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| 03/17/00 Happy St. Patricks Day. The time has come, Paul has begun the long journey from Springer to Katahdin. After a delicious last home cooked meal Thursday night, Paul's friend John (aka Pru) picked him up in his older model Volvo Friday morning, and they successfully made their way south to Georgia. Mom got the call this morning, Paul was 6 miles from Amicalola State Park, the location of the approach trail which leads to Springer Mountain after a 9 mile uphill hike. Paul will spend his first day hiking just to get to the Appalachian Trail. According to Mom, the weather is nice today, and Paul sounds very anxious to get his adventure started. He has a week's worth of food, and planned on his next call to be in about a week, or sooner. Cheers, Todd |
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| 03/20/01 Snowstorm on Blood Mountain Paul called from the Walasi-Yi Center at Neels Gap today at around 12:00 noon. The Walasi-Yi Center is an outfitter/giftshop where the AT literally runs through the building, and is about 40 miles from Amicalola Falls State Park, or 31 miles from Springer Mountain. Paul is now about half way through Georgia's portion of the AT, but it has not been easy. After Pru dropped him off on Saturday, Paul started his trek from the access trail. Just as he had read about, the access trail proved to be a challenging way to begin the hike. Paul indicated that he understood the first day how hikers can quit before they really begin. He made it to the summit of Springer, and that is where he spent his first tired night. The access trail was hard, but the second day did not get easier. Paul began his Sunday with a pleasant but misleading downhill pace, and found himself at his tenative destination at around noon. With hours of daylight left, Paul decided to keep going, which was mostly up, and made his way to Justice Creek. This was a spot with water and camping, and where Paul set up his tent. On Monday, Paul hiked to Slaughter Gap, about 13 miles from Justice Creek, and close to Blood Mountain. Monday night brought the wind and snow, tough weather for sleeping outside. Paul said he was cold, but not shivering cold, and that overnight snowfall had covered his tent. This morning, the other hikers that were camped near him decided to take a shortcut, the Freeman Trail, or as the Tru-hikers' Companion puts it "a foul weather route around Blood Mountain". Paul decided not to stray from the AT, and proceeded to break snow the entire 3.3 miles over Blood Mountain, the highest peak on the AT in Georgia. This lead him to the pay phone at the Walasi-Yi Center, where he called me. He was waiting for a shuttle that brings hikers to a hostel in Neels Gap, where he planned to spend tonight, warm and dry. It was very exciting to hear from Paul, he seemed like he was learning a lot about what this adventure is really about. He said today was peaceful, hiking in the snow with no other hikers in sight, and he saw his first deer. He also told me that he had put too much food in his pack, weighing him down. I gather he does not enjoy carrying food into a town. Paul has almost finished his first roll of film, and will mail it to me soon. I plan to post some of his pictures on this site when I get them. It was good to hear that he was safe, and seemed to be enjoying the pain so far. I did not hear anything about a trail name for Paul, but did not ask. He has met many other thru-hikers, and mentioned something about meeting one of the Three Blind Mice, some famous thru-hiker that he had read about. Paul was going to spend this afternoon planning his next move, and will call again within the next week. He sends his best to everyone!!! Todd |
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