I Stopped Waiting Around and Walked the Appalachian Trail | Part 1 | Georgia to Nantahala | AT2020

In May 2020 I laced up my boots and started walking north from Georgia. This is Part 1 of my Appalachian Trail journey — ten days and about 130 miles, from packing chaos on my bedroom floor to the fire towers of the Nantahala. No script, no crew — just what the trail actually looks like: the flowers (labeled!), the mushrooms, the newts, the shelter logs, the blisters, and the views that make every climb worth it. If you've been waiting for a sign to get out there — this is it. You don't have to be fast. You don't have to be fearless. You just have to go. 🌿 Every flower, fungus, and creature is labeled on screen — mycology friends, check my ID on the hemlock varnish shelf at 37:17 and tell me in the comments if you'd call it something else! ⛰ CHAPTERS 0:00 — Packing night: what to take? 2:29 — One last fire before the trail 5:21 — Day 1 · into the Georgia mountains 16:33 — Blood Mountain Shelter (built 1934) 18:28 — Day 2 · Neels Gap & the boot tree 25:01 — Day 3 · ridge walking 27:09 — Day 5 · rhododendron country 28:59 — Georgia ✓ — crossing into North Carolina 31:12 — Day 6 · rain, newts & fog 37:17 — hemlock varnish shelf (check my ID!) 38:23 — Day 7 · resupply & trail magic 40:47 — Day 8 · Overflow Creek falls 41:18 — Day 10 · Siler Bald at golden hour 43:36 — Day 11 · Wayah Bald tower to Wesser 49:00 — a note I left in the shelter log 🥾 SEEN ALONG THE WAY (in order of appearance) Crested dwarf iris · heartleaf foamflower · Catesby's trillium · bluets · wild geranium · four-leaved milkweed · speckled wood lily · flame azalea · mountain laurel · Carolina rhododendron · Solomon's seal · umbrella-leaf (a Southern Appalachians exclusive!) · wood betony · squawroot · jack-in-the-pulpit · multiflora rose · buttercups · eastern towhee · red eft · flat-backed millipede · whitelip snail · hemlock varnish shelf (Ganoderma tsugae) ——— 🎒 ABOUT THE GEAR — because people always ask: I didn't have any fancy gear. Everything I carried was the imitation Amazon-brand version of something expensive. There's so much people think they have to do before they're allowed to start — plan the mail drops, buy the ultralight everything, dial in the perfect food bag, get into the perfect shape, wait for the perfect time. Here's what's actually true: you take what you think you'll basically need, and you learn as you go. You'll find that some things are missing. You'll find you carried things you never touched once. That's not failing at it — that IS it. You will never have the perfect pack, or the perfect food bag, or the perfect state of health, or the perfect time. You just go, and the trail itself teaches you the rest. The thing is to just go. ——— 🥾 THE NEXT CHAPTER: In 2020 I came off the trail at mile 437 to go finish my degree. I've since earned my master's degree in nursing — and now I'm going back to finish what I started: Shenandoah National Park, northbound into Pennsylvania. I'm posting the planning, the gear lists, and the full species logs from each film over on Patreon as I go, if you want to come along: patreon.com/c/sunshinesatellite 💬 Have you hiked any part of the AT — or is it on your list? Tell me where you'd start. And if this nudged you even a little closer to going: subscribe, because Parts 2–5 follow the trail through the Smokies to the wilds of Tennessee. #AppalachianTrail #ThruHike #Hiking #Backpacking #GetOutside #ATThruHike #GeorgiaHiking #NorthCarolina #HikingAdventures #TrailLife