Trail Journal
Welcome to the virtual trail journal of the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club. This is the place for members to share their personal stories about hiking, maintaining, and experiencing the Appalachian Trail and GATC. We'll also share some entries from the Shelter Journals, from time to time.
To submit a story and photos, please email the Webmaster.
Made it to the border!
By David Bark
In November of 2010 I set a goal to hike the entire Georgia section of the AT in one year. I found the GATC during this time, and became a member, and signed up for all the AT series hikes offered by the GATC. I am excited to say I have now finally finished all of the AT in Georgia on October 29th, 2011!! Hiking the AT in Georgia over the past 9 months has been one of the most challenging things I have done in my lifetime. I have made several new friends, seen lots of beautiful views, and it has motivated me to start a hiking club at my work. [Read
More]
Our 29-Mile Thanksgiving Adventure
By Laurie Searle (Nov 26, 2011)
Over
the (Hiawassee) River and through the (Georgia A.T.) Woods...
Laurie and Sam hike 29 miles on the Georgia Applichian Trail over the Thanksgiving holiday to complete her Big Adventure to hike the Georgia A.T. in one year.
May flowers and good company ease the ups and downs of Blood Mountain hike
By Deb Pate
Twelve
hikers, led by Bob King and Beth Rothermel, set out at 9:30 Mother’s Day
morning on the AT segment Woody Gap to Neal ‘s Gap.
Temperatures in the fifties soon climbed into the eighties, but a nice
breeze helped us complete the eleven-mile hike in a little over six hours.
[Read More]
How I Became Involved in GATC
By Mark Rottmann
The seeds were planted that would sprout into my love for hiking back in 2008. I hadn't been much of an outdoorsman
up to that point. Basically my outdoor sports involved a ball of some sort, and I
hadn’t camped or hiked in decades.
My brother, who lives in Indy, and I were trying to come up with something that we
could do to get together. That's when he got the idea we should meet halfway and
go on a camping trip. [Read
More]
The Journey Continues: Hike 2
By David Bark
The
journey continues on my quest to hike the Georgia section of the Appalachian
Trail with the GATC AT series Springer Gap to Hightower Gap.
Another beautiful morning for a hike on the AT, the weather was sunny &
warmed up to the 60's!
We had around 28 people for this hike, so with the excellent planning of Don
Hicks, we were able to spilt up into 3 groups. [Read
More]
…and there wasn’t any bears!
By Keith Collier
In
years past, the 0.4 mile paved footpath to Anna Ruby Falls in Unicoi Park would
be a strenuous hike for me. Never fond of hiking despite growing up in shadows
of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, I did spend a lot of time outdoors hunting and
fishing and felt very comfortable in the woods.
Fast-forward 25 years of marriage, two grown daughters, a sedentary lifestyle, and I was the epitome of a “couch potato.”
Outdoor activity was limited to a weekly doubles tennis match with the ubiquitous post-match food and beverage spread. A trip to Minnehaha Falls to photograph the falls resulted in a sprained ankle from rolling over a root. Tennis was over for 3 months and in an attempt to rehabilitate the ankle, I began frequenting local parks’ walking trails.
As I began to see improvement in stamina, I wanted to expand my walking locations. A quick search on the Internet turned up the GATC with their many trail activities, trail maintenance, and outreach programs. The only concern was a self-perceived fear of hiking on the Appalachian Trail – being eaten by bears, getting lost, or worst of all, not being able to complete a hike. [Read More]
Entries from the Gooch Mountain Journal
9/23/10
Last time we were here (2 years ago), a guy had a gallon bag full of tang. He
gave us some. We got to this shelter hoping he was still here with it. He's not.
Dang, no tang.
~ Hit & Miss
Northern Forest Course Trail -> AT ME-GA '10
===
8/19/10
Excellent trail rehab work between Justus Mtn and here. I have worked
professionally as a trail maintainer for nine of the past ten years, and I have
not seen better tread work anywhere unless it was done with a machine.
Brave zulu!
Free Agent
GA-ME '91
Entries from the Stover Shelter Journal
12-10
What a night of frights. We started off with some mouse capers digging into
some licorice I forgot to tree and ended the night with an animal of
undetermined, but large, type sleeping in the bottom of the shelter. We were
convinced it was either a opossum, raccoon, or bear:-) Turns out it was a
foxhound with a radio collar. Very Odd. ~ NRG
===
03/01/11
Made fast friends w/a great bunch. Laughed the whole 3.7 miles from
Springer.
~ Annette
===
03-03-11
Great first night! Plenty of friendly people, lots of laughing. A great
first night to work out the jitters of my first attempted thru-hike. ~
D'artagnan
===
03-03-11
We have been camping for three days and I hate it! Only good thing was the
stars at night, Sleeping under the sunshine. When we leave tomorrow morning,
it will be great! We will go get pizza and sleep! Yummy!
~ Cub Bear 3.