You're exhausted. Your feet hurt. You're starving. You're way in over your head. But you're alive! Yes, you physically are alive as you stand at the other side of Blood Mountain at Mountain Crossings store at Neel Gap, but you're more than just breathing, you're really living for the first time in a long time. You're an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker!

Over the last week, you have set out on a path that fewer than 0.0009% of Americans even attempt and even fewer complete! You're on the Appalachian Trail, a nearly 2,200 mile long footpath from the southern Appalachian Mountains in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine! By the time you reach Neel Gap, which is the 30 mile marker from the Appalachian Trail starting point, you've hiked over the 4,458 feet tall Blood Mountain, drank from the mountain springs flowing down through the hills, slept in a tent, seen bears, stepped over snakes, and made a wide variety of new friends.

You're probably full of mixed emotions at this point as you think to yourself why am I doing this, and I can't wait to see what's waiting for me down the trail. But first things first, you need a break!

It's Time for a Town Day in the Appalachian Trail town of Blairsville, Georgia

After replacing your gear and getting a pizza to curb your grumbling stomach at Mountain Crossings, all you can think about is a hot shower and a bed. You walk back down to the side of the road and slowly stick out your thumb. You can't believe you're going against every lesson you learned about getting in the car with strangers, but you've seen the YouTube videos and read the books where hitching is the way to get to town. Eventually, some kind soul picks you up and drives you to town. Turns out, this hitchhiking thing isn't so bad. You've now made a new friend with a local who picks up hikers all the time, and they've given you their number in case you need a ride back.

13 miles north of Neel Gap is one of the first Appalachian Trail resupply towns: Blairsville, Georgia! Your hitch drops you off outside the hiker oasis of Seasons Inn Motel where the amazing staff treats you with loaner clothes to wear while you wash all your smelly hiking clothes and hiker boxes full of free items left behind by other hikers needing to shed some weight from their pack before showing you to your room. You immediately shower to rinse off the grime from the first week on trail, you limp over to Luckys Taqueria and Cantina for a giant burrito and a 32oz Dos Equis Lager, and you finally limp back over to Seasons Inn to have the best sleep of your life. 

Spending a Zero in Town

It's your first zero day, meaning you walk zero miles that day. It may sound restful, but you've got some chores to do. Oddly enough, your body feels very well rested after a brutal first couple of nights on the trail. You throw your clothes in the wash, and hurry over to Cabin Coffee or Hole in the Wall for breakfast before the morning rush. By the time you return it's time to dry your clothes and make a grocery list.

What to eat for the next three days, you think as you fold your dry clothes. You're already tired of peanut butter and tortillas and you made an absolute mess at camp trying to make a ramen bomb – an assortment of calorie dense foods added to ramen noodles. You head around the corner to either Foodland or a little further down the street to Ingles Market to see what protein bars, crackers, cheeses, candies, granola, oatmeal, and nuts you can buy. You've also heard about a coffee shop called Expedition Joe's that sells backpacker meals and instant coffee. You haven't realized it yet, but Blairsville is the perfect town for a solid Appalachian Trail resupply.

By the time you get back from your resupply run and get all your stuff sorted in your pack, it's time for lunch. You choose one of the many restaurants around the downtown square and choose Papa's Pizza because of the all-you-can-eat buffet. You don't realize how hungry you are until you've eaten two entire pizzas and several helping of breadsticks and cinnamon pizza all by yourself. Now, it's time to put your feet up and relax all afternoon!

After waking up from a nap, it's time for dinner. Alas, you're starting to realize that town days are just one long graze. You're burning way more calories than you ever thought you would. You walk down to the lobby and run into another hiker just off the trail. You wait for them to shower and you start showing them around. You tell them where they can get their Appalachian Trail resupply and where the best food is located. You hear there's food trucks at Grandaddy Mimms Distillery and karaoke at the Blairsville Social. You and your new friend are torn where to go, so you do both. It ends up being a super fun night meeting different locals and enjoying the town.

The Return to Trail

It's time to return to the trail. You've thoroughly enjoyed your time in Blairsville, but the trail calls and you must go. You quickly shoot over to the historic courthouse to get a tour of the town's history from the Union County Historical Society before getting one last coffee for the road at Cabin Coffee. You go stand on the curb with much more confidence and stick out your thumb. You're almost immediately picked up by another kind local and taken back to Neel Gap.

You're back at Neel Gap staring through the tunnel of the building that goes across the Appalachian Trail. You've looked at the elevation profile, and you've got some climbing to do today. Suddenly, the weight of the full resupply on your back feels much more noticeable as the thought of another stretch of mountains to traverse starts to sink in. But this trail is what you have prepared for and dreamt about. You're really doing what you set out to accomplish. Your courage swells. The encouragement from all the nice people in town comes to the forefront of your mind. You're not going to quit now.

With a quick smile to yourself, you're off, one foot in front of the other, toward the unknown adventure ahead. You've made it a week out there. You can feel it now. The Appalachian Trail is becoming a part of you. You know you can make it. You know you can do it!

Good luck, future Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, and happy trails!