Who Slackpacks on the First Day? Me. (Days 1–3 on the Pinhoti Trail)

Day 1: Flagg Mountain to County Road 56 (17.5 miles)

Soundtrack: Day/Night by Parcels

Somehow, I’m slackpacking on day 1 of this thru-hike. And it feels great; I’m practically frolicking through the rolling trail at the southern end of the Pinhoti.

Boop

At the Pinhoti Outdoor Center (POC) hostel last night, some of my friends were feeling ill-prepared for temps to dip below freezing on our first night of trail. So Monk, the POC’s shuttle driver, agreed to drive us from Outlaw’s car at County Road 56 back to the beginning of trail just south of Flagg Mountain in the morning. That way, we could drive back to the POC after our hike and they could sleep inside.

Kimm and Nathan own the POC, and they have been immensely helpful in picking us up from the airport, sharing information about the trail, and making sure we have everything we need to start strong. Kimm even helped us register our thru-hike with the Chamber of Commerce.

Outside of the tramily members I know from my 2024 thru-hike — Outlaw, Cinderella, and Sparks — there’s another NOBO hiker starting the Pinhoti today named Patch. We welcomed him into our little tramily and are looking forward to getting to know him better over the next couple weeks if our schedules continue to align.

Some of the crew: Cinderella, Outlaw, and me atop Flagg Mountain (the Pinhoti’s southern terminus)

In the months leading up to my flight to Alabama, I’d been feeling curious about how my mind and body would adjust to hiking all day again. Am I still in decent physical shape? Would I feel anxious hiking alone during the day? Where will my mind go when all I need to do is wake up and hike north? What will I (inevitably) forget back in Michigan? Where will I chafe first?

The initial excitement of being back on trail wore into an easy, content feeling as I dropped right back into a comfortable pace, an open mindset, and the sounds of the forest around me.

After a few hours, I remembered my friend Ben was starting the Appalachian Trail today! I sent him a blessing of sorts, then put my phone back into airplane mode.

There were a couple sections of road walk during our first day, during which we met some sweet dogs. So far, I’m learning that while their barks are mildly menacing, they just want pats (and definitely some snacks). In that, we are the same. 🙂

Also in this section of road walk, we casually ran into Nimblewill Nomad — the oldest man to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail — on his way to pick up groceries.

Today’s hike routed us through lots of varied terrain. On the ridge walks, the wind howled and the trees swayed. In the valleys, the sound of my shoes squelching through muddy spots reminded me of Vermont. Due to the recent storms and tornadoes throughout the region, there were also a number of blowdowns. Nothing crazy, but there was one hillside where we lost the trail completely.

The 17.5 miles flew by, and as soon as we got to Outlaw’s car, it started to sprinkle. After a quick pitstop at the hostel, we decided to, in Cinderella’s words, “delete some burritos and margs” at L’Acosta.

Sufficiently stuffed and very sleepy, we headed back for showers and sleep. I opted to tent in the yard instead of paying for a bunk again. I usually sleep better in my tent anyway, and felt eager to test this one out on a slightly windy night.

Day 2: County Road 56 to stream just south east of FS 675 (trail mile 32.4; 14.9 miles)

Soundtrack: White Roses by Flyte, The Staves

Monk dropped our crew back where we left off last night, and our day started with about seven miles of road walk. Lots of that on this trail so far. Our crew of five began on a busy road with little shoulder to speak of before eventually turning off onto a winding country road that meandered by farms and homes. After a few miles, we came across Donny again.

Quick dog interlude:

Okay, back to Donny.

We met Donny last night at the POC. He’s a friendly, easygoing guy nearly finished with the Pinhoti! He said that he was thinking about giving up hiking as a hobby altogether because it can get quite lonely, but seeing our group hiking together made him consider hiking more social trails. I thought that was sweet.

While we were talking with Donny, a man approached us. At first, I thought he was going to be angry about us chatting outside his house, but instead, he introduced himself as Pathfinder. He routed and maintains most of the trail in this section. Pathfinder asked us about trail conditions and shared where his team would be working later in the day.

There’s such a supportive community around the Pinhoti. In less than two days, I’ve met so many kindhearted and enthusiastic souls in Alabama who ensure we have everything we need before sending us on our way.

I spent most of the day hiking without music. So the sound of the Pinhoti on day 2 has consisted of dogs barking, roosters crowing, little birds chirping, frogs… ribbiting? My feet hitting pavement instead of leaves or pine needles or soil.

I don’t mind a road walk. I like the big plots of land here, the farms. Mooing at the cows and saying hi to the dogs. Waving at cars as they give us a wide berth. Asking the trucks to blow their horns 🙂 I like seeing the way people live around the Pinhoti.

Eventually, though, we meandered back into the woods for a while.

More than half of our day ended up being on some kind of road — whether paved, gravel, or dirt. And after losing Sparks for a few hours (she managed to accidentally walk a different trail somehow), we were all reunited at camp.

True to her name, Sparks built us all a fire around which we ate dinner. I talked on the phone for a few before sunset, then decided to get some journaling in. So here we are.

And to answer two of my questions from yesterday: I forgot my Kula Cloth and the first place I’m chafing is the good ol’ underboob.

Day 3: FS 675 to stealth at trail mile 45.4 (13 miles)

Soundtrack: The Fall of Hobo Johnson

The five of us slept in and took our morning slowly (it made me think of The Waking by Theodore Roethke). After a breakfast of warmed granola, blueberries, and milk — thank you, Mountain House — I packed up and got started around 9:30 with Sparks.

The two of us chatted for a while before she called her daughter, and then I put it into gear and flew over the ridgeline.

I felt emotional today since I wasn’t home for my dad’s birthday. Thankfully, my phone happened to be off airplane mode when my sister FaceTimed me. So I got to join my family in singing Happy Birthday after all.

As far as water goes, it was a dry day on a hot day. I filled up at two water caches about seven miles apart. After the second one at Bulls Gap, the next confirmed water source would be 14 miles away. I cameled up while waiting for my friends, then topped off with water trail magic from the POC after eating lunch. Luckily, about 0.3 miles down the trail, there was a small stream where we could scoop just a bit more water before finding a place to sleep for the night.

Thanks, POC!

There were beautiful sections of pine forest today where the trail was soft — I found pine cones nearly as long as my feet!

Zebra swallowtail

Today was pretty cruisey again, and we’re all about smiles over miles for the beginning of the Pinhoti. So sometime in the afternoon, I found a flat area large enough to squeeze five tents. Together we made camp, ate dinner, and watched the sunset before heading to bed.

Nothing better.