Road Walking to Amicolola Falls

This morning I remember waking up and looking to see if it was still dark out. I figured it was quite early since the sun hadn’t come up yet. But when I checked my watch, it was already after 7am! Somehow though I felt so tired still. So I just rolled over and fell back asleep. I woke up again closer to 8am, and we joked about how we were “being so bad” for sleeping in late. Even though I know we’ve been doing a great job so far this year. And everything ebbs and flows sometimes.

Eventually I got up and went down to the kitchen to put a the cinnamon rolls in. I got the ones with the orange icing because I think they are extra delicious. Then we packed up while those cooked. Once we were packed up we ate breakfast and I finished off the rest of my half gallon of chocolate milk. After probably a 1,000 calorie start to the day, I was ready to go!

The ridiculous amount of food and snacks that I have strapped to my pack today.

We didn’t begin walking until after 9am, which felt wild. But once again we are still really ahead of schedule. Even after taking 2 zeroes and doing some shorter days, it still looks like we’ll be arriving at the AT 3-4 days earlier than our even earliest expectation. Which in total is about 2 weeks earlier than my expected arrival date when I first got out here.

Once we set out we began the road walk out of Cave Springs. Which is one of the longest road walks along the entire Pinhoti trail. It was raining lightly on us as we began to walk. But fortunately never picked up or got too bad. After a while I had to stop to take my alpha layers off, which were under the rain gear. The combination of the two was just way too hot! Then I wound up talking to my dad on the phone for a while.

My morning started with two pieces of leftover pizza as we road walked.

After that I noticed that my most recent Hiker Trash Radio podcast with Doc came out today! It’s always so hard to remember exactly what you say when recording something like that. So I downloaded the podcast and spent the next hour or so listening. Doc is a great host and I had an awesome time recording that podcast after the CDT, back when I was in Philly for 5 weeks before this hike.

I listened to the whole podcast as we continued along the road. While we walked we got onto some quieter country roads. Passing dozens of houses with dogs fenced in or loose in the yard. A few dogs ran out to the street to greet us, barking aggressively. But they were also always wagging their tails. So I knew that we would be fine. Later on we passed by a farm with sheep and baby sheep! We watched as three small sheep nursed on their mothers aggressively.  Then the mom would run off and the babies would chase them, continuing to attempt to nurse. It was such an adorable scene.

Baby goats chasing down their mamas!

As far as road walks go this one wasn’t too bad. And will take us all the way to Amicolola falls over the next day few days! Passing through some layers downs here and there. I enjoyed the occasional dog, horse, or sheep. Along with some old trucks, and cool vintage looking properties.

We continued walking and I decided to give my mom a call and catch up on our her too. I love catching up with friends and family while we do these road walks. The time flew by as I talked on the phone and listened to my podcast. Today is going to be a fairly short day too, which is nice!

I loved this old red barn and truck.

Along this road walk to Amicolola falls there is a lot of farm land, fenced in areas, and homes. So camping options in those areas is pretty limited. Then when we get further into towns we’ll be heading through busy city type areas. Today we’ll be walking right through the town of Rome. Which I actually stayed at and took a zero at when I originally did the Pinhoti trail in 2023. This time we will quite literally be walking right through town instead! Which is pretty dang cool.

Ivy growing across some large trees alongside the road.

After I got off the phone I talked to Punisher and he was thinking our best bet would be to stay in Rome. It would be a short day, but past there was a rougher neighborhood where we definitely would not want to attempt to camp. Plus there are homes all around so the location is almost entirely private property. That just isn’t ideal and certainly isn’t going to help me sleep well at night. Instead, we could call it an early day and stay here in Rome. Which still has us on track to get to Amicolola falls significantly earlier than I could have ever hoped for or imagined.

It felt like a cool fall day as we road walked toward Rome.

Earlier while we were walking the Pinhoti trail out of Cave Springs a truck pulled over. The guy inside asked if I was Peg Leg and said he had been following the blogs! He was super nice and asked us some questions. But at the time we weren’t exactly sure where we would be ending up for the day. His name was Brent H and it was great to chat with him briefly. He warned of some weather rolling in today, which we’ve been hearing a lot about lately. Then before he left he gave us some cash to help us on our way. What a guy!

Heading into Rome in the early evening.

So with the kind support of Brent we wound up booking a room for the night in Rome. It was super reasonably priced too, which is always nice. And the funny this is that I stayed at the exact same motel when I came through Rome before in 2023! With my amazing Pinhoti trail tramily. I actually wrote my first ever Trek Blog in the hotel room here in Rome, GA. Now here I am, back again. This time I walked right to here from Key West. And I’ve been blogging almost every single day for the last 2 full years.

Crossing over this old bridge.

As we got closer into Rome we got out of the quieter residential neighborhoods and into the big city. The edge of town wasn’t particularly nice, but we quickly got into a better area. Then we got into the Main Street through Rome which I remembered was really cute. It’s lined with adorable shops and numerous restaurants. Rome is a really cool and bustling small city. We made our way through town, getting some strange looks here and there. Then eventually got toward the days inn where we would be staying.

Main Street in Rome!

After only an 18 mile day we called it at the Days inn! Which felt so good wild, but I knew that it was the most practical thing to do. There is literally no place else to stay if we continue on for another 10 or so miles. Camping will be next to impossible in a residential neighborhoods. Especially a rough neighborhood. Plus, there is apparently a large storm rolling in this evening. Everyone keeps warning us about it. Though the weather apps we’ve checked out don’t seem to indicate anything too crazy.

I really enjoyed the last couple miles of the day as we walked right through the city.

It was before 4pm when we got checked into the room after a wildly short day. And yet, somehow, we still are maintaining a 27 mile a day average for this entire year! Even with last week’s shorter days and 2 zeroes in a row. Even when it feels like we’re slacking, I realize we are still going pretty hard. If there is ever a time to rest and slow down a bit, it’s definitely in this transitional time between the road walking and the Appalachian trail. I can be hard on myself at times about wanting to maintain a strict schedule and do 30s every single day without any breaks. But I have to cut myself some slack here and there.

Heading to the days inn! I can’t believe I stayed here before in 2023. It’s so funny how things work out.

Once we got checked into we just chilled out hard. There was a Steak n’ Shake right next door to the days inn, which I went to last time I was here as well! So we headed there for burgers, fries, and milkshakes of course. We even got a coupon for a free milkshake which we can get later on today. The only thing better than a milkshake is a free milkshake! And I’m sure I could use the calories and fat.

Steak n Shake for lunch.

I ate cheese fries and a frisco melt in bed after that. Then drank my butterfinger milkshake. We put some TV on and laid around for the rest of the day. Eventually I was feeling motivated and got some serious work done. I did some youtube vlog editing, put together a reel for Instagram and YouTube which will come out soon, and also did some other writing and work I’ve been putting off. I have some gear reviews and sponsored content coming out in the next couple weeks and wanted to get on top of that if I could.

After that I felt very accomplished! At least if we’re going to have a shorter day I can get some work done in town. Then I didn’t feel as bad about our lazy day. When I was on the CDT last year I wasn’t as good about budgeting my time and doing writing and video work while on trail. Instead I would often have to take days off in town to get caught up on content. Which didn’t matter too much, because 9 Lives frequently had to do the same thing. But this year I can’t afford such luxuries with my time. So staying caught up every day and using my time as productively as possible has been a very critical thing for me.

Over the course of the night I did do a little bit more writing and other work. The type I could do more passively as I watched TV and laid in bed. We got into a final destination marathon and once again stayed up way later than we should have. Around 8:30-9pm we were hungry again and decided to order some Applebees, which was right next door. We both got loaded salads that somehow were 1500-2000 calories each! Salads can be very deceiving. Mine had fried chicken on it as well as a crunchy oriental mix and dressing. We brought them back to the room and got our free milkshakes on the walk back. Then ate our second dinner and watched some more final destination. I don’t think we even turned the light off in the room until after 11pm! We’ve gone mad!

This crunchy oriental salad was actually loaded with calories and really hit the spot.

Luckily it is supposed to rain all tonight and into the early morning tomorrow. So we aren’t exactly going to be packing up early and rushing out of the room.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my hike by buying me a soda or a snack along the way, there is a “Tip the Author” button below! It links directly to my Venmo. Any and all support is incredibly appreciated!