#005 Section Hike One. Springer Mt. GA to Bly Gap NC. Preparation, Travel, & Staging.
There are as many reasons to hike a trail like this as there are hikers on the trail.
April 2015
My friend, Mosey, decides that she wants to section-hike the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) over the course of an undetermined number of years. Being a committed mother to four active children she plans her trips around their sports and academic activities. She announces the plans for her first section then invites a few of us to join her.
This section of the trail begins on top of Springer Mountain in Georgia, meanders through the mountainous region for about seventy-eight miles to Bly Gap, just beyond the GA/NC state line, where we will end our hike. We plan to travel to the trail together, start out together, then hike at our own pace. We’ll camp each night independently of each other’s plans, then reunite at the boarder or back in Hiawassee at the end of the week.
We drive from home through heavy rain to Hiawassee, GA to secure a couple of rooms for the night. Rising early the next morning we fuel up on hotel breakfast food for the first day of our five or six-day trek through the mountains.
After a short drive along the winding road through thick fog and drizzle we arrive at the home of our shuttle drivers. Sally and Joyce drive the four of us, along with two other hikers, to the top of Springer Mountain in a pair of Subaru Outbacks. The duo sort of fell into the business of shuttling backpackers to and from the trail several years ago. For a fee, they will get you anywhere you need to be in the southern-most region of the A.T. Sally told us that they usually do their own traveling during the summer and winter when their business is slower.
The Springer Mountain parking area lies about a mile north of the official beginning of the A.T.  Hikers must walk south to the official beginning if they want to keep their hike pure. We hike to the boulder which displays an encrypted plaque marking the beginning of the north bound (NoBo) hike.
Neel’s Gap is the first semblance of civilization you come across on the trail. It’s about thirty miles into the hike. Many hikers decide to bail on their through-hike there. Sometimes the reasons are as simple as the trail not being what they thought it would be; big trails tend to be romanticized in book and movies. People catch the hiking bug then set out on these trails without having any prior experience. Some haven’t taken the time to familiarize themselves with their gear. For some, it’s not the utopia they had pictured, or it’s tougher than they imagined. They might find that they are ill-equipped. They soon learn that it rains outside. They soon learn it gets cold outside. Big hikes look easy on the cover of magazines but are quite different in real life. But hey, they get credit for trying. Some may come back to try again, and maybe go the all the way next time. We will see how we fare as the week unfolds.
There are as many reasons to hike a trail like this as there are hikers on the trail.
