Thursday, March 31, 2011

Trail Photos, etc.

Hey guys,

 Since I'm stuck here in Helen, GA, resting and icing my ankle, I figured I would put some pictures up on my blog. There's a real nice iMac here in the lobby, so I've wasted some time sitting here at the desk.

These two plaques were at the summit of Springer Mtn, the southern terminus of the AT:
 From the summit of Springer:
 Camp the first night at Hawk Mtn Shelter:
 The second day of hiking, we stopped for water here at Justus Creek; the picture isn't nearly as pretty as it was on Friday:
This is a view from one of the outlooks during the second day of hiking. A nice view that was followed by several days of being completely socked in by fog:


After getting completely drenched hiking on Saturday, we stopped at Neel's Gap and stayed at the Blood Mountain Cabins, where we hung all of our stuff out to dry:

 This is our camp the first night out of Neel's Gap. We stayed just above the shelter at Low Gap. Notice the copious fog!

Here are some pictures of my tourist activities here in Helen:




It's a very pretty fake-Bavarian town, with about 300 year-round residents and accommodations for up to 30,000 people. Very tourist-trappy, so I've tried my best not to get trapped by anything in town. Also, sort of like Freeport, there are not really "industrial" buildings. All the buildings have to be of a certain style, regardless of the businesses they contain. I guess it works for them though!

Alright, well, I'm hogging the computer here so I'm going to sign off. Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Neel's Gap

Hey all,
Just spent the night here in Neel's Gap, GA, after hiking about 11 miles in the pouring rain yesterday. Got a sweet cabin with the crew of Mike, Mark, Martin, and Phil. We're a motley group but we make it work together, and we're all pretty much in the same shape as far as experience and pace. I've learned a couple things in the first few days: I don't like hiking in the pouring rain. I'm not really a conversational hiker. And I really like working with gravity rather than against it. We took a zero day here today just to allow our stuff to dry out and spend some time here at the outfitter's getting some needed supplies and working on cutting out some unnecessary weight. Overall I'm feeling pretty good, other than being tired in all the possible ways. Thanks for following me, and I'll keep updating when I get a chance. We're planning to stop in Hiawassee in 3-4 days so I'll probably update again when we're there.

GMB

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Leaving for the woods!!

Hey guys,

Just a last-second post as Drew and I are about to walk out the door. I turned my phone off and mailed it back to my parents earlier today, and am ready to get into the woods and start living! I apologize that I've been slacking on my blog, but that's because I didn't feel like I had that much interesting to share. So, the next update will have lots of cool information about where I've been, what I've done, things I've seen and people I've met. Or, at least some info about each. Thanks for following me, and thanks for all the words of encouragement. Happy trails!!!!!

Max