Day One Sunday 27th April - Springer Mountain to Hawk Mountain Shelter

Distance Covered: 7.6 miles
Miles to finish: 2168.6 miles

So it begins. The start of the trail on Springer Mountain in Georgia.




From Right to Left: Michael Duffy, Tom Westbrook, Charlie Nash and Paul Smith.

During the flight over we noticed on the screen that we entered the United States in the Gulf of Maine (the end of the Appalachian Trail) and flew down to Atlanta over roughly the route of the trail. It took 2 hours. If one wanted to drive it would take 24 hours. Walking however, the slowest mode of transport, takes up to 6 months.

We ended up staying in Atlanta far longer than intended due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. Despite our delay we thoroughly enjoyed our forages into town to appreciate the wildlife on offer.

The locals in Atlanta were extremely friendly and generous. We'd like to thank Geo in particular, for the great advice on equipment and hiking in general as well as for his kindness for taking the time out to show us parts of Atlanta we would never have seen as a tourist. He warned Tom about buying the 6 pound tent and of course Tom took no notice.
N.B. Tom has since posted his tent home due to the excessive weight.

After 10 days in Atlanta we were finally ready to embark on the trail, 12 months after the idea was conceived over a few beers in Liverpool. So excited to be finally walking and embracing the stunning wilderness.



We eased ourselves into walking by setting ourselves 7.6 miles to Hawk Mountain Shelter after Josh from the Hiker hostel dropped us off at the foot of Springer Mountain, the start of the trail.

We'd been at Hawk mountain shelter for about an hour when another Englishman turned up and upon hearing the four of us speak he stopped dead in his tracks, staring at us in disbelief. On the Appalachian Trail people are given 'trail names', this bloke called himself TEG, standing for The English Guy. It soon became apparent that on his first night he knew he would not be the sole English guy, rather the fifth.

Also met a couple of ex park rangers who introduced us to the phenomenon that is 'trail magic' - acts of generosity that occur throughout the trail, often when you need it most, in the form of nourishing food and drink. Our supper, of boiled rice and raisins was looking rather inedible and the thought of eating it for 5 months suddenly seemed rather daunting, until they donated some beef and ostrich jerky to somewhat lift our spirits.






Commiserations went out to Charlie, although we couldn't resist a wee giggle when he realised his blow up mattress was left in the equipment shop in Atlanta. To rub salt in the wound Tom, Michael and Paul all had theirs. Needless to say Charlie was about to have an awful nights sleep next to Duffy, a champion snorer and self proclaimed extreme traveller, in addition to mice scurrying around the shelter throughout the night.