I'm riding Amtrak's Crescent from Charlottesville, VA down to Gainesville, GA. It's thankfully a much shorter ride than the last train, another overnight train and significantly less crowded than the Cardinal was. I dozed off a few times which was better than the night before. I found out that there are 2 other AT hikers on this train. One of the guys headed straight for the trail after we got off at 7am in the dark. The other guy, Mike, and I were picked up in a shuttle and headed over to the Hiker Hostel.
Hiker Hostel is such a wonderful place, I highly recommend it. We arrived when the group from the night before were getting ready to be shuttled out to the trail. The bunks weren't ready for us so we did a half mile loop trail around the property. When Duffy went to pick up the next group of hikers from Atlanta he dropped us off in town for a few hours. We went to this delicious seafood place in town, we browsed the local outdoors store, an antique shop, and we visited the towns gold mining and history museum.
After getting back to the hostel i finally got a well deserved nap in. Later a few of us went to Walmart for dinner and supplise. The hostel is fully booked up with the max amount of people. I'm getting to know a bunch of people I'll be starting with. Everyone is so nice. There's a guy named Frank who brought his border collie, she is so well trained and very adorable. I keep watching her, she's so precious!
I helped Lucy with a pack shake down, that took up most of the evening. One of the staff members did the official shake down but her gear was a wreck! I'm really worried about her out there not having the proper gear. She had only cotton socks, a children's indoor sleeping bag, and a children's tent, just to name a few of my major concerns. She's meant to start tomorrow but i think she should stay and get the proper gear she needs to be successful. Other people are helping her out with stuff, the hostel does have a small store with some gear in it so she was at least able to start.
It's so nice to be in a clean bed and sheets for the night before i start. I'm so nervous- excited, i hope I'll get enough sleep. The staff here recommend 4,000 to 6,000 calories per day. I have maybe 2,000 per day. I think I'll be just fine though, that's a lot more than i normally bring on backpacking trips and i did put on an additional 20lbs in the past months before this trip. I'm expecting to loose about 40 to 50 lbs by the end of this trip.
After getting back to the hostel i finally got a well deserved nap in. Later a few of us went to Walmart for dinner and supplise. The hostel is fully booked up with the max amount of people. I'm getting to know a bunch of people I'll be starting with. Everyone is so nice. There's a guy named Frank who brought his border collie, she is so well trained and very adorable. I keep watching her, she's so precious!
I helped Lucy with a pack shake down, that took up most of the evening. One of the staff members did the official shake down but her gear was a wreck! I'm really worried about her out there not having the proper gear. She had only cotton socks, a children's indoor sleeping bag, and a children's tent, just to name a few of my major concerns. She's meant to start tomorrow but i think she should stay and get the proper gear she needs to be successful. Other people are helping her out with stuff, the hostel does have a small store with some gear in it so she was at least able to start.
It's so nice to be in a clean bed and sheets for the night before i start. I'm so nervous- excited, i hope I'll get enough sleep. The staff here recommend 4,000 to 6,000 calories per day. I have maybe 2,000 per day. I think I'll be just fine though, that's a lot more than i normally bring on backpacking trips and i did put on an additional 20lbs in the past months before this trip. I'm expecting to loose about 40 to 50 lbs by the end of this trip.
Enjoy a good nights rest! Happy hiking!
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