Blog 6: Opening

Collecting items was the easy part, buying a train ticket to Georgia was the biggest leap I’ve ever taken in my life. At that moment I had no plan on where I would stay the first night or how exactly I would get from the train station to Amicalola State Park. I just knew I was going. The magic of the trail began shortly after that ticket purchase, when a few weeks later Amtrak canceled the midnight train to Georgia, refunding my money, and in minutes I had found an incredibly cheap airfare which allowed me to also afford a night in the lodge at Amicalola.

I arrived at the base of the Falls, via shuttle from Atlanta, in my street clothes, on a hot humid March day, tired from lack of sleep, lack of food or coffee, and already dehydrated, carrying extra things, which I shed for months in each town. I attended the ATC orientation, weighed my pack, got my tag, filled my water bottle, found a random person to take my photo at the arch, and started the trail up the falls!