Appalachian Trail Anniversary

One year ago today, "The Family Affair" (Sergio, Meredith, Randy Woodard, Cody Jackson, Harrison Woodard, and Rebekah Woodard) were making it through their first AT adventure! At this point, we had hiked 10 miles in 10 hours the day before (in 2 feet of snow) and were now camping illegally at a shelter. This was the day that the ridge runner told us that we could get taken to jail because we were going to camp around the shelter (illegally). Here is the back story... We had a ROUGH first day and were pretty exhausted so we weren't able to make it on the second day to our designated shelter. We made it to the one that was half way. There was not any way we could go any further or make it to "our" shelter before dark. So for safety reasons, we decided to chance getting arrested. Not all of the AT is as strict as it is through the Smokies. Only thru-hikers have the right to camp in their tents at the shelters...otherwise, you have to have a reservation and stay inside the shelter. Anyways, even though we were breaking Smoky Mountain law, we had enjoyed every minute of the day. Before dark, we sat up our tents and promised to fluff the grass the next morning. We enjoyed relaxing around our tents and reminising about the last 24 hours. One of the popular topics of the night was my sunburned hands. Lesson learned...just because there is snow on the ground doesn't mean you can't get sunburned!

This was a life changing hike for sure and the memories we all made will not be forgotten. So happy anniversary to my fellow hikers who are apart of "The Family Affair".

Peace-- Meredith

Ps- We didn't get arrested :)

Spring Is Here

Last Sunday was the first day of Spring and boy did it feel like it! We were hiking back to our car and relished the temperature that was in the high 70's! I was able to snap some pictures that really embraced primavera. Today, however, it's cloudy and the high is expected to be 54. Don't you love Nashville weather?

Volunteer Trail at Long Hunter State Park

Volunteer Trail...

If you live in the Nashville area and are looking for a place to backcountry camp, look no further! Try out the "Volunteer Trail" at Long Hunter State Park. It's a beautiful 12 mile round trip hike along the rocky banks of Percy Priest Lake. This is a great place to train for any long distance hiking trips you may be going on. Sergio and I had a wonderful hike and enjoyed camping under the super moon. We were prepared for werewolves, but got a visit from a skunk instead! Visit the tn.gov website for more info about this state park!

http://tn.gov/environment/parks/LongHunter

Peace--

Meredith

Super Moon!

Okay everyone get your silver ready for tonight, ha... The moon is supposed to be the largest it's been since March 1993! So if you love to camp, I would say tonight is a perfect night to do so!

Peace!

Tennessee State Parks (Long Hunter State Park)

Tennessee

Springer Mountain, GA

It's official! The "Family Affair" is about to get their hike on again. We will be starting on April 28th at Springer Mountain (Georgia). For those of you who don't know, that is the very beginning of the Appalachian Trail. We will end on May 1st, hiking a total of 32 miles. The cool thing about this hike is that, unlike the Smoky Mountains, we can sleep in our tents (legally, ha). Also, northbound thru-hikers that are headed to Mt. Katahdin usually start around March and April at Springer Mountain...so I hope we meet tons of awesome hikers!

I look forward to all of our section hikes together!

Peace :)