Dipping Our Toes In

The best send off and welcome to the trail anyone could have hoped for!

Phil and Molly came down with me to GA to hike the first few miles. I had read the AWOL guide and thought I knew what we were in for . . . but neither of us had ever been backpacking before, so logistics, planning, and preparation were at least a little off point . . .

I had an interview a couple of days into my hike for the Reserves and figured on being back at a hotel in town to make that happen. After lots of reading about the trail, it seemed like cell service wasn't ever going to be that issue - or getting a shuttle for that matter. But I wasn't confident enough in our skills to schedule one ahead and bet on making it (probably good because we were also on Molly's pace to that point)

Fortunately on day 3 - with mostly no cell service - we came across trial magic from a local hiking club who spends a week every year camping at a cemetery near the trail. They gave us a ride down USFS roads from the back country all the way back to Amicalola where we picked up the Subi.

Oh, and the Subi had picked up some screws on the way to Amicalola, so we were praying the tires would all be round when we got there (They were!). I knew about trail magic ahead of time, but I know they caught Phil completely by surprise. It's the magic that makes the trail so special. Sure we go to get away from people to an extent, but also we go because everyone in the community is so full of love