Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 0, Wednesday, 3/16 – I registered as an Appalachian Trail thru hiker this morning. Then Mom, dad, Taylor, Freddie and me all hiked up Amicalola Falls this morning. The falls were stunning, maybe all the rain last night played a part. Mom and Freddi stopped their hike at the top of the Falls. Taylor, Dad, and myself hiked to Springer Mountain. There were a ton of people starting their through hike journey today. Excitement was high, it seems like most people are hiking solo.

I heard the craziest thing I today… I met a fellow hiker that was passing us on the trail. He had registered in the office just before us, and was telling us about the couple that had registered as thru hikers and were planning on bringing their 6 month old baby on their journey. I’m no parent, but something about that plan seems reckless..

All in all, it was 9.5 miles of hiking today. Mom and Freddi picked us up from Springer Mountain and drove us back to the lodge. Then, Mom, dad, Taylor, Freddie and I all got dinner again at the lodge. I certainly appreciated a hot meal that I didn’t have to cook, it was also nice to have another send-off dinner with the parents and Freddi. I think we all appreciated another night with the whole group.

I was leaving dinner and ran into Eddy, who I had met the day before at the Approach Trail arch. As I was leaving, he pat me on the back and gave me some words of encouragement. Eddy is all heart and positivity. He told me he read the blog and wanted to comment, but the site didn’t have that functionality. I have been on the fence about adding a comments section to the blog, but he convinced I should add it. Without a comments section, if I didn’t run into him, I wouldn’t have known he was following along.