South Carolina through mile marker 0!!

(Note: I do not have great service at the moment, some of the pictures may not upload from today’s hike, but they should when I get in better service, hopefully tomorrow) After missing my connecting flight I made it to South Carolina around 11 pm and was picked up by Allison, who was an excellent hostess and showed me around Greenville, SC. Aside from the rain, it was a very pleasant trip. It was better than staying in a 5-star hotel as she did my laundry, made me a delicious dinner, and made sure I had everything I needed 🙂 We walked around the city before heading back to her house so I could organize my gear before hitting the road to head to Dahlonega, GA where we met up with the rest of the group before starting the hike.

It was approximately a two and a half hour drive from her house to where we met the rest of the group. On the way there we had the opportunity to stop in Helen, GA, a cute German town. Unfortunately it was still raining, but we grabbed a really good lunch and walked around for a bit!

We had an extra hour before we could check into the lodge so took a self guided ghost tour in Dahlonega. I had at least a dozen different dots show up on my spiritual activity app on my phone! 👻

Not many pictures were taken over the two days we met up before starting the hike, but it was nice to reunite with last year hikers, and meet the three new ones! It also gave us a chance to unload any gear we didn’t want to carry; I have to admit I left a bag in one of the vans of items that should never have made it to Georgia!

March 19th, 2021 = the big start day! Although we did the first 70 miles of this trail last year there were definitely some nerves all around! Knowing you are about to embark on a 2,200 mile trail is a huge undertaking, physically and mentally. After signing in and taking the obligatory pictures under the arch, we were off! We luckily had really good weather today, it was about mid-40s all day and no rain. I don’t know the official count of stairs, but I think it hovered around 600. Some say this is the hardest part of the trail! All in all, it was about an 8 mile day. Other than some minor foot arch pain, I am feeling great so far! As I type this it is only about 7:00 p.m. but raining outside so everyone is in their tent. I will include a bunch of pictures below that started at the arc and ended at the mile zero marker, we are currently camping about .2 miles from the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail! It is cold 🥶⛺ After watching one episode of Netflix I will probably be falling asleep around 8:30, which is considered “hiker midnight!” Zzz zzz 🥱 We have a 12 mile day tomorrow, followed by a few 10 mile days, so I hope to update this again at Blood Mountain!

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