Day 1: The Shake Down and the Shelter

I just woke up at the church in Ripley, West Virginia, and I slept in my sleeping bag on this hard floor. Everyone is meeting here at the Church at 8:30 before we leave for our hike. Their are seven guys going. 4 of them are under 16 and then the other three of us are over 21. We will be having what they call a pack shake down. This is were they make you take everything out of your pack and make sure you don't take anything that you don't need. Your pack has to be under 32 lbs with just pack and gear not including water.

We all piled into the van and headed off down 77 to a little trail town called Damascus, Virginia. We will be starting our hike about 3 miles from this town. Before we left for our hike, we went into the Mt. Rogers Outfitters store and got some last minute stuff and filled up our water bottles. Because of the lack of water on the trail, we will be filling 3 bottles up and anytime we get to a spring, we will fill all 3 up. After we filled up our bottles, we got back into the van and headed towards the trail head. We arrived there and threw our packs on, wow a weeks worth of stuff to eat all in a backpack that weighs 32 lbs. We have five dinners, four lunches, five breakfasts, two set of clothes, snacks, and some other things.

We started at 5:09 pm from our trail head, and we had to stop a couple of times to adjust our bags. We then hiked on the Appalachian Trail (AT) at an elevation level of 1,900 ft. The trail began along the Virginia Creeper Trail Creek, which was beautiful. Then it started to be a climb; we use trekking poles that help us to climb. Alot of the trail was switchbacks, which is when the trail goes back and forth on the side of the mountain. We will be going over alot of small mountains before we reach Mt. Rogers. We had to stop a couple of times so that some of the guys could catch their breath. I think this was the first hike some of the guys have ever went on. After 4.5 miles, we got to Saunders Shelter where we will be setting up camp; there are only a few shelters on the trails. The shelter is at 3,300ft, so we did alot of climbing today. Saunders Shelter is a three sided wood hut with a roof that sits up off the ground. We met some other hikers that were camping there. The one guy Joe let us have the shelter, which was very nice of him.

I just got done eating dinner; a mountain house meal comprised of Spaghetti with meat. Each one of us has a small stove that we boil our water on. You boil your water, pour it in your meal then let it sit for about 9 min; then it's ready to eat. After dinner, we hung up all our bags so that the mice cannot get into our bags. We are getting ready to do devotions. Devotions were very good; it really spoke to me. In Proverbs 27:17, it says "Iron sharpeneth iron....." and that is the purpose of this trip. We are split up in pairs and the point is for us to help each other on the hike and in our spiritual lives. God uses the number two for many things in the Bible. In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." This teaches us that if we fall and we don't have that accountability partner that we can go to, it will be hard for us to pick ourselves up and get back on the right path. Then in verse 12 it talks about it being stronger if there are three. If you have God in the middle, then it will always be strong. In any relationship, a friendship or a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, you should both have God as number one in your life. If you are getting close to God and your friend/partner is getting close to God, then that means that you are getting closer to each other because God is in the middle of your relationship. That is the only way you will have good friendships with any person.

Well tomorrow will be a strenous day, so I'm going to get me some sleep. Good Night and God Bless!!!!

Starting Elevation:1,900 ft

Lowest Elevation: 2,200 ft

Highest Elevation:3,400 ft

Ending Elevation: 3,300 ft

Total Miles: 4.5

Start Time: 5:09 pm

Ending Time: 7:40 pm