Thursday, May 17, 2007

AT "Trail Magic"

Confession: any mention of the Appalachian Trail makes me dizzily excited. It's been my DREAM (sigh!) since I first heard the letters "AT" to hike the trail that stretches all the way from Georgia (my home state) to Maine. On average, it takes about six months to complete if you hike it all the way through. With my little strides, it would take me, well, forever. After I had my son, any mention of the AT made me a little mopey...how in the world was I going to do it now? I wondered.

So for Mother's Day, my husband, in all his infinite wisdom about what makes me tick, drove me up to Neel Gap (very close to Blairsville, GA, and the Vogel State Park). There you can find part of the trail where you can just drive your car up to. I was so happy to see the hikers trickling in with their packs and hungry faces. (Most of them had been eating freeze-dried food for five days.) We hiked a little bit of the trail ourselves (YAY!), and bought patches and bumper stickers like absolute tourists. We also drove to the nearest country store and bought hamburgers and fresh fruit for some of the hikers. I heard that the hikers have a term for good things that happen on the trail--"trail magic." I was so glad to have been a part of that!


This is Patrick, a hiker we met from New York. Hope you made it, Patrick!


My boys!



All I can say is, "AHHHHHH!"

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