The Appalachian Trail
NOBO 2024
Amicalola Falls, Georgia, at the start of the Appalachian Trail with Pippin.
Adding more and more as I go! Just keep scrolling! Scroll through and check back in later! More photos and stories to come!
April 10, 2024
This guy is called No Dog.
He’s a well known shuttle driver who you meet for the first time on a Reddit forum.
He’s a trail alumni and now shuttles thru-hikers to Amicalola Falls - the start of the Appalachian Trail.
If you ever meet him, you get the story of why he’s called No Dog.
He picked me up at the REI about an hour outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
At the REI, men looked me up and down, slapped by back and asked, “HAHAA why didn’t you bulk up?”
Clearly my 3 eggs for breakfast a day wasn’t showing much…
Five months before starting the trail, I reserved this cabin.
I knew I was going to try my attempt and this was a promise to myself.
Just book it.
This has been your dream.
Go.
When I got to the cabin, I packed and repacked my gear over and over again. I was so excited and nervous.
Here begins the approach trail to Springer Mountain. The southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail a continuous footpath extending more than 2,000 miles to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. The trail was conceived by Benton MacKaye, forester, philosopher, dreamer, who in 1921 envisioned a footpath along the crest of the Appalchian Mountains.
The Trail is maintained by volunteer hiking clubs, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service coordinated through the Appalachian Trail Conference.
“Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, it beckons not merely north and south, but upward to the body, mind, and soul of man.” — Harold Allen
The Appalachian Trail Guidebook is a comprehensive guide for trail hikers with detailed sources.
However, because of the weight, many hikers choose to part with theirs around Tennessee. Even sooner especially with apps like Far Out which have real-time comments of the state of the camp sites and downloadable maps.
I kept mine for a fair distance before sending mine home but I did find it handy for planning out days in advance especially if I was expecting mail shipments.
Unfortunately, my boxes I prepared ended up, like many other hikers, over-prepared and not what I actually needed. I had overestimated the amount of food I would AND could carry, what resources I would run out of, and more often than not it was a box I shared with friends or left in Hiker’s Boxes (boxes left out for hikers at hostels and posts of discarded items other hikers might need.)