Story Time. Stubborn

As you can guess this one is on my stubbornness/thickhead/ornery. You can see it in the words of my mom as she did up an update, while I was working on mine:

“She started on the 31st in cold, pouring rain. The ranger at Amacalola state park (Georgia) strongly suggested to drive up to the falls as the 604 steps were washed out by so much rain. No! Beth took an alternate trail, making the Approach Trail even longer! He also suggested she aim for 4 mi her first day, as it’s all uphill, and it takes awhile to get used to walking with a heavy pack. No! She was going to go all the way to the top! And she did!” *Side note the date that mom said is March 31st.

Stubborn or determine. That day had good moments but also moments where I was having a crying melt down. Though the ranger didn’t fully prepared me of what I was going to go through.

“First of all elevation gain on a steep incline is no joke. It is brutal even so in the rain. The Approach Trail (8.8 miles) has 1,982 feet of elevation gain period. There is few spots where it drops somewhere 5-20 feet but gain that and plus some back and finish the day with 62 foot decent down to the first shelter that I stayed at. It was also brutal because it was raining and I was mentally going down hill and turning into a pumpkin before I was at the top.”

That’s how I started out on my first update on the AT. There where few times where I was on the alternate and approach trial where I wasn’t sure if I was going the right way or I was lost. I didn’t see any blazes on the alternate trail going up to where I was going up to the approach trail. I had no idea that that day was a precursor for the next day when I did get lost, which is a story in its self.

Before I got to where I met up with the approach trail I was thinking that I may have missed a turn or something because I hadn’t seen single blaze at all. In the process of getting scared I saw someone ahead of me and ended up catching up to the hiker. When I caught up I asked the hiker if I was still on the alternative trail up to the approach trail, again precursor to the next day, the hiker said yes and ended up hiking with me for about half a mile or so untill I felt comfortable again. That is where I started seeing the blazes that the ranger had told me on the approach trail. Green blazes to blue blazes to white blazes.