Celebrate!
Mickey (Michelle) and I are reading a great deal about hiking The Appalachian Trail. I have read the Stumblin' Thru books and we are both following blogs of thru-hikers walking the trail now. Last year in 2013 we camped at Smokey Mountain National Park and hiked a few miles on the AT.
After some serious discussion we decided life is short and we should attempt to follow our passion. Much of the AT is only twelve or so hours from our home so we want to section hike the AT Nobo (northbound). Now would we love to complete the entire trail, of course. Next year I will be 67 and with our life situation (family, work, etc.) would only be able to hike at the outside 50 - 100 miles a year. Our goal is to hike for as many years as possible.
So we have our conditioning work cut out for us. We have talked about starting May but not sure we will ever spend an overnight on any trail this year. Gear is not cheap and we will need to not only build up gear time along with our conditioning. The more I think about it going in September, 2015 would give us some chances to hike with overnights prior to starting the AT.
Some books are on order from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy starting the planning process. We are so looking forward to our adventures. Since our first section is the Georgia section of the trail another good resource is Georgia Appalachian Trail Club. Amicaloa Falls State Park has a wonderful looking inn which would be a good place to stay a night before hiking and after before driving home. We hope the Hike Inn will allow our car to stay between nights as we hike.
I do say thank you to Mickey for suggesting the idea we do the AT! Thanks Love!!
The adventure awaits......
Springer Mountain, AT Southern Terminus
Root66, June 7, 2014
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