Days 6-9: Call me Apple! Hiawassee, GA to Franklin, NC
Hello this time from the Budget Inn in Franklin on my first zero day! The past few days have been full of milestones: crossing my first state boundary, hiking my first 100 miles, and earning my trail name. I’ve again eaten my weight in Mexican food and this time in pancakes as well.
A TRAIL NAME FROM A (NEAR) TRAIL MAGIC DESERT
For those of you who aren’t familiar with thru-hiking culture, I’ll quickly explain. Trail magic is anything, usually food or soda or beer, brought by non thru-hikers (called trail angels) to road crossings to give to thru-hikers. Over the course of my hike so far I’ve heard some good stories—everyone on trail talks about getting soup from the Yellow Deli bus or burgers or even about the Crawford family (a family of 8 who all thru-hiked the trail last year) who came out and cooked homemade alfredo and corn dogs and mozzarella sticks. So far though, I’ve had a knack for arriving just too early, or a day too late, and I’ve missed almost all of the trail magic. I’ve gotten lucky twice—I’ve reached a road and been offered an apple. For most hikers this isn’t the most exciting trail magic, but those of you who know me know that I LOVE apples. My excitement earned me my name. My trail friends don’t even know how many trips I made to Montrose spa to buy three gala apples during school and how much peanut butter I’ve slathered on apples over the past year, so I think it’s even more fitting.
Crossing the border into North Carolina felt big: now that I have hiked from a different state it feels more like I’m actually thru-hiking and not just out for a quick trip. When people used to ask me why I was hiking the AT instead of the PCT or the CDT, I would say that one of the reasons was the fact that the AT traversed 14 states instead of just 3 or 4. I can now confirm that this reasoning was legitimate: crossing a boundary feels awesome and I’m excited I get to do it many more times.
I’ve been actively trying to take photos—at least something each day. I’ve found that I can be a little too focused on making my miles and going quickly, and so I’m trying to remind myself that taking a break isn’t a sign of weakness or physical failure, but is instead a chance to appreciate the experience and the scenery of the trail. The first photo is Raven Rock, a blue-blazed side trail where I spent an afternoon exploring after getting into camp at around 12:30. The second is one of the daily sunrise sights I’ve been getting as my reward for getting up and out of camp early each morning. There’s no way the photos can do the landscapes justice, but I’ve been thinking to myself that the purpose of the photos is to trigger the memories that I’ll get to carry with me of those moments.
Another update is that I cracked. I have abandoned the idea of making my baseweight as light as absolutely possible and I sprung for camp shoes. After envying everyone’s crocs day after day and struggling with not having a way to air out my blisters I decided it was worth the extra weight. We’ll see how it feels to carry them but so far in town I’ve been thrilled.
It’s been nice being in town and really getting to see and know all of the people within a day or so radius along the trail. In Franklin, just walking around in my crocs and rain jacket has been enough to get a wave and a hello from every other hiker, and appreciative comments from local townspeople. I’ve been struck today by how unique this experience is: I found myself at 7:15am in the basement of the First Baptist Church in rural North Carolina being served free pancakes and homemade jam by some of the nicest people I’ve ever met—that’s so different from anything else I’ve done before, and that’s so cool.
Coming up: I’ll be in Fontana in about 4 days, and then onto the Smokies!