Thanking the White Blaze for showing us the way
It is day two on the trail and I have had many trail similarities and differences already. All the things that I forgot about over the years, like the sore hips and shoulders, the fear of the uphill climbs, kicking a root as soon as I look up from the trail, are all coming back to me. Skills that I had, such as putting up the tent quickly and efficiently packing my pack, have come back so quickly that I’ve hardly had to think about it.
Yet, this is not the PCT. Last night, our first night on the trail, we camped near a Forest Road, which I’ve come to know as little use roads. Apparently that’s not so here, at least in Georgia. There must have been a car on that road every half hour into the really late hours, and not only were they driving fast, they were most likely drunk, as we heard a few of them stop and yell out of the cars. I didn’t sleep much last night.
Tonight we are camping with Tim Rooney, Matt’s second cousin. We caught him at the top of Blood Mountain and are camping with him just outside of Neal’s Gap. Another first, we bear bagged our food, something we never once did on the PCT, so I’m a little nervous about it. We shall see not only if our food makes it through the night, but also how long we stay with Tim.
So far, so good, and Matt and I are really loving the trail life.