Georgia Musings

After 7 days of hiking, I’ve completed the Georgia section of the AT and entered North Carolina. Overall, I’ve had a good experience in Georgia. The weather has been up and down with some beautiful pleasant weather days but also some intense weather events with thunder, lightning, and heavy downpours. I even got hailed on.

The flaming Azalea is a Spring highlight in the southern Appalachians.

The trail in Georgia is well designed and well maintained. Kudos to the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club. I’ve only had to navigate 2 blowdowns over the 78 mile Georgia section. Despite the rain, there was very little mud on the trail, a mark of good trail design.

Maintaining the trail requires cutting through blowdowns with a chain saw. This work is typically done by volunteers who work for trail organizations.

Dick’s Creek Gap in Georgia. If a gap lies ahead the hiker knows to expect both a steep downhill and uphill as one approaches and leaves the gap.

I did take a zero day on day 4 of my hike due to a weather forecast of heavy duty rain. That day turned out well as I spent time chatting with Vijay, Don, and Ray all of my generation. We shared lots of hiking stories but also spoke about the music we enjoyed–both Don and Vijay are musicians. As always, the people I’ve met on the trail have been an important part of what makes the trail experience special.

Next up will be the Southern Nantahala Wilderness of North Carolina followed by the Great Smoky Mountains. Tomorrow I will pass  100 miles on my current hike. The mountains get bigger from here to over 5000 feet and then to over 6000 feet in the Smokies.