Snow and Cold on my 2nd week of walking

 

Walking the AT from home

This week I walked almost 6 miles.  On the first day I walked from my house out to a not too busy road but  a road with a yellow line, and I do have to watch for cars and keep watch over my dog as we explore. First we pass a few houses, then the homes are more rural in nature. Each yard is bigger, and two of the homes have ponds in their front yards. Next we pass a field with a horse and a couple of goats. My dog is always concerned here, not sure how to react to such odd smelling and large animals. While walking I could hear the sandhill cranes, but I didn’t see any flying around. At the end of this street is a house that is a true regular farm, with a pig, chickens, a cow and large garden spaces. I love to walk by, listening and looking around.This street dead ends into another, slightly busier street because the high school is on it. Today I see about 15 cranes feeding in the field. I walk close enough to get a picture, but I don’t want to upset the birds and make them fly away from a feeding ground.  We turn and walk back, making some circles around the neighborhood to get a few more steps in.  I have now walked 8 miles total, and can say I am at the start of the AT.  Dog and I finally measured enough steps to be on Springer Mountain.

When our kids were small we drove down a lonely dirt road full of potholes and washouts to find the entrance to a short 2 mile trail that would take us to Springer Mountain. We parked, and walked out to the lean-to and the sign signifying the start of the AT. Most people who hike to this spot start at Amicalola Falls and walk the steep 8 miles.  While our 3 kids played around on the summit, a couple of men hiked in, obviously tired and thirsty. After they refilled their water bottles from the natural spring they looked at the children with almost unbelieving eyes. 

“These kids hiked up here?” One guy asked. He looked a little deflated.

I laughed. “Yes. They did really well too.  Of course, we took a short cut, and parked about 2 miles away.”  The men laughed, relieved they hadn’t been out hiked by small kids. 

I walked over to the spring and filled my water bottle. It had been years since I had really done any hiking, and I wanted to see if natural spring water really tasted as good as I remembered. Oh man, it did!  

January 10   9 miles for the year.  At this rate I will never see even the midway point of the AT.  Today I walked 1 mile, circling the park near my home. It was snowing heavily, and my deep south doggie wasn’t quite sure about this. I guess we had less snow than Springer would, anyway. Right now it is 21 degrees up there, and snowing hard, according to the internet. I am sitting on my couch writing and watching our snow fall from the warmth of our home. At least if I can force myself to walk in all weather types, I can at least imitate some of the experience of an AT hike. On the trail a hiker has weather every day. It’s easy to forget we have weather every day when we live so much of our lives inside. My walking this year will help me remember that.

How is the weather?  It’s always weather here!