6m 25s: Lenght
407View
7Rating

The Adventures of Puma Ghostwalker… Rattlesnakes and Lightning…….Very, Very Frightning…….Me….. Galileo When I left to hike the Appalachian Trail last May, I had the knowledge of several books on hiking the AT (as it is called) and how to do it. I still arrived at the Gainesville Georgia bus depot with an 85 pound backpack. It had all the things I found necessary to hike “My Hike”, including my laptop, solar panel and 12 days of food. I remember waiting for car service at my camper with my friend Gary. He even said its very heavy, when I went to pick it up I thought the shoulder straps were going to rip off, the fabric would stretch and make loud noises. At Gainesville I grabbed a cab and was driven to Amiclola Falls State Park, where I reregistered for my hike. I told the ranger I’m out for three months and was shooting for 1,000 miles, ending my season at Harpers Ferry West Virginia, about half of the entire Appalachian Trail and the location of the ATC headquarters. It was a great get off point, they have a train station to Washington DC, there it’s a quick jump home to NYC at Penn Station. Because I was going to be out for three months I decided to get a ride up the forest service road to the start of the trail, avoiding the approach trail of almost 9 miles. Thank goodness I never would of made it to the top of Springer mountain that day. When we got to a parking turnout next to the Appalachian Trail, I paid the cabby and got my pack ready. I read that when you take this rout you have to go south on the AT to begin at the starting point, the problem was there were no signs saying “This Way South”. Not a problem, I took a compass reading and was on my way, after about an hours time I wasn’t seeing any features; my map said I would see. As it turns out in my first moments on trail I was lost, well not completely lost, just going the wrong way. It was hot and my pack was incredibly heavy, I tried to focus on my footsteps, a wrong step would end my hike before it started with a twisted ankle or a blow-out knee. It was early after noon when I arrived at the top of Springer Mountain, I was exhausted and I was just getting started. My cell phone worked and I took a few photos and sent them out in real time, I’m here at the top of the world mom…..My Journey Begins….. The top of Springer Mountain was rocky and exposed, so I took my solar panel out and charged my cell phone while I wrote a bit on my laptop, snacking on trail-mix. After an hours time or more I hoisted the pack to my shoulders and was on my way Northbound for 1,000 miles. I was very pleased when I got past all my previous steps and was on new fresh ground. At 2.8 miles I came to Stover Creek Shelter, it was gorgeous and enormous, sleeps 16 according to my trail guide. There were two groups of people out for the weekend, a mother son and a father son, they seemed to take up the whole picnic table to cook and eat so I set up my cooking off to the side. It didn’t feel like they were interested in sharing the space. Later in my hike I would be more aggressive with people but at this place in time I wanted to be alone anyway and setup camp far away from the shelter. For the most part I met many wonderfully kind people on my trek but there are always people I wish not to be close to in the world no mater where you are.Such an adventure so far, this is when I started having the same dream over and over for the next three months, that I would be bitten by a poisonous rattlesnake. I would be in a storm right before I hit the Smokey’s so bad that it produced three tornados and killed people, crossed the path of six rattlesnakes, attacked by two rattlesnakes at the same time and... I was hit by lightning…….my pack is heavy and I don’t have this, Oxen From Isak Dinesen..(Karen Blixen) Out of Africa “God is happy, Msabu. He plays with us.”