue,
11 May 2004 11:04:45 -0700 (PDT)
Howdy
Folks,
I've
made it to
Fontana Dam, NC in 9 days. Things are going great.
It took
an all nighter to get ready for this adventure. Graham picked
me
up at 4am to catch a 5am bus in Concord to catch a 7:45 am plane in
Boston. By 10:30 I was in Atlanta and met by a great hiker,
Scott
Dowelling, who drove me to Amicalola Falls where I started my hike on
the approach trail at 12:45pm.
The
first day
was cloudy with showers but cool and I was greatful. By 4pm I
was
on top of Springer Mtn at the start of the AT. That was 8.8
miles
from where I started. I continued past the summit shelter to
the
next one 2.5 miles ahead. I was there solo. Even
though my
food was hoisted by cable away from the bears some little critter
knawed through my food sack to get at the chocolate covered cranberries
(thank you very much June).
The
next day I
got into a dehydration mode in the after noon. In the morning
there were lots of clouds but by afternoon the blue clouds had won
out. I found a spring on the trail near the top of Cedar Mtn
so I
bushwhacked to the summit and tented there. It was
great.
this was an 18.5 mile day.
I
stayed in
shelters for the next 5 or 6 nights loging from 19.5 to 22 miles each
day. I was
stunned. Most of the time the trail has been between 3000 and
4500 feet above sea level. It has gotten as high as 5500. At
those elevations the leaves are not quite all the way out yet even down
here. Lots of sun.
I
took the
afternoon off 2 days ago and spent the night at Nantahala Outdoor
Center in a hostel. I also hitched into Bryson city for
another 8
days of food. This should get me through the Smokies. I hit
them
tomorrow.
A
guy named Adam
Jones has been at the same shelter as I for the last 4 or 5
nights. We leapfrog each other throughout the day.
It has
been fun to have some continuity in human exchange. I have
meet
lots of cool folks on the trail but we tend to leave most of them
behind.
I'm paying for this connection by the minute and the trail awaits.
Keep on truckin'
Take
care all,
Scott
