Goodbye Georgia & Hello NC – My first two weeks on the trail

First of all to make it all clear and explain myself:
Against all the expectations of you out there who have never done a thru-hike before you would not believe how little spare time you have to find time writing a blog while hiking the AT!
Writing is besides reading one of my favorite hobbies and I was certain that taking six months off for a walk in the woods would allow me plenty of time for working on a blog post almost every day. Let’s have a look what exactly made me so “busy” over the last two weeks out here on the trail..

The last days at home

As every big plan in life demands sacrifices, starting the AT meant seeing my girl friend Kez for a last time for a very long time. Fortunately we communicated in the early stages of dating last year that one of my life goals would be thru-hiking a multi-month hiking trail and that my planning and focus was already quite advanced on doing the AT starting in March this year.
My voluntarily chosen period of unemployment + homelessness therefore started with a wonderful week together in the southwest of England, where we explored the beautiful countryside of county Devon.
During our farmstay we explored beautiful beaches, villages, moores and even did a day of “hacking” which is kind of strolling around the woods & fields on horseback in a group of people.
It’s weeks like these where you can see that all the work and hustle and bustle of life can be worth it. Both of us had an amazing time!

Devon’s beaches were plenty and beautiful which we thoroughly enjoyed walking together

When I was heading back to Ireland to prepare for my flight to Atlanta I considered myself extremely lucky and was feeling deeply grateful for having really close Irish friends like Ben, Dan and Omar. (I mentioned before as my walking trail angels on my preparational hike of the Wicklow Way last year.)
I was kind of surprised that the only time I ever felt a little bit nervous about this trip was when I had my last moments with these lovely people together.

A last visit and catchup with my best friends in Ireland was pure sunshine for the soul

Sitting together with Ben at Dan’s house sipping a last root beer together as well as having a final dinner later with Omar and his family during Ramadan were surely not the easiest moments of my life but at the same time they made me feel deeply content and comfortable about the upcoming trip. I realised that these people will still be there no matter what happens. Even after the trail. And with these thoughts in mind I began my long journey over the pond.

The first days abroad

Eventhough I only managed to sleep for 5 hours at Omar’s place before catching the plane from Dublin to Atlanta I felt very well rested and could not wait setting foot on the trail ASAP! I believe it is the work of kindness that can give you superpowers and I am beyond grateful that my friends somehow always help me to activate those for me.
The first stop of the trip was a changeover in New York.
Looking out of the air plane window during the 3 hour flight from New York to Atlanta made me realise that I am basically going to walk back through the massive Appalachian Mountain range under us in the next couple of months.
Looking down into the wilderness of this mighty mountain range under us does something to your mind which is hard to describe in words but I think a feeling of freedom describes it best for me.
I arrived at my motel room in Sandy Springs, North Atlanta by 4 AM on the 5th of March. To kick off this adventure I got a couple of hours sleep in and got my final errands for outdoor gear at the local REI and groceries at Target.
My friendly shuttle driver Dale (Or aka “Bandit” as his trailname) gave me a lift to the famous archway of Amicalola Falls in the morning of the 6th. From there I made my way to the Len Foote Hike Inn Hostel. An 8 mile walk from the National Park visitor center in blissful sunshine and warming 20°C.

The infamous archway at the southern terminus of the AT. The symbolic starting point for many if not most thru-hikers of the Appalachian Trail.

I’d definitely recommend staying a night at the Len Foot if you get the chance! I had an amazing dinner together with lovely locals who were spending a weekend hiking close to the official start of the AppalachianTrail. Cindy was one of them who I miraculously bumped into again walking her dog on the AT exactly 100 miles and 14 days later at Winding Stair Gap!
This is just one example of how hard it is to believe into coincidences after hiking here for a couple of days.
Another one would be that on my second day of hiking I bumped into a bachelors party group equipped with a speaker and an attitude that I was actually trying to avoid while finding my peace and solitude in nature on the AT.. good that the trail is huge and camping options are plenty so each their own.
After touching the first official blaze of the AT on Springer Mountain and hiking for 12 miles that day I was happy to find my first AT campsite at Hawk Mountain.

“Holding” the first official white blaze of the AT made me feel deeply grateful for making it and starting a lifetime adventure for the next 6 months

When I arrived there by 4PM only two other tents were pitched so far and I decided to pitch my tent behind a bend close to a firepit and a bear box where food can be stored easily without hanging it. (Nobody likes to wakeup to a bear surprise right? Don’t ever sleep with your food in bear country. Even if there is no recent reported bear activity do not be the one who started taming the beasts please!)
Just after I finally finished to setup my tent the bachelor’s party comes wandering into the campsite and I hear one of them shouting: “This is awesome man, there is even a fire pit!”
After a couple of minutes I thought to myself: “you know what? Since my tent is already setup now and I am way to tired to move it at this time of the day I may as well say hi and introduce myself to the group.”
It turned out each and every single one of them was a lovely character and amazing to talk to!
We shared some food, stories, laughter and a campfire together on that evening and I believe life was trying to show me never judge a book by its cover again!

Bumping into Ryan’s stag group on my first day of the AT turned out to be an absolute pleasure against all expectations! Keep it rollin’ lads 

This group decided to spend a bachelors party as a 5-day section hike on the Appalachian Trail. This is against all standard protocol with stags basically being a “go drinking in the city and dress up funny ritual” and therefore deserves a lot of respect in my opinion. So Ryan, Brandon, Josh or anyone else of the lads if you’re reading this: Keep this friend group and attitude up! 🙏

Finishing the first week and state / birth of a trail name / first trail town

Equipped with a lot of redundant supplies from Ryan’s Bachelor party group I headed out towards Woody’s Gap the morning after pondering about life and later feeling a first little dose of sadness on my 5th day of hiking. I wasn’t too worried about my feelings though as I believe if you reflect about what exactly makes you sad, 99% of times there is a good reason to be and the only thing that is really sad is that there are always very unfortunate people out there who are actually lacking special “things/people/moments” to be sad about. I was a little bit sad about the fact not seeing my girlfriend or any of my friends any time soon but simultaneously felt grateful that exactly these were my reason for being sad as it means they usually give me good energy when around and a reason to live for and being happy.
Upon finishing the first “real mountain” called Blood Mountain no blood but a lot of sweat has been spilled climbing up and down this beautiful rock formation.

The top of Blood Mountain reveals the first real scenic view over the start of the Appalachian Mountain range starting in Georgia

Neel’s Gap is the first real resupply/civilisation stop after starting the AT northbound and is known for Bill aka “the pack whisperer”.
Imagine the most stereotypical looking north American Trapper in the 1800s out of a European history book without the beaver skin hat. This is Bill.
If your backpack exceeds 35 lbs of base weight which is your fully packed backpack without food & water Bill offers to go through your entire pack and recommends which items you should keep and which you should send home or donate to the hiker box (items for free for other hikers).
Initially I signed up for a shakedown as my pack was slightly over 35 lbs. With him being busy “whispering” to another hiker I resupplied on my food and enjoyed some soda and pizza outside. In my mind I already decided which items I can definitely get rid of so when the pack whisperer came out of the store and obviously stared at my physique he asked me “Could you put your backpack on son?” And immediately after I did he pulled on every single fastener the backpack had to offer while putting the hip belt and top belt into their proper locations. After 10 seconds of adjustment I felt like I just completed a session at a chiropractor! My pack felt light! And it was not due to some redundant items that are completely unnecessary on the trail. I simply wore it wrong. After a hug and deeply expressing my gratitude he smiled and said: “When you reach Kathadin, send me a postcard. I’d love that!”

On the 13th of March I camped at my favorite shelter of the AT so far. The Blue Mountain Shelter just before Unicoy Gap. Camping on top of a ridgeline with an almost 360° view is surely something you don’t get often in your regular “9 to 5”. We had a campfire and a first meet with many people I started to bond with on the trail a lot. “Trail Families” are surely a thing and as we as a group of five to six people seemed to average the same mileage each day I became good friends a lovely group.

There was a storm and tornado warning in place for March 15th hitting north of Georgia and North Carolina quite strong which was perfectly timed with my first “zero” at the Green Dragon Hostel in Hiawassee.

Up to this point I did not have a trail name yet. Nobody out here usually goes by their real name for long and trail names really help a lot to get a conversation going at first encounters!

The moment I entered the shuttle from Unicoy Gap to Hiawassee I sat down in the front of the bus and in the back I experienced another hiker checking me out from head to toes and saying: “You gotta be Blue Jeans! I heard a lot about you!” Since I have never met or even seen this man before I realised trail gossip travels fast and far and it turned out a fellow hiker I hiked with for a day told him about my faux-pas. The morning I woke up for my flight I accidentally put on my blue jeans instead of my outdoor camp pants.

I thought to myself I may as well wear them now as camp trousers until I stumble upon an outfitter for more suitable outdoor fashion. Since literally noone else wears jeans on trail my trail name was born due to this one little moment of unawareness early one morning in Dublin. I’m cool with that.

Branded with a trail name and a fully recovered body and belly I was able to take on the last Miles out of Georgia into North Carolina. The Blue Jeans were shipped home but the name and story stays. 🙂

Entering North Carolina and a visit to Franklin, NC

The day after St. Patrick’s day we crossed the stateline of Georgia into North Carolina. The first real milestone for many hikers as some people say over 50% of Thru-hikers don’t even make it this far. May it be due to wrong expectations of trail life or an injury on the trail or simply bad luck because of an accident early on trail reaching the stateline as well as completing the first 100 miles on Albert Mountain the day after made me proud as I have never hiked this far and long before in my life ever before!

I have never hiked a consecutive 100 miles in my life before and upon reaching this milestone I knew this journey is a special one for me. Almost all of my trail family signed here 🙂

At this moment you realise that hiking, the outdoors and nature are your new normal. You really start to enjoy this life style and I feel most people start to question why we were living life so differently before getting out here.

All the kindness, adventure and nice people you experience really make you believe into this world again.

In Franklin we shared a hotel room with three people of my trail family and it was one of the coolest weekends ever.

“Billy the Goat”, “Poo Bear” and “Hot Tamale” chilling in our shared hotel room in Franklin, NC

In a couple of days from there we were about to head into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and I could not have wished for better trail companions on this trip.

I know it took me quite a while to find some moments to write about my first days on the trail but if you enjoyed it please let me know and I am going to write more about my recent experiences on the trail.

Enjoying the fact that I’m going to witness natures awakening in Spring for the first time of my life all out in nature now. 🙂

Happy Trails and hope y’all keeping well!

Markus “Blue Jeans” in April 2025, Erwin TN