Who knew, too much food...

3/5/08 - Weather was chilly/icy this morning and gear was wet so it was pretty tough to get out of the cozy rented cabin and onto the trail but once out... hiked ~12 mi.

• Weather turned out to be great
• Saw some amazing views
• Came across a cooler stashed with diet soda & beer - no brainer which one he chose
• Set up camp tonight about a mile and a half past Low Gap
• Also realized he may have initially packed too much food - which will bring his pack weight down next time he restocks (in the next 70-100 mi or so!)

To begin...

Original pack weight ~43 lbs

3/2/08 - Dropped off at the head of the service trail by Isaac - hiked ~8 mi to the top of Springer Mtn. to start the "offical "AT & then continued ~2 mi in to the 1st shelter.

• As I understand 51 hikers started on Saturday - maybe 9 or so started on Sunday
• Amos was given the trail name... "Hearts" - my fault... sorry - I smuggled an absurd amt. of paper hearts into his pack & they've apparently been falling out at inopportune times.

3/3/08 - 23 TOTAL miles hiked by the end of today & first blister forms... as well as a rather swollen/tender left knee.

• Good News: Caught up to many of the hikers that started on Saturday!
• Bad News: No room in any of the shelters...

3/4/08 - A TON of rain landed in Ga today - Amos said it was so windy @ the top of Blood Mtn. that he ran from shrub-to-shrub for shelter to get off the mtn. Hiked a total of 16 miles today & made it safely to Neels Gap.

• 39 miles down in 3 days!! (31 of which were 'AT miles')
• Rented a cabin for the night with the Red Ranger (apparently he has thru-hiked the trail before & all of his gear is red) - hot water, queen sized bed, tv, Dominoes pizza, the works!
• 2nd blister... ouch