Dan and Rocky’s Big Adventure -- Hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2024

Days 0-1:  April 2-3, 2024    

Dan and Rocky are underway!  

April 2nd, or Day 0, Dan and I celebrated our 47th anniversary at a cabin at Amicalola Falls while Dan packed and repacked his and Rocky's backpacks.  Above is the final result, all packed up under the arch leading to the approach trail from the Amicalola Falls Visitor's Center to the beginning of the Appalachian Trail.

The cabin was "dog friendly," complete with a stream running behind it, much to all three dogs' delight!  

While Dan packed, I finished reading aloud from Northbound with Theo by Soren West, the retired attorney who thru-hiked in 2016 at age 75 with his 8-year-old golden retriever.  Rosie was listening.

Below is a t-shirt we just had to have from the Amicalola Falls Visitor's Center.

 

April 3rd -- Takeoff Day

    The day began with a send-off message from our 5:30 a.m. spinning class -- they are praying for Dan and Rocky's successful journey and safe return.  😊 Thank you, gang!

And we couldn't forget a very important celebration:  take-off day was also Rocky's 4th birthday. 

Happy Birthday, Rocky!

They all look very serious, but only Rocky really was, seeming to sense something afoot.  Zap and Rosie were serious about waiting for cake!

|One Last "Honey-Do"

All packed and ready to roll, we were off to the Springer Mountain parking lot when my car (a typically dependable Subaru Outback) decided to throw in one more thing for Dan to fix before he could leave (he had been fixing things constantly over the last couple of months it seemed).  We drove into Elijay, Georgia, for some burgers at Hardee's, and afterward when Dan attempted to start the car, there was that awful silence of a dead battery.  We keep a little portable charger in the car but in all the hustle and bustle had forgotten to charge it (yikes!).  The cause became apparent as we remembered what had happened earlier -- the car is a hatchback, and the electronic back door motor had been taking off on its own, trying to close the door even though it was already shut.  It didn't give up until the battery was used up.  Dan disconnected the back door motor (now, that is something I would not have figured out after he left!) and sweettalked a very nice 80+ year-old lady into letting us jump our car with hers.  We tried to buy her lunch, but she declined with a gracious smile.  Dan's first instance of "trail magic," and he wasn't even on the trail yet!

Springer Mountain

There is a one-mile trail from the Springer Mountain parking lot to the Springer Mountain summit, the official southern terminus (or beginning for northbound thru-hikers) of the Appalachian Trail.  If starting from the parking lot, you must hike to the summit and then return to to the parking lot to continue hiking on the northbound trail.  Zap, Rosie, and I accompanied Dan and Rocky to the summit and back down to the parking lot before they said
good-bye and continued on their way to Maine.

The view from Springer Mountain

Bon Voyage!

One last note from the home front:  The car made it home (whew!), and I am off to get that back door electronic gismo fixed at the dealership.  Dan's Garmin sent me a message on Wednesday night that he and Rocky camped at the Stover Creek Shelter, a couple of miles farther down the trail.  It is spring break in Georgia this week, and a school group was headed that way for an overnight trip right behind them -- we'll hear how that went (!) once Dan has cell service and can send an update.