Our Appalachian Trail hike didn’t go as planned from day one

It’s not exactly the start we imagined after years of planning.

We’ve been planning the Appalachian Trail for years and have already postponed it twice. That’s why this time we were even more excited for the start. We organized with friends we met on the Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail to begin our journey to the Triple Crown together. As a meeting point we chose a hotel in Atlanta.

We flew from Vancouver, Canada early in the morning, while our friends from Germany were due to arrive around 8 pm. When we arrived at the hotel, the receptionist told us that they couldn’t let us check in without the ID of the person who made the reservation, which, of course, wasn’t us.

Redman had made the reservation, and although we had all the information, it was useless without his ID. In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense, but it just didn’t occur to us before. And so they left us waiting approximately 14 hours before being able to enter the room.

After the flight and with almost no sleep, we were exhausted and hungry. We went to a nearby restaurant for lunch and took a short walk around the city. But fatigue continued to catch up with us and we eventually crawled back to the hotel lobby where, in true hiker style, we spent several hours sleeping on the couch and chairs.

Later we walked through a nearby park and, shortly after 10pm, our friends finally arrived psf6.

The next day it rained incredibly hard. The force of the rain in Atlanta is something else. It’s not a normal shower. It is a downpour of the highest caliber. That’s why we didn’t mind spending the day mostly resting. Anyway, the time change and jet lag were affecting us quite a bit.

The next day was all about packing, buying supplies for the next four days, and getting excited about the road.

My throat hurt a little, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. That happens to me sometimes with the air conditioning.

In the morning, a hiking friend drove us to the trailhead, where we checked in and started from Amicalola Falls State Park, climbing the Approach Trail toward Springer Mountain.

At that point, I had already taken several ibuprofens and a little voice in my head kept telling me that maybe it wasn’t just a sore throat.

The Approach Trail wastes no time. Amicalola’s famous 600 stairs made sure our legs remembered what they had signed up for. We all sweat a lot in a matter of minutes. What surprised us even more was the strong humidity. The air felt thick and humid.

Our pace was slow and the pain in my throat began to reach my ear.

“Well… this is a great start,” I kept thinking. Complications the first day.

When we got to Springer Mountain, we finally realized it was really happening. We were actually on the Appalachian Trail. Even though there were no views and the weather was far from pleasant, we still felt a huge wave of happiness and gratitude.

The original plan was to walk a few more miles, but because of how I felt, we stopped at the first shelter after Springer.

After dinner I went to bed almost immediately, hoping that a miracle would happen during the night. Unfortunately it didn’t arrive. By morning it was clear that rest alone would not fix this and that he probably needed antibiotics. So after literally a few kilometers of walking, we had to get off and head back into town.

Luckily, the wife of a hiker we met in the parking lot took us straight to urgent care in the small town of East Ellijay. They treated me quickly and kindly, sent the prescription to a nearby pharmacy and less than four hours after packing our backpacks at the shelter we were already resting in a motel.

Honestly, it was probably the best place something like that could happen, we were still close to civilization.

So here I am, lying in bed for the second day, recovering and thinking about how important it is to also account for unexpected expenses. This little detour ended up costing almost $500, which could easily be a month’s worth of resupply for one person. But the important thing is not to stress and just take things as they come.

The trail is not just about hiking. It’s also about community, unexpected problems and complications. Those are the lessons that teach us something and move us forward.

We chose to take this positively as a kind of beginning of practice.

In a few days we will try again, hopefully with more strength. We believe that we will soon catch up with our friends, and in the end, nothing terrible happened.

Health always comes first. The Appalachian Trail will still be there in a few days.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.