Every day an adventure

Week two on the trail was much busier. The AT Kickoff festival at Amicalola fired up lots of folks to start. There were lots of speakers, including Gene Espy, the second man to thru-hike the entire trail--in 1951. He is quite a character and a terrific storyteller. Best of all, he still has most of his gear, which he brought to show the audience. Unbelievable how much it has all changed!

Meet Zeus, a rescued Great Horned Owl, in the
raptor education program at Amicalola Falls
State Park.

Hanging with Miss Janet, Trail Angel Extraordinaire, at the
Kickoff festival.

Better weather over the weekend really helped all the hikers starting out, in contrast to the brutal cold the previous week. Sunday was absolutely glorious and I spent the day on the summit, talking to aspiring thru-hikers and dayhikers alike, a total of over 170 people in all. Unfortunately, Monday was a different story, with pea-soup fog shrouding the mountain. When I went to the parking lot to charge my phone in the car, the visibility down the road was nil. Hikers arriving were a bit confused as to where the trail headed out of the lot, so I stationed myself there to help direct traffic.

Once again, I met a host of cool folks. And a quick update from last post--I ran into the vet I met last week on Friday. He was a bit aimless and apparently REALLY unhappy with the cold conditions. When I left him, he was planning to head into town, to either get some warmer gear or to wait for warmer weather. We'll see....
The first hiker I met on Sunday was Jesse, a Marine, hiking with his PTSD service dog, Cooper. His wife--also a Marine--was dropping them off. We spoke for a while about gear and other concerns. Jesse is raising funds for several veterans' charities. Please check him and Cooper out at www.warriorsbestfriend.com. He'll be posting videos, including the "Cooper-cam," all throughout their journey.

Jesse and his wife, with Cooper.
Springer Mountain parking area.

I also met Gone Walkin, celebrating his 40th trail anniversary. He's starting his second thru-hike, after completing the first in 1973! We also chatted about the differences in gear and services, and while not as extreme as Gene Espy, they're certainly significant. Possibly the funniest part to me is the fact that he took advantage of a new product, just introduced that year--Ziploc bags! Any of you with backpacking experience know that you can't leave home without the Ziplocs. I felt like I should have bought stock in the company as we were preparing for our hike--every size bag scattered all over the house.

I'll finish my post with a teachable moment. As I hiked along the Approach Trail on Tuesday, I came upon a fire ring with a little shrine erected next to it. A little shrine to seafood. Apparently, some erstwhile hiker realized that SIX ginormous cans of tiny shrimp are really heavy. So they stacked them neatly and moved on. Two issues here: first, who in the hell eats shrimp out of a can? Second, the other hikers coming along behind you are not going to stop and go "Score! I'm taking this canned shrimp with me! How awesome that someone left it here!" No, it's up to the ridgerunners and trail maintainers to carry your unwanted nastiness down to the trash can. Remember, everyone: Leave No Trace! If you packed it in, PLEASE pack it out!

Tiny shrimp. Heavy cans.