Appalachian Trail Journal by Yin and Yang. This is the first post since December. I have been very busy with a naval deployment and other things (including this hike) so bear with me and enjoy this Appalachian Trail journal in a day-by-day format. We covered the trail from Amicalola Falls to Clingman's Dome. So maybe this will help some folks out who are considering a southern section hike.5 May 2010;
Yin: Today we left the Atlanta, GA airport via taxi service to the A.T. approach trail. We arrived in Amicalola park in the late afternoon and decided to stay here for the night. Waiting for us at the shelter was a crazy "ole-timer" whose nickname was "Doc". He was prior navy and it quickly became apparent that he has a few screws loose when he started to repeat himself. However, he did have many interesting stories. One worth mentioning was of a thru-hiker who carried a cat with him as pest control at night. After a fine meal of ramen and a conversational pipe, Yang and I went to explore the surrounding woods before calling it a night.
Yang: Yin and I started the day at the airport in Norfolk, VA. We decided to get a quick breakfast of sourdough toast and orange juice in at the airport. Soon thereafter we heard our names being called over the intercom. Our plane had started boarding ahead of schedule. We then hurriedly ran to our terminal, and after the security checkpoint, made it to our seats. The first flight landed in Miami without incident. Our second flight, however, was a much bumpier ride. There were a few times I thought we might go down. A few weightless dives. Yin and I shook hands at one point and said "It was good to know you". We did make it to the ground and to safety though. Once on the ground we had our next adventure. We had no transportation to the trail. After checking out a hostel in downtown Atlanta we decided to "suck it up" and take a cab to Amicalola. (If you ever do this sort of thing, call the cab company and get a locked in fee. We saved around two-hundred dollars by doing this!!) That night we met another backpacker called "Doc" who was a bit odd but was full of wonderful poetry and trail wisdom. Who isn't a bit odd anyhow? After a brief walk in the woods to clear our minds for the upcoming endeavor, we spent our first night in a shelter on the approach trail of the Appalachian Mountain range.
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