“One of the great misfortunes of modern life is the want of any sudden surprise, and the absence of all adventure.”
Eight more days until I head down to Amicalola Falls State Park and get down to finishing the last 400+ miles of the AT.
Last year I was on the last leg of my flip-flop hike when I bailed at Davenport Gap as I headed south to Springer.
I decided to hike that section NOBO, instead of continuing on southward. I'm dreading the Smokies because I don't do well with rules and they have a lot of them that don't make any sense to me. Like this one: you have to sleep in a shelter. But thru-hikers can't make reservations in the shelters. And if you're all settled in and someone comes in at whatever time at night and they have a reservation, they can kick out a thru-hiker.
Not cool, man.
So I decided I wanted to have my trail legs under me when I started so that when I get to the Smokies, if I want to blast through, I'll be able to.
If I learned only one thing, though, during the 5.5 months I was on the trail last year, it's that everything always works out.
What a great outlook to have both on and off the trail.
And I'm sure the Smokies will be beautiful.
Everything except the "shit fields" my friend 77 warned me about last year. But I guess that qualifies as "adventure", if not "sudden surprise."
I really just need to go see for myself, don't I?