The Magic of Trail Magic

Graduation Day!

Our epic AT adventure started Feb 27 at Springer Mountain, but first we stopped at Amicalola for their thru-hiker tags (#417 and 418!) and we took a quick moment to offer our homeschooled daughter a unique graduation surprise at the arch. Not many kids can say they got their diploma at the gateway to the AT! Sunny has been homeschooling since 10th grade, when she decided covid-era changes to school were not conducive to learning… and she took homeschooling on and finished a semester ahead of her peers with the purpose of being able to start the trail the first of March! (which turned into Feb 27…)

But once they left Springer, they were off for real!

The plan has been to start slow, take it easy at the beginning to get their trail legs and enjoy the benefits of sleeping in the warm camper at night for the first ten days or so, until Mom has to leave for home, then hopefully be ready for the “real” hike to begin. After eight days of hiking they have surpassed their goals and are past Dick’s Creek Gap at mile 69.4. 

Trail Magic

There’s so much to say from just one week of trail life, but the biggest surprise really is “trail magic” and after having been on both the giving and receiving ends, there’s just nothing in the world like trail magic!

We’ve made pulled pork for some new friends (it’s really easy to make friends when you offer them food!), we’ve seen how motivating it is to tell a hiker there’s trail magic ahead in one mile, we’ve enjoyed soup and biscuits (and blankets and a fire for warmth), and we’ve cooked pork tenderloin and veggies for other hikers, and the camaraderie and joy surrounding food like this is seriously one of the best parts of the whole experience. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from (though it’s pretty fun to find out), and it doesn’t matter if we’ll ever meet up again, we can all just enjoy this brief moment of getting to know each other and hear our life experiences before saying “happy trails” and moving on to the next adventure. I will say, some of these trail magic people are amazing in the things they think of to provide for the hikers that come by, in addition to food and clean drinking water. Hand warmers, charging stations, warm water to wash hands, blankets to get cozy under, rice krispie treats and other fun things, homemade goodies, hot drinks, cold drinks. You name it, someone brought it!

Most of these hikers got pizzas from the store and then still had room for pork tenderloin and veggies a couple hours later!

Our trail magic setup after-hours

The absolutely amazing setup at Hogpen Gap. For those that were interested in participating, they would also say a prayer over the hikers they fed.

There truly is nothing like the trail community and we’ve been blessed to have a little part in both giving trail magic and receiving trail magic in the past week – both are exceptional experiences!