First full day on the AT
Even though it had rained a bit overnight, we woke up to sunshine and were looking forward to our first full day on the AT. I wiped the raindrops off our tent with a Swedish cloth, and we slowly packed up camp. After a thorough scan of our site to make sure we did not leave anything behind we started off.
The air was chilly yet refreshing and we walked at a brisk pace to warm ourselves up. The trail was relatively flat, but rocky, so we had to watch our steps. I was also concerned about recent reports of storm damage and fallen trees blocking the trail ahead. But thankfully, Georgia has amazing trail maintenance crews and the paths were clear. It looked like they were ready for the large annual “bubble” of thru hikers who start the AT around March 1st.
Before long we entered a tunnel of rhododendrons. The vibrant green was a big change from the rest of the winter woodlands and it almost felt like we entered a little tropical oasis. I can’t wait for the buds to open and see them in bloom! One of my wishes is to be able to really appreciate the changes along the trail as we transition from winter to spring and summer. It got warmer as the day progressed and we came to an area that was popular with day hikers. And since it was Saturday, we saw a lot of people. Most were going to see the Long Creek waterfall, but we ran into a few more thru hikers as well. After the falls and river area, we took a break to cool off and remove our warm winter layers.
Late in the day we stopped at a church pavilion for a lunch break. There were tables and folding chairs as well as a bathroom that they kept open for hikers to use. It was a beautiful and peaceful spot and we really enjoyed having real chairs to sit in rather than rocks or logs. There was also a spinning metal teeter-totter that we tried out just for fun. Following lunch, we had a couple of big climbs, but only about 2 ½ miles left to reach camp at the Hawk Mountain shelter.
As we were coming around a corner down into a valley, we encountered several men in Fire Dept. uniforms and I jokingly said that I hoped they weren’t lighting fires just to practice putting them out. They laughed and said not today! So I wondered what exactly they were doing. They seemed to just be waiting around and one was even whittling a piece of wood. We walked past most of the group before I finally saw a guy strapped to a stretcher. I spoke to him a few minutes and learned that he recently had a medical procedure and had overdone it trying to hike, so he was being taken to a hospital – by helicopter. I later found out his name and added him to my prayer list. Apparently, it was a difficult rescue and the team carried him a fair distance to get to a place that was open enough for a helicopter to hover, and it still wasn’t easy because of the tree cover. That night my husband bought rescue insurance for himself just in case – he already got it for me a few weeks ago.
We arrived at camp, and I chose a nice spot to set up our tent only to discover that an essential connector for our tent was missing! I emptied my pack and scoured the ground looking for the piece. It was nowhere to be seen. I just knew I couldn’t have left it when we packed up that morning. This was a middle piece and the tension line that ran through the poles was not broken. It seemed like the part had just disappeared! It probably took me a half hour of looking and being confused before I finally figured out that it had slipped down into one of the poles but was such a tight fit that it was not easily seen. I walked over to the shelter feeling frustrated while I contemplated options to try and get it out. One of the other hikers, Lena, suggested we pull a piece of paracord through the pole with a knot. We did that repeatedly and I even put some lotion into the tube to act as a lubricant, but no luck. I tried duck-taping the two poles together, but that didn’t work with this particular fitting. I finally figured out that one end of my shepherd-hook tent stake fit perfectly into the tent pole and that could work for the night. The only problem was that I needed a straight piece on both ends and would need to break off the hook end. We tried many ways and just couldn’t break it off. Fortunately, another hiker with the trail name “Dancing Bear” had the right tool and was able to cut the stake for me. Problem solved! Our tent was finally put up, and we set up camp.
I was relieved but also felt out-of-sorts from the ordeal, and we still had to prepare dinner in the dark. Later that night I sat in my tent wearing my headlamp and updated my journal. I thanked God for all the amazing people who had been willing to help solve our broken tent issue and added the trail maintainers and rescue teams to my growing prayer list. It is still hard to believe that all of this happened in just one day on the trail and I did not even include seeing the Army Rangers training overnight!
If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit at home and think about it. Get out and get busy. – Dale Carnegie