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Hello! I’ve been hiking for 4 days, including the approach trail. I got off around noon today at Woody Gap (mile 20.5) to stay in Dahlonega with my parents for the night. Is it too early for nice things like comfy beds and BBQ? Shouldn’t I be testing how long I can go without a shower? As the Buddhists say, according to Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Daisy Jones & the Six “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” So I guess I’m choosing not to suffer through the thunderstorm tonight.

I’ve been journaling every day so far. Here are my entries from the past few days:

Monday 3/27

I’m currently at the Amicalola State Park Lodge with my dad, who is annoying the hell out of me. Not because of anything he did. Just because I’m nervous about tomorrow and he’s within a 5 ft radius.

I feel like I’m in an old western flick driving into the sun. I haven’t actually seen a western flick because I can’t watch movies set before WWI**. Back to the Future III is the only exception because *spoiler alert* they do end up getting back to the future.

I took a long shower. I’m Q-tip in the belly button type of clean

I’m too wired to sleep, plus my dad is snoring.

Show of hands who thinks I should use the night sky to navigate #followyournorthstar? If you answered “you’d probably just follow a plane back to the Atlanta airport”, you’re spot on.

**I simply cannot relate to people who don’t have “defenestration” in their vocabularies.

Tuesday, 3/28

Literally what am I doing.

My bag weighed in at 38 lbs… which is a lot more than everyone else who registered. I gave my dad AWOL’s guide (the FarOut app is all I’ll probably need); I’m not sure what else I can do to lower it.

We skipped the steps leading up to Amicalola Falls but did the rest of the approach trail. It was still hard! If you’re debating whether to do the approach, I say skip it. After 2000 miles are you really going to regret not doing 9 at the beginning?

My thighs started chafing… I’m gonna switch to Patagonia baggies with 5” inseams. Thanks Dad for going to REI for me!

I camped at the Springer Mountain shelter. Everyone is so nice! I did get sleepy at 7 and stop socializing but I think that’s acceptable behavior on the trail.

Wednesday, 3/29

It was so freaking cold last night. I need to perfect my trekking pole tent setup because it was falling in my face and the condensation on the outside turned into frost… ugh

Today is my first day without my dad. It went ok. It took a lot to motivate myself on the uphills. Mile 6 is where my feet really started to hurt.

I haven’t been hiking with music because it still takes a lot of focus for me to do this. I’ll probably be able to listen when I get into the rhythm of things.

Thursday 3/30

Hiking today felt good. I realized that I like being on the trail more than chilling at camp. Even though it’s fun to sit and chitchat around a campfire, I don’t think I’ve found my people yet. I hear that 75 people are registered to start April 1, but for now the trail is relatively quiet. I’ve been rolling with the same group of 20 people since I left Springer and I just haven’t felt ~the vibes~ with anyone yet. I’ve been enjoying the solo thing so far and again, everyone is super friendly, but it’d be nice to meet people who I click with.

We did run into our first character today. This is his second year thru-hiking the AT and he’s doing it with a daypack. Instead of a tent he packed a banana suit. Good luck, Bananaman, wherever you are!