Georgia Video

Here is PJ's video!

April 8 - Mt Tray, Powell Mountain, and Plum Orchard

A quick update from PJ

Taking a break on Powell Mountain. Slept at Tray Mountain shelter last night. Cold and rainy...and windy but it is always windy. Heard some coyotes only a few hundred yards away. Sound like pups.

Plan to go to Plum Orchard shelter tonight.

View from Tray Mountain

"Dozer" - a good ol' boy from South Carolina at Tray Mountain

Data

Days Hiking: 8

Miles Hiked Today: 15.5

Elevation Gain: 2,784 ft

Total Miles Hiked: 74.1

April 6 - Goin' to Hiawasse

Appalachian Trail, GA

From PJ Early in the day: 
"Good morning. It's April 6th. Wednesday, I think. I only walked about an hour so far. It's about 9 o'clock right now. I just stopped to take off my sweatshirt, because it starts off freezing in the morning, and then an hour into it, you're sweating. And in another hour, I'll take of this hoodie. 

So, I just stopped, had a little snack, drank some water. 

Um...last night was just another regular night in Low Gap. Went to bed early. Didn't really sleep. Haven't slept good at all out here, but that's just kind of the deal. Maybe get five hours total, but Probably half an hour at a time, or something.

Tonight, I'm going into Hiawasse, Georgia. We're gonna shuttle. There's I think six of us, and we're going to split two hotel rooms. Or, Motel rooms. Something like that. So it will be cheap. Under 20 bucks.

We'll go into town, and eat some real food. Take my first shower in six days! And charge all of my stuff, wash my clothes, all that good stuff. So that's pretty exciting. 

And then tomorrow, I'm gonna probably have breakfast in town, and then head back out. Hopefully pretty early. I'm gonna start picking up miles soon. I'm not sure how long I'll be staying with this group, but we'll see. I'll check in with you tonight, because I should have wifi!"

Eastern Garter Snake - at least that's my best guest. 

This was from PJ's hike a few days ago - Blood Mountain. It was a strenuous hike - with an elevation gain of over 1,000 feet in rocky, difficult terrain

Bloodroot - This is an early spring wildflower. It gets its name from the juice of the root.

From PJ - a Little Later in the Day:

"It's been all ridgewalking today.  Actcually, a lot of it has been pretty easy. This has been the easiest day hiking so far, and I'm almost done because I can hear cars in the distance. I'm going into Hiawasse. I'm way ahead of everyone else. So I'm probably just gonna go and sit down. Hopefully there's a little spot to hang out down there and just wait for people. Or if there's other people, I might be able to catch a ride into town early.

This is kind of what we're dealing with. Ridgewalking - all day. Downhills are the worst and the slowest. And I only have one hand right now, so I'm going really slow. [PJ was videotaping as he hiked] But like I said, this is actually easy compared to the last few days. Most of today was really flat. It wasn't rocky like it is now. It was all on the ridge, but it was nice, smooth...sailing. I don't know if you can pick up the cars. [I could in the video]. I can hear the cars and I know I'm almost there. 

We're coming down Blue Mountain. I was just at Blue Mountain shelter, and I had a little snack. Chilled out with some people. Met some people from Texas. There were some people from, well I guess they're not from Antarctica, but they lived on Antarctica for the last 2.5 years. Then they came out here on the Appalachian Trail, it's pretty cool. I met a lady from Switzerland.

Hopefully I have about half an hour left. [Until he gets into town]"

***
Many of these updates that I'm sharing are from videos that PJ sends to me. The videos are usually of the scenery and where he is. It is a helpful way for him to convey plenty of information without taking all of the time to text.

In the future, I'll probably include some of the videos, or at least footage from some, but for now, I'll just explain a little bit of what I saw and heard as he spoke.

In this video, PJ was walking along a ridge - as he explained earlier. It is a rocky, single-track ridge in the middle of a dense forest. The forest is still sparse and only starting to come back to life. The trail winds through the woods, and as he speaks to me, he is starting to make his descent into a nearby town.

When PJ paused for a moment, I could hear the cars that he talked about.

Hiking Town Decor

***
PJ did make it into Hiawasse. I spoke with him later the day.

Just to give you some context, Hiawasse is a small town about 8-10 miles away from the Appalachian trail. Many hikers will hike off the trail and go into this town to restock on needed supplies, shower, and get ready for another period of being in the woods.

Hiawasse and the Appalachian Trail Map

PJ and his group of hikers made it into town, found a budget motel, and then went to eat at a buffet. PJ said it was one of the best meals he's eaten in his whole life. $8.95, all you can eat. He wasn't sure that the meal was so good because of the quality of the food, or if it was because it was the first time he'd eaten "real food" in a while. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

PJ is also being very judicious. It can be a temptation to put in big miles at first - you have so much stoke and gusto for the hike. But most people, even if they are "in shape" aren't really in shape for the challenge of this hike. There is more to consider than walking. He is hiking up mountains, down mountains, with a heavy pack on his back. He is sleeping outside in the woods. The nights are very cold and the ground is very hard.

All of this adds up, and it is better to simply take your time at first. Soon enough, things will get warmer, there will be more ridge walking (with less elevation gain and loss). He will be in better shape and used to the rhythm of life on the trail. Then, he'll put in big miles. It is wise to start off slow.

PJ and friends - PJ is on the right side - second one in the back. (wearing a backwards baseball hat)

Data

I will post the data tomorrow - as I don't have an exact location of where he left the Appalachian trail.

April 5 - Keeping the Creepers Away

From PJ

It's PJ. It's April fifth. Nice scenery. I did Blood mountain yesterday. That was tough. Coming up and going down. But right after you come down, I went to Mountain Crossings, which is like a hostel, but they have a store with all sorts of stuff. Hiker stuff, food, and all that stuff. So, I got a new water filter. I bought a bunch of snacks cuz I'm finding out you've got to eat a lot of food out here. Eat more than...I kind of get sick of eating, but they say we're burning almost 6,000 calories a day. So, I gotta keep eating food.

But that place was cool. Someone actually, I went in line to get some snacks, and some guy bought them for me. The trail magic stuff which is pretty cool out here. A lot of people hook you up with free food and stuff if they know you're through- hiking.

But that was cool, so, we stopped at Mountain Crossing, and we kind of hung out there all day. And then just made camp about a mile and a half away. When I started today, I lost my buddy, "Lion Heart," her knee was hurting uh just for a couple days. She's gonna rest up and try to get back out.

There was some creepy guys at our camp last night who were creeping her out, so I stayed a little late at camp until they left. 

But that's about it. I've been hiking since about 9. Which is actually a late start for usual. We usually get up about 7. But, today's been really nice. It's been cold and hot. I'm sweating now, but I was freezing this morning. I've gone back and forth between my jacket on and off. But right now - sweating.

Really happy to see Villanova won. That was awesome. I had enough service where I watched the clip of the last 12 seconds, so that was really cool to see. I'm gonna keep moving. I'm headed to the Low Gap today. A little over 10 miles. Yeah, miles are still tough to come by. Once I get to a little further north, we'll be going more miles. Probably 20 miles a day.

Later!

Starting at Neel's Gap

Ending at Low Gap

Data:

Days Hiking: 5

Miles Hiked Today: 11.5

Elevation Gain: 1,533

Total Miles: 43.2

April 4 - Blood Mountain

From PJ:

It is April 4th, I wanna say. I think that's right. It's Monday. I just got out of camp. Last night the camp was SUPER crowded. There were probably 40 people there. We were the first people there, my little group, but it was packed, so I didn't get a good sleep at all. 

It's taking me forever tyo break out of camp in the morning, which is frustrating, but I think that it is something that takes about an hour. I don't know how to speed it up. 

I kind of let a lot of people go by me, so I started a little later so I could just walk by myself.

Everything has been going real good. No real injuries. I turned my ankle, but it seems to be fine. It doesn't bother me at all right now. That's good. I should be stopping into town today. Neel's Gap. Something like that. Get some stuff. Maybe try to call mom. Hopefully I can see some of the Villanova game.

Mountain Crossings

Here puppy...

PJ aka: Earnhardt and two hiking buddies

View from the mountain

I'm on the top of blood Mountain. April 4th. I'm kind of just hanging out right now. I was able to catch up to my buddies, so we'll probably go down this hill. It's gonna be tough. It probably took me four hours to get up this mountain. And that was moving pretty fast. I was passing people who left before me. And that downhill's gonna be tough, too. But I should be going into a town today. That will be exciting. It's really pretty. We're about 4,500 ft up.

Don't mess with Squatch

Data

From Lance Creek to Neel Gap

Days Hiking: 4

Miles Hiked Today: 7.4

Elevation Gain: 1, 594 ft

Total Miles hiked: 29.3

April 3

A text from PJ

Data

Starting at Gooch Mountain

Finishing at Lance Creek Camp

Days hiking: 3

Miles hiked today: 8.5

Total Miles hiked: 24.3 

April 1 - Getting Started

On this blog, you will probably tire of the phrase "take a hike." :)

We woke up at a leisurely time, got our car packed, and drove PJ to the Appalachian trail.  We stayed the night in Ellijay - at a very inexpensive and pleasant motel. Then we headed to Amicalola Falls Park - to the Approach trail of the Appalachian Trail.

Just so you understand, the approach trail - the trail that actually gets you to the Appalachian trail - is 8.5 miles long. So, PJ had to hike 8.5 miles before he was "officially" on the trail. Let's be real, this approach trail should just be considered a part of the Appalachian trail!

PJ, PJ's Mom, and PJ's sister said goodbye as he headed out.

A Marker at the Visitor's Center where PJ checked in for his hike. Love the quote!!!

A rock at the start of the Appalachian Trail - approach trail.

Off PJ goes. 

PJ checked in with a Ranger whose trail name was Clarity. She was nice. Then, we hugged, took a few pictures, and PJ was hiking. The clouds were grey, but there was no rain. It was a really nice day to start a hike.

After PJ left, Mom and Catania were getting ready to leave - taking a few pictures, using the facilities, etc. Mom realized that PJ HAD THE CAR KEYS!!!!! Of course! Of course the trip would start this way. By the time Mom realized it, PJ had been hiking for about 20-25 minutes.

Catania started to run after PJ. Don't forget - the start of the hike has a 1,000 foot vertical gain! Yikes.

Catania said a silent prayer that PJ would notice the keys. His phone was on Airplane mode. He was not looking for interruption. Thankfully, PJ did notice. He stopped for a moment to take off his jacket and realized he had Mom's keys. He turned his phone back on, called Catania, and she finished running up to meet him.

Amicalola Falls - the run up was worth it!

So - with keys in hand, Catania and PJ hugged one final time, laughed, and then he was really on his way.

PJ's first hike - From Amicalola Falls and past Springer Mountain

From PJ:

I climbed Springer Mountain, did the whole approach trail, then I went another 2.7 miles to some other shelter. I can't remember the name of it right now. All of my gear is working good. So far so good.

Here are some pictures from PJ

Top of the Falls

The official starting point of the Appalachian Trail

View from Springer Mountain

 Here's the data, if you'd like...

PJ's progress as of 4/1/16