My first night on the Appalachian Trail was rather eventful, all things considered. It rained throughout, and I learned that getting up to pee in the middle of the night when it is raining and having an umbrella to keep me dry is quite the trail lifestyle upgrade.
As I was drifting back off to sleep, I saw a really bright light illuminate outside my tent twice. I was camped on the far side of the shelter, two hundred yards away from two other tents. There were a few people in the shelter itself.
Because of the rain refracting the light outside, it seemed like someone was right outside my tent. There have been some reports of sketchy behavior toward women hikers this year, and cortisol levels are high at night. I grabbed the mace I had in one my tent pocket (that my mom gave me and insisted I carry, thanks mom) and listened hard for footsteps. It was hard to hear over the rain, which is quite loud on tent canvas.
I didn’t hear or see anymore light after that, but I developed a gnarly nosebleed a few minutes later, and spent some time getting it to stop. Finally, I drifted off again after about an hour or two awake.
I was woken up around 6:30 by some birds right outside my tent, and by 7:30 one of them was much too loud to doze off again. I wasn’t sure what to do first. I remembered it took a very long time to break camp last time I was on trail, and I knew I wanted to develop a morning routine I could get efficient at.
So I found an article on the Trek, outlining a morning routine that sounded like a good place to start. I packed my bag from inside my tent, and fetched my food bag from the bear box. I took what I wanted for breakfast out, and packed that too.
My mariposa pack has a huge pocket in the side for my tent, which helped, since I was packing up a wet tent my first morning. It had stopped raining, though, so I shook off the rain fly, and got everything squared away. It took about an hour to pack everything up.
After that, I made my way over to the shelter, where Flat Pick and Turtle, a NOBO thru hiker, were done with breakfast, and getting ready to head out. The other section and day hikers had left.
Flat Pick offered for them to wait for me and we could hike together, but I still had to make breakfast and didn’t want to hold them up. Plus, I was enjoying hiking alone. They departed, and I hit the privy, made breakfast (oats with freeze dried berries and coffee), and got some water down a side trail. I was pleased to find my new Sawyer worked fine, since I had yet to use it before starting.
I hiked out at 9:50, so it was a little lass than 2.5 hours to finish my first blog post on the trail and publish it, break camp, and have breakfast. Not a bad start, and I am sure I will get quicker with time.
The morning was foggy, warm, and extremely humid. I hiked my first mile nice and slow, warming up my hips and body. I was only planning on nine miles, since I know the adjustment period is crucial when thru hiking, plus I had pushed myself quit a bit the day before.
After about four miles, I arrived at Gathland State Park, which I remember from last time. It has a huge stone arch, Gath’s empty tomb, and some ruins. A lot of civil war history, with plaques and information about the area. There was a very interesting inscription outside the empty tomb. About the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death.
Something made me want to stay and have lunch at the pavilion, even though I had planned on stopping at the next shelter ahead for that. It rained, and I ate cheese and salami on tortillas, and a protein bar. I met Zeus before heading back on. He is an older man who just retired and is hiking a quarter of the AT this year.
I kept on a gradual incline for three and a half miles, and stopped for a few minutes at an overlook. I felt very fortunate that I had met Zeus earlier that day, when I found out I had been hiking south by accident for a quarter of a mile. It would have taken me another mile or two to figure that out on my own, as there wasn’t much of interest between there and the park. It happens to the best of us, but it’s a morale downer to backtrack accidentally.
From there, it was two miles to my destination for the night, Rocky Run Shelter. It was aptly named, as the last two miles were covered in rocks. My feet were hurting by the shelter.
I did my 9.3 miles (plus backtrack) by 4:30, but due to the rocky ground it took me almost an hour to set up my tent and sleeping gear. Still, it was early, and I had a really nice time hanging with quite a few hikers for a few hours at the shelter, after a dinner of couscous, tuna, and olive oil.
The day was beautiful, with the sun coming out multiples times. There were pink lady slippers, which I hear are an orchid and only bloom every three years. I’m not positive if that’s true, but it sounds nice. There were some other flowers, and a few seas of ferns and other short green plants spread out over the forest floor to soak up the chlorophyll.
I did lots of stretching, kept my miles low, and am having a really good time so far. So glad to be out here. Someone asked me today what it’s like hiking sections I’ve done over again. I said it’s sort of like rereading a favorite book. You’ve changed, and you see everything through a new lens. It’s a really fascinating feeling.