It May Be Raining, But There’s a Rainbow Above You: First Week on the AT

After the trip to Atlanta and a night in a hotel, my dad and I left very early on the shuttle to Springer Mountain. Our driver was a hiker named Luscious (class of ’21) who also works at Mountain Crossings. We had noticed a lot of rain in the forecast, but as we moved forward we remained optimistic. Things were cloudy but dry, so hopefully that’s how it would be in Springer. I was so excited as we were driving. The Appalachian Trail was finally going to start!

We arrived at Springer and said goodbye to Luscious as we put on our backpacks and it started to rain. Don’t worry, we would just start with our rain gear on. This is the famous rainy AT. We walked back to the terminal and took some pictures, then turned around to start the trail in earnest. We had good time, but the rain continued. At lunchtime we stopped at the Hawk Mountain shelter for a dry place to eat and decided to stop by our planned stop of Justus Creek to reach the Gooch shelter.

There were a lot of people at Gooch’s shelter: some who were out for the weekend, two would-be hikers who got a late start, my dad and I, and Amy, a woman my age who was keeping up with us and had the same goal of covering Georgia in a week. Since the shelter seemed so full of people, my father decided to set up his tent. As it turned out, only 6 or 7 people chose to sleep in the two-story shelter, so we had plenty of space and stayed dry. My dad wasn’t so lucky and ended up with a wet tent the next morning after the overnight downpour.

It was expected to rain for the next six days. Ah well, we’d keep our spirits up, wouldn’t we? Dad and I made a tentative plan for the Blood Mountain shelter knowing we didn’t have bear boxes, but hoping there would be a bear box there like at Gooch. Otherwise, we would have to continue towards Neel Gap. Someone at the shelter mentioned that you could stay at the shelter if you arrived by five, which I filed away in my brain.

We started walking on a misty morning, glad it wasn’t raining, but wishing we could see some of the sights we passed instead of just a white cloud. However, it soon turned to rain, which soon turned into a downpour that lasted for hours. At many points the trail turned into a small stream. I had stopped keeping my shoes dry and just dove into them.

Walking in a stream, before I stopped trying to avoid stepping directly into the water.

We stopped at Jarrard Gap for lunch in the rain before climbing Blood Mountain, spirits low. We had been soaked for hours and as we stopped I started to feel cold. But the only thing he could do was keep moving forward, even if it was on the infamous Blood Mountain.

The climb up Blood Mountain was not as bad as advertised. Tough, sure, but not the monster I had been led to believe he was. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that the sun started to shine a little and the rain let up. We arrived at Blood Mountain and decided we couldn’t stay there without bear boats. So I swatted flies while my dad tried to fix a problem with his Garmin that wasn’t sending location points correctly.

We finally started down the mountain, which was more difficult than the climb. The north side is solid rock, the trail is harder to follow and everything was slippery from the rain. However, I forced myself to go as fast as possible even though my knees hurt. After hours of walking in a downpour, I was waiting for that shelter. However, I hadn’t seen any times on FarOut, so I wasn’t sure if 5:00 was really when we needed to get there.

We went down for what seemed like an eternity and finally reached Neel Gap around 5:20. Everything seemed closed, but we checked it out with a guy sitting outside. «Yeah, they left about ten minutes ago.» I was devastated. Now we would have to camp, with my father’s tent already wet and the rain starting to fall again. And the next campsite at FarOut was a mile and a half away, after an already grueling 16-mile day.

Fortunately, there are some tent sites just a quarter mile past (and uphill) from Mountain Crossings. We set up our tents there, ate some hot food, and I started to feel better. But my dad and I also decided that with five more days of rain still in the forecast, this wasn’t fun. We had done the hike of putting on wet clothes in the rain and we were done. If it had been one more day? Sure, we could handle that. But five? That was discouraging. So we decided to call my grandfather in Charlotte, North Carolina, to come pick us up.

I really struggled with this. How could he rescue me after only two days of rain? Especially since Amy said she was pushing it, even though her phone had broken from being too wet. I would just get a paper map at Mountain Crossings and move on. I felt like I was failing at the hike before I even started. Plus, I soon had friends join me in the Smokies! If I waited until Sunday to get back on the trail, I wouldn’t make it to the meet without averaging 14 miles a day, which I was worried about getting hurt.

But the hope of finally being clean and dry prevailed, along with my father’s better judgment. The next morning it was still raining and we hung out at Mountain Crossings until my grandfather picked us up and took us to his house, as well as treating us to lunch.

After hanging my wet clothes to dry, taking a nice long shower, and changing into dry clothes, I felt much better. I started looking at the forecast and FarOut to see what my options realistically were for getting to the Smokies. If I waited until Sunday, I would either have to hike constantly for long days (risking injury) or skip part of the trail (which felt like cheating to me). But the forecast now showed that Friday would be clear during the day, with rain only in the evening and on Saturday. If I went out again on Friday and reached a shelter, I would only have to face 1 or 2 days of rainy hiking. But I would also have two additional days of hiking, which would allow me to average less mileage. That was my new plan: I guess I could do it all!

After 3 days of being clean and dry with my grandparents, I was dropped off at Neel Gap and started again on Friday morning. Luckily, Friday turned out to be a great day for hiking – practically sunny! I met three other hikers: Machine, Motivator, and Bill (“No Name”) and hiked with them on and off throughout the day. Motivator was trying to do Georgia like my dad, and Machine and Bill were doing something more like me, walking as far as they could until August or when they were needed at home.

When Machine, Motivator and I stopped for lunch (after a close encounter with a rattlesnake), I got the name of my trail. I told them I was thinking about the name of the trail Rainbow, because of my shorts and because I was going out after the rain. Motivator said I reminded him of the Rainbow Brite doll from the 80s and that I seemed like a bright person, so I became Rainbow Brite. Every time I tell that story to people, they say, «If you only go out when it’s not raining, you’ll go way off track.» I don’t plan on doing that, but a whole week of rain was too much. It rained that night, but everyone (me, Machine, Motivator, Bill, and a guy named Machu Picchu) stayed warm and dry at the Low Gap Shelter.

Rainbow Brite, for those (like me) who don’t know. Image from wallpapers.com

Saturday dawned and Motivator and I had a great day, 15.4 miles to the Tray Mountain hut and ending with the climb up Tray Mountain. I left camp before her and was ahead of her all day, but she caught me at the end of each break. In the end we both did it! We shared the shelter with a few other people and it didn’t even rain all day or night.

The next morning, Motivator opted to stay at the shelter because he had leg cramps, but I had to go down to Dicks Creek Gap to resupply. So I said goodbye to her and left. I was sad that we wouldn’t cross the North Carolina border together, for a while it looked like we would. Either way it was a good walk with her.

Not exactly my name, but close enough to take a photo.

I chose to resupply in Clayton instead of Hiawassee because it seemed like Clayton was a little less known as a trail town and I was eager to be one. I called Outdoor 76, which offers a regular shuttle service during peak hiking season, and they found volunteers to come pick me up, take me to town, and take me back when I was done. Matt and LA, thank you!! Once at Outdoor 76, the staff (Bob) showed me where I could shower, do laundry, check out some borrowed clothes, and drop off my backpack. I was also able to sign the sign for a free benefit. While I was doing laundry, I walked to Ingles to pick up all the food I might need and then headed back to Outdoor 76 to finish up. Bob offered to take me back to Dicks Creek Gap, saying he’d stop by anyway, so I accepted the offer and let Matt and Los Angeles stay home. Thanks for the trip!

After that, I camped about a half mile north of Dicks Creek Gap, my last night in Georgia. And that was my first week! What a ride. I hope you enjoyed reading,

Rainbow Brite (Addison)