ComptonAT

So many things to tell y'all about! First and foremost, we are safely tucked away in a little cabin 1/4 mile from the trail. It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, shower, deck, and most importantly HEAT! For only $60/night; the hostel was $15 per person and we would have had to sleep on bunk beds which will be great farther down the trail but for right now this is what we needed (mentally and to dry out all our gear).

So here's how we got to be where we are now:

Late start out of Raleigh; spent too much time in Winston Salem; got to Murphy, NC at 2:30 am Friday night.

Day 1:
Arrived at Amicolola State Park and started hiking the approach trail at 2:30 pm Saturday. The first introduction to the AT was about a 604 step staircase up the falls (within the first .7 miles), while it was snowing. We decided to stop and set up camp 6 miles in, due to cold and lack of daylight. That day we climbed 1300 ft. It was dusting snow all night and got down to about 25 degrees, not taking into consideration the wind chill.

Day 2:
We woke up late (10:00) and saw about 5 runners run past us on the trail. Throughout the next 2 miles we saw about 30 runners; just out for a trail run in the snow! Georgia has way more active state parks than NC! We walked the remaining 2.8 miles to the top of Springer Mtn (the very beginning of the AT). That day we hiked 10.9 miles and camped at Hawk Mountain shelter. We camped because there were about 28 other people inside the shelter and 6 other tents in the area. There was snow on the ground, but no snow falling (16 degrees that night).

Day 3:
temperature rose to 48 (still walking in snow and ice). It was a nice but with tough climbs; that's the day the word "gap" became synonymous with pain for Clay. We hiked 7.7 miles to Gooch Gap and could have gone farther but decided to enjoy the sunshine with fellow hikers and try to wait out a storm that was supposed to hit the next morning. We stayed in the shelter that night expecting heavy rains in the morning followed by drizzle - that's not what happened.

Day 4:
This was the day we had intended to be in Neel Gap (where our first box of food was waiting for us). It turned out it wasn't raining in the morning, like we thought and it was relatively warm. At 12:00 we reached Woody Gap and found some trail magic! Fresh Ground (trail name) from Roanoke Rapids was providing thru-hikers with fresh coffee, hot chocolate, and chicken noodle soup (along with words of support, encouragement, and weather updates). We walked 10.9 miles to the edge of Jarrard Gap (5 miles from Neel Gap). There is a park regulation that you can't camp in that 5 mile stretch without a bear canister for your food, due to the amount of bear activity. It was a good decision to stop at that point because after about 10 minutes a severe thunderstorm picked up. In that area we were camping with fellow hikers Hermes and Dahigha. We chose our tent site poorly. What looked like a nice flat site, turned out to be the main drainage through the campsite. Therefore water ran under the ground sheet and then over the ground sheet. Miraculously nothing inside the tent got wet at the time! Clay did jump out in the middle of the storm to do some civil engineering and dig some canals away from the tent. At that time I was able to text Melinda to get a weather update, which was awesome! The rain stopped around 6:00, but the strong winds continued. Immediately after that storm the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Later in the night it started to snow and we woke up with snow on our sleeping bags (the snow had blown up under the tent and inside). Our boots were buried in snow and the snow was drifting on Clays side of the tent due to the vacuum our tent created. It was 20 degrees without taking into consideration the 40 mph wind gusts and snow. We decided it wouldn't get any better so we packed up our frozen gear and hiked the 5 miles to Neel Gap. This hike included summitting Blood Mtn (the highest point we've hiked so far: 4,461 ft.). Basically as we climbed out of our tent our water froze up so we had to rely on eating snow to stay hydrated those 5 miles. But we made it and are currently sitting on a couch under a blanket.

Overall, the weather has been crazy but it has been a blast! Having a support system with fellow hikers and support from home makes everything easier!

We will try to upload pictures soon! We love you all and can't wait to talk to y'all soon!