First Stop...Hiawasee GA

After nearly sixty miles of arduous hiking we have arrived, albeit sore and blistered at the booming metropolis of Hiawasee Georgia. After a good steak dinner, and a good nights rest we'll head out again tomorrow for Fontana Dam North Carolina.

A Rough Start:
We have had a wild first week on the AT. Although the hiking has been somewhat easy, mother nature pulled a bait and switch on us. Getting off the plane in Atlanta we were tricked into thinking that Georgia had nothing but balmy sunshine, blooming rhododendrons and pleasant walking weather in store for our first days on the trail. We were sorely mistaken.

Our first day on the trail went well enough. After our successful Step It Up rally (consisting only of my dad and I and the wily ATC ridge runner) , we put in an easy seven miles and spent the night Hawk Mountain shelter. That night, we were nearly flooded out of camp by four inches of rain. Fortunately, the rain subsided by morning leaving the forest bathed in a murky fog that stuck to our skin and packs as we trekked north to our next campsite. Though the rains had passed the worst of the storm had yet to hit us. The winds picked up and a wet snow began to fall, leaving us shivering in our capilene t-shirts and shorts. By noon, the winds had reached their full fury, threatening to knock over aging trees and carry away any small, hapless animal misfortunate enough to be born without claws or opposable thumbs. After a gruelling nineteen mile hike, we staggered, cold, stiff, and snowblind to Woods Hole shelter, only to find that it was full of half-hypothermic AT Thu hikers, shivering in their down sleeping bags as the wind swept through the lean-to. Frustrated and at our wits-end, we consoled ourselves with hot Jello and Lipton noodles, set up our "tent," (a non-freestanding shelter that would have worked better as a kite at this point), and attempted to sleep as the the tempest raged on outside.

Although we found a quarter inch of snow on the ground when we woke the next morning, the sun was shining, and we pack up camp in high spirits, determined to put the bad weather behind us. Since that wintry night, the weather has been sunny, dry and cool, which has allowed us to more fully enjoy the beauty of the Georgian Mountains.

Trail Names:
For those of you unfamilar with the Appalachian trail, you should know that there is a crazy sub-culture of trail enthusiasts. One of the most sacred rituals of the AT Thru hike is the trail name. Before dad and I left for the trail, people would often ask us, "So, have you picked a trail name yet?" The problem is that you don't pick your own trail name, it has to emerge organically through your interactions with with other people along the trail. People will even go so far to give their hiking dogs a trail name. I read about another guy who gave his dog the name, "Barney, emergency trail stew."

Last night I was talking with one hiker who had been trying for the past few days to christen the newbie hikers he met. As he tells it, he tried to name a former Navy Seal "hotlips." As you can imagine, the name didn't go over so well and this particular imposing and muscular individual threatened to bring a quick and painful death to anyone who even whispered the name to him. As you can imagine, everyone laughed, called him Hotlips despite his threat, and thus his trail name was born.


As for us, we have yet to decide what to name ourselves. A few hikers have taken to calling us the "maine-iacs," but I think that it lacks a certain something. I was thinking about calling ourselves Rocky and Bullwinkle. We still have time. We'll think about it some more and get back to you.