HIKE DIARY
Backpacking & thru-hiking
is not always blissful
GA/AT: Poplar Stamp to Unicoi Gap
As forecasted, it rains all day, but even in mist, the forest is magical – as is the wee German town of Helen where we get dry.
AT/GA: Blood Mt to Poplar Stamp Gap
It’s a five mountain day through Neels Gap and into a spectacular spring day.
AT/GA: Gooch to Blood Mountain
It’s a fantastic day of up and down with magical spring green mountain views and sunset on the highest peak on-trail in Georgia.
AT/GA: Springer to Gooch
The real first day is glorious, though hot, with birds singing loudly and flowers lining the walk.
AT/GA: Amicalola Falls to Springer Mountain
I add nine miles on the ‘approach trail’ through Amicalola Falls State Patk, the highest cataract in Georgia, walking to mile 0.
Atlanta
I’m reading about a pro long distance walker as I set out for Springer Mountain. Edward Payson Weston preached of walking’s benefits at the dawn of the automobile age.
Arizona dreamin’
After I finished the Arizona Trail, I continued hiking and backpacking in places the trail misses and came to terms with a changed body.
AZT: Rain Collector to Superior, via LOST trail, 18 miles
The final piece of trail ends at Picketpost just before the Superstition Mountains. I opt to walk into Superior through a lovely riparian canyon.
AZT: Gila River to Rain Collector, 18 miles
It’s one of the most thrilling parts of the trail, a 2,000 foot climb out of the Gila River Canyon into desert spires and ramparts.
AZT: Ripsey Wash to near lowest point, 19 miles
I had the last section of Passage 15 up a big hill, along a ridge, then down steeply to the Gila River in wild clouds and rain.
AZT: Antelope Peak to stock tank near Ripsey Wash, 19 miles
The day is spent on the flattest expanse of Passage 15 through the Sonoran Desert, loud with birdsong and views to far off mountains.
AZT: Passage 14 – Black Hills, 19 miles
The day is filled with clouds and filtered light turning the cholla silver against the Tortilla Mountains.
