A Small Portion of the Appalachian Trail for #wednesdaywalk {Woody Gap to Preacher Rock}

Happy Wednesday everyone! A Happy Halloween for those who celebrate, as well. Besides making some zombie muffins, it's just a regular day in my part of the world. I have to say I do enjoy seeing some of the kiddos around here dressed up to go trick-or-treating, but it's been years since I have gone myself or even handed out treats. Candy is not something I generally keep in my whole food kitchen anyway. At least I'm not the type to hand out vegetables to kids from my door, haha! 😜

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I realized I had not shared the other portion of our weekend in the North Georgia mountains yet (a month later), so why not take advantage and join in on @tattoodjay's #wednesdaywalk again? You can see his original post here or click on the tag to see where people are getting their steps in for the day!

As I said when I shared our visit to Amicalola Falls, there are quite a few parts of our lovely state that I had never seen before. Amicalola was one, and any part of the Appalachian Trail was another. If you have never heard about the Appalachian Trail (affectionately referred to by most hikers as the "A.T."), I highly suggest checking out the conservancy page to learn more about it. In short, it is an over 2,000 mile long hiking trail that spans much of the Eastern portion of the United States. The trail covers 14 states from my own state of Georgia all the way up to Maine.

There are many interesting bits of information about the A.T. For one, the exact distance tends to change depending upon which source you look at. Apparently some years portions occasionally have to get re-routed, so the total distance can fluctuate. Benton MacKaye was the person who originally had the idea for the trail in or around 1921, and it was finally finished in 1937. Though there are millions of people like us who just hop on to check out a small section at a time, there is a large family of thru-hikers that attempt to do the entire trail in one season. I actually only really became interested when a friend of ours geared up and trained to attempt to hike the entire trail from Georgia to Maine. Like a large portion of people (I think only about 1/4 make it all the way), she didn't make it but has no regrets about the experience. It was a whole lot tougher than she imagined, even with lots of training under her belt.

In a whole other level of thru-hikers are the record seekers. A number of attempts every year are made to see who can take on the trail the fastest. I followed Scott Jurek's journey as he took on the trail back in 2015. He broke the record that year (taking 46 days and change), only to have it fall to his friend Karl Meltzer the next year. I believe currently the record is held by Karel Sabbe who finished in under 42 days. These guys all had crews for support, so they were able to travel light. Though that was still no small feat as they had to cover basically 2 marathons a day for the duration. On rough terrain, no less. I highly recommend Jurek's book North as it was really interesting not only to get his portion of his hike, but also to hear his wife's perspective on being the lead part of his crew. I found it fascinating!

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Anyway, our hike only took us about a mile away from where we parked. We were staying about an hour away from Woody Gap, so that is where we popped on the trail. The lead picture for my post was overlooking the opposite side from where we parked. You could head back in that direction and find the beginning of the A.T. at Springer Mountain. We opted to head in the direction of Blood Mountain as I had read that there was a great viewpoint called Preacher Rock in that direction.

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Of course @dksart had is camera in hand for some photo ops. I believe he has already shared a few things he found like some neat little mushrooms and a cute caterpillar. The first part of the trail wasn't very technical so it was easy walking. Despite the parking lot being packed, that part of the trail was also pretty quiet so it was very enjoyable to have it to ourselves for a bit.

As we started getting towards the viewpoint it did get a good bit more steep and challenging. I think we were both breathing a little heavy by the time we made it past the top quarter of a mile or so.

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Yet again, totally worth it for such a stunning view!!

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I think I could have stayed up there for hours just enjoying the scenery and the feel of the sun on my skin.

We got lucky with some really great weather while we were hiking. Cool enough under the trees, but quite nice and warm in the sun.

After we made it back down the clouds came in for a little afternoon rain storm. Since we had such a nice morning of activity, I didn't mind hanging out on the covered porch of the cabin reading a book and relaxing. I even caught a rainbow to really top off the day!

If you ever get a chance to check out the A.T. I highly recommend it! Has anyone else out there hiked portions? If so, which state(s)?



Banners by @woman-onthe-wing, @dksart and @bearone for @steemusa

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Haha! Yes, it's good you do not hand out veggies. I don't think they would be appreciated and they actually might earn you a few "tricks" instead of "treats." The goodness & appreciation of veggies often takes years of maturity to develop ;)

Haha, yeah I would have been awfully upset to get vegetables as a kid myself!

Awesome photographs! I really like the view. I agree with you, sitting there in the sun with that scenery would be fun and relaxing. That's a lot of trees too. I'm in the Pacific Northwest so we have some pretty cool scenes here with evergreens. Hope you had a good hike. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much! It really was such a stunning spot, and it was nice that we hit it at a quiet time where we could really enjoy it. I have only been in your part of the country once, but I loved it! We have friends in Portland, so we did an Oregon trip about 4 years ago. Spent some time in the city, but also got to hike in the Columbia River Gorge and then hit the coast. The view from Angel's Rest Peak was stunning. I think my boyfriend got some great shots up there. I definitely want to make it back out that way to explore some more!

Check out those gorgeous clouds! Heck yeah the view was worth it; it usually is. It looks like you two had a great time in the mountains. The fresh air, green trees and insanely gorgeous skies just can’t be beaten. Rainbows have a way of being all magical too!

I recently saw someone on here post about what those sun rays are called, but of course I forget who it was and the term. Oh well, they are super neat either way! I took so many pictures of basically the same thing just because I thought it was so pretty. A different world for sure. We really got so lucky with the weather. You never know when you are planning a weekend like that. It's rare that we get time away like that, so it made it even more special to have everything come together for so many awesome memories (and photos)!

It’s great when everything seems to work out perfectly. Like the entire universe conspired to make sure you had an amazing weekend. Lots of photos are always a good bonus!

That view was literally heavenly at that moment Katie and so was the rainbow. I mean the whole trail is beautiful, but the top view with the sun-rays shining through the clouds was just like heaven. Great job with photographing all that beauty and writing the insightful information. It was well worth it to wait for this second part of your North Georgia Mountain weekend.

Seeing all your lovely photos from your cabin weekend inspired me to finally take the time to do this post justice, so thank you for that! It's interesting to compare my pictures with the ones from Dave's camera because sometimes I think my phone does better. I'll have to go back to look at his shots, but I think mine picked up those sun rays better. He also didn't get his camera out in time to get the rainbow, so I'm glad I was able to capture that moment. That rainbow shot was straight off the balcony of our cabin. We really had amazing views all weekend! I'm glad I was able to share a little piece of it. :)

That is amazing Katie! Often, the perfect moment is more important than good camera. The advantage of mobile phones is quite something isn't it? And I am glad I inspired you, because that trail needed to be finally shown, lol.

Beautiful and majestic view! I am glad you share this..

I'm happy to share with you all, as well! I definitely took plenty of time to put the camera down and just take it all in, but it is nice to have plenty of photos to look back on and enjoy over and over. :)

It look like like a beautiful hike you had. What fabulous scenery!

That whole weekend was just about perfect! A few days of bliss to look back on now and enjoy all over again. We will definitely have to hit some more spots to hike soon!

the Appalachian trail looks so beautiful! I really hope I get to hike through a portion of it one day 🤗 Love your photos and very interesting read!

Thanks so much! It is easy taking photos when the scenery is so stunning! And just think, that was only one spot out of that many miles of trails. I often get envious of the places other people visit (if you want serious travel envy check out @delishtreats --her posts area amazing!), but then I realize that there are so many beautiful places right in my own home state. I just have to make the effort to get out and see them. I hope you get a chance to enjoy the A.T. some day, as well!

Oh Katie! Thank you for the sweet mention!

Very cool. I have always wanted to hike a bit of the Appalachian Trail. Thanks for sharing.

Now that I've got my feet wet, I'd love to check out some more! Happy to share that one tiny portion of it that we experienced this time around. I'm sure you won't be disappointed if you ever get the opportunity!

One day for sure!

I can't honestly say I hiked on the Appalachian Trail, but my home, when I was a (very young) child, was in the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains. The Gunks are part of the Appalachian Trail. Our playground was the forest and the mountain. I don't think we ever actually touched the trail. No formal hiking--just traipsing daily without compass or formal guide. I saw a lot more trees in those days than people.

I have to add, your pictures are wonderful... a lot like home, a long time ago.

That's even better! I'm sure the actual trail is only one tiny part of all that wonderful wilderness. What a great way to grow up. I was born in central New Jersey with no mountains right near us, but we always went on vacation to the Poconos once a year. I'm honored to elicit such a happy set of memories for you! I hope to get back out to the N. Georgia mountains again soon and see where else we can explore!

🌲🌲🌲
:)

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