Day 2-7 of Reed's AT Adventure

The pictures below are annoted from Reed's notes he has sent me. The easiest way in the set of pictures was to let his words and pictures do the talking.

My solitary campsite on the 2nd night on the trail. I was about 4 miles from a shelter but couldn't make it because I was too tired. I didn't cook a hot meal this night because the area was covered with dry leaves. I also saw a lot of poison ivy so I thought it best to minimize my movement. My pack is on the left, food is on the ground in the middle, and my black bivy shelter(tent) is on the right (4/16/99 8:11pm)

This is the trail as it passes through the Walasi-Yi Center in Neels Camp, GA. This is the only place on the trail where the path goes through a building. Notice the white blaze on the bricks to the left of the passageway (4/17/99 12:21pm)

The view is from Tray Mt. GA. I did not know that this is the 4th highest mountain in GA. After climbing it, however I became well aware of the fact. Made it up here just befor noon. (4/19/99 11:29am)

Another view from Tray Mtn. Notice my pack, map, water bottle, and walking stick in the foreground (4/19/99 11:30am)

Both of these pictures, of the signs hang on the trail alerting hikers to the festival going on over at Addis Gap.
(4/19/99 3:50pm)

This is the view down to into the middle Addis Gap festival. Notice the red tent for cooking, the cluster of coolers on the left, the beer kegs in the background, and the blue shelter area to the right, where hikers could pitch their tents. For the last siz years, a group of local "trail angels" have set up a tremendous food & rest area about a 1/2 mile off the trail for thru-hikers. I happened along in the early afternoon and enjoyed apear, an orang, some apple juice, and made to order french toast with fresh strawberries. Quite a suprise after hiking over Tray Mt.! I heard from the other hikers that the real fun is at night, when the food gets fanct(crab cakes) and the beer starts to flow. i, however, had to hike on! (Imagine that - I passed up free beer) To me, this is a nice illustration of both how the AT creates communities of people and how many people are wonderfully generous, even to strangers (4/19/99 3:40)

For a good part of April 19th, I hiked through large areas with tangled, broken, fallen, and dead trees. It was quite a contrast to see a lanscape of brown after hiking through so much green. One hiker said he thought this distruction had been caused by a hurricane. (4/19/99 4:24pm)

Another view of the brown trail (4/19/99 4:31)

This is Deep Gap shelter, one of the newest and fanciest shelters I have seen on the trail. These shelter are spaced along the trail, generally a day's hike apart. i usually try to get to a shelter early enough to grab a sleeping space, so I don't have to set up my bivy(tent). Most shelters consist of three walls, a roof, and a floor, on which hikers sleep. This shelter, however, has a closed front with a small doorway and a loft, so hikers can sleep upstairs as well. On this night (4/19) I shared the shelter with a young guy and retirees, Tom and Bill(that's Bill getting up from the porch) These guys were just finishing up a 10-day section hike. Apparently, they are old friends who travel all over the world having adventures together. they had planned on doing more of the At, but Tom's wife was being a bit pushy about him being home for their 35th wedding anniversary. We had a great time exchanging stories & telling jokes. It was also a perfect night to be in this enclosed shelter, since there was a terrific thunder/lightning storm at about 3AM. The only downside to this shelter is that it was also inhabitated by some rather noisy mice. however, while I could hear them scurrying around me, none tried to climb into my sleeping bag (4/19/99 5:05pm)

North Carolina At last!!! Here I am with the border at almost 2:30 PM on 4/20. Fortunately, there were some other hikers there to help me photograph the moment. While it felt fantastic to reach another state, North Carolina greets hikers rather rudely, with an immediate climb up the aptly named "Sharptop" Mt. (4/20/99 2:58pm)

The moon through the trees my 1st night in North Carolina (4/20/99 8:42pm)


April 21st was a brutal day since I was pushing to cover a lot of ground so that I could get into town the next day. Most of the day was relatively gentle ground, but the last 3 miles were rough, including a climb up Albert Mt., which was only about 1/3 of a mile, but it was practically straight up. At the top of the mountain was an abandoned fire tower. I climbed up and took two self portraits. As you can see the view was tremendous. Before i started down the mountain, a hiker I had been leap-frogging all day, J.W., came along and took this picture.(4/21/99 6:17pm, 6:19pm, 6:26pm)


Here I am with my new car!!! Let me explain: since I hadn't taken a rest day and my knees have been quite sore, I decided to go into town on 4/22. In my conversations with J.W. on 4/21, I discovered that he had his car waiting at a nearby trail head. He offered to take me into town, since he was driving home(Atlanta) as soon as he got to his car. He then amended that offer and asked if I would be willing to drive his car to a point further down the trail so that he could hike for a few hours more. So, we hit the road on 4/22, J.W. gave me the keys (joking at the same time that he didn't know my my last name) and he headed farther down the trail while i drove myself and another hiker into town to get a hotel room. i later met him at another point on the trail and he dropped me back in town, Trust develops quickly on the trail (4/22/99 10:32am)

In the town of Franklin, NC. (pop 2640) I shared a room with another thru-hiker, Lonestar. This is Lonestar in front of our luxurious accomedations. We couldn't beat the price ($26.75 for the night) I actually met Lonestar on the top of Springer t. on my 1st day, but then didn't see him again until the 18th. Since then we have been doing similar miles and have gotten to know each other quite well. He came to the US from his home in New Zealand just to hike the AT. (4/22/99 12:18pm)

Part I: Stuff I sent home!! in an effort to reduce the stress on my aching knees I did a serious re-evaluation of my equipement. this is the 6 pounds of gear I sent home on 4/22. notice my red fleece jacket went home, marking the 1st time I have ever backpacked without it. Only time will tell if this was a fatal error (4/22/99 4:24pm)

Part II: More stuff I sent home!! Upon further reflection, I discovered a few more things I could do without and sent these home in a second shipment (4/22/99 9:53pm)

As I desperately serached for ways to further lighten my backpack, I cut another two inches off of my sleeping pack, reducing my load by at least 1 ounce. (Yippee)