Day 1, Mar 27, BMT 8.0
Spent most of the day travelling from Houston to the trail. Flew to Atlanta, caught the MARTA train to north Atlanta where I was picked up by my shuttle driver (“Bandit”). There were four other hikers in the van, all heading to the AT. I got dropped off at the trailhead around 3:00PM .
I hiked up to the official start of the BMT and then headed north. I saw several other hikers over the first few miles where the two trail cross but after leaving the AT I was pretty much by myself.
My first night was a pretty campsite by a stream and I had company! “Weedeater” showed up just before dark. He is doing a portion of the BMT.
Day 2, Mar 28, BMT 18.7
Today was disappointing. I started in the dark at 7 o’clock with my headlamp, but was able to turn it off within 30 minutes. Today was supposed to be a 4000 foot plus day and I am clearly not ready for a day like that yet. And the trail is VERY HARD.
I met a lovely couple from Georgia that had done the Pinhoti trail and then headed south on the BMT. They had done 400 miles so far and we’re planning on doing the AT once they hit Springer Mountain.
Stopped for lunch just after noon and about 9 miles. Was not feeling that great. I’m having to stop a lot on the climbs which is unusual for me. I decided to stop earlier than my plan – hiking a couple of miles off trail to the Skeenah Creek CG.
At the CG I learned l that the Georgia Death Race is happening tomorrow on the part of the trail I was currently on. I plan to catch the race shuttle from the CG tomorrow to skip the couple of miles that the race will be on.
Day 3, Mar 29, PT 42.0
Today was an interesting. It started when I caught the race shuttle from the campground to where the trail crosses Skeena Creek Road. I was hiking at 8 o’clock or just after. Another hard day with lots of climbing – 3600′ and 17 miles.
I had originally intended to stop short of iron Bridge Cafe, put up my tent and then walk to the cafe for dinner. But I saw no spots on the trail to camp, so I continued onto the café and had an early dinner about 3:30. It was wonderful. Left the café at 4 o’clock for a 4 mile road walk to get to the trail, then hiked up to the Fall Branch Falls and found a place to put at my tent.
Not sure this is a legal spot, but there are no signs saying no camping so… I’m here.
This was a pretty good day. The climbs were tough, but I think I may be getting acclimated to the trail. It’s a Saturday so there were quite a few day hikers on the trails, but I only saw a few thru-hikers going southbound. I signed my name to a trail journal and it looked like the last northbound hiker ahead of me is at least two days ahead of me.
Day 4, Mar 30, BMT 52.4
Broke camp and started walking in a light rain at about 7:30 AM. It rained all morning, never really hard, but often moderate. I made it to Indian rock shelter at 12:45 and had a hot lunch.
The next decent campsite is 10 miles. So I’m spending the night here. Tomorrow is a 4000 foot day so I’m hoping the rest will help. I did not see a single other hiker today day.
Day 5, Mar 31, BMT 66.6
Tough day, only a little over 14 miles but well over 4000 feet of elevation gain. Tomorrow’s hike is over 16 miles but only 3000 feet of elevation game so probably easier.It was raining when I woke up and rained all morning sometimes heavy sometimes light, but it never stopped.
I stopped at noon during a brief lull in the rain on a high ridge to eat some crackers. Did not want to haul out my food bag because the rain could start up at any time. As I was sitting there it slowly got dark. Ominous. I started hiking and the thunderstorm hit. Very heavy rain, lightning and thunder.
It only lasted 15 minutes or so, but it was hard to hike. About 15 minutes after this, another hiker caught up with me. It was Weedeater! He had hopped off the trail yesterday, which is how I was able to pass him since he is much faster. It was nice seeing him again.
I got to Double Hog Pen gap campsite about 3:30 PM. It was not raining so I was able to set up the tent and filter some water.
I have a little bit of cell coverage and was able to get the Weather app to work. It shows a 50% chance of more rain in the next couple hours, but no rain tomorrow! Which is good, since I am rapidly running out of clothes to wear.
Day 6, Apr 1, BMT 82.9
And I thought yesterday was hard! I’m totally wiped. Currently camped at double Spring gap. It was a cold morning, probably in the high 30s when I started hiking around 7:45 AM. But it warmed up nicely and turned into a lovely day, especially in comparison with yesterday’s shit show. I passed the spot where the Pinhoti Trail ends into the BMT.
I got to my campsite just after 5 PM. So it was a very long day (9 hours, a little over 16 miles). I did take a long lunch at least an hour to lay out the tent and my clothes to dry.
Day 7, Apr 2, BMT 93.8
Good news! I got a phone call last night around eight (yes I have limited cell coverage here) from a shuttle driver (Seth). So I have a ride into Ductown, Tenn when I get to the trailhead.
It’s much warmer today, in the mid 50s when I packed up. Started hiking about 7:30 AM and immediately started climbing up Big Frog mountain. It’s a 1000 foot climb over about a mile and took me about an hour.
The wind started picking up as I near the top and by the time I reach the top it was blowing hard. There is a high wind advisory for the area. But it could be worse, there are tornadoes west of us near St. Louis.
Got to Thunder Rock CG about 1:00. Met a day hiker who, of course, offered me a ride into town. Seth arrived about 1:20 and I was at the Mallard Hotel by about 1:30 PM. On the trip I asked Seth if he was available on Friday to take me back to the trail and he said yes.
I was able to resupply at the Dollar General and even got pizza delivered to the hotel so not a bad place for a zero day.
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