AT: New adventures

On July 27 I was dropped off just North of the Massachusetts/Vermont border to start hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). My  first day I was on the trail I was nervous but excited. I knew it was going to be difficult and challenging, but also rewarding and fun. 

My roommate, Steph, drove me 3 hours from home to get on the trail. I had thought it would be easy to find the trail head because the map said there was parking available at the location. That can be put down as assumption number one that was incorrect. 

We drove up a dirt road to where the map indicated, but the road got so rough that we assumed it wasn't the right course. Would the map show that there was parking on such a road? After hemming and hawing about it for a few minutes we turned around and headed back down the hill. 

About 2 miles back there was a nice looking woman in a yard. We decided to stop for directions. She didn't know where the trail head was, but was sure her husband would. He was inside the house, and so began our yelling conversation across the yard about the trail head. It went something like this:

"Do you know where the AT trail head is?"

"Ooooooh yeeees, it's 3 or 4 miles up the road"

"Okay, so about 3 and a half miles up the road?"

"ooooooh, I wouldn't say 3 and a half!"

"Okay, so about 4? 4 miles up the road?"

"Oooooh, nope, nope, I wouldn't say 4 miles!"

There was some mention of a steep road to the left and then a wooden bridge to the right and then the trail head. I asked, "So it sounds like it's pretty easy to find? I couldn't miss it?" His response, "Oooooh no, I wouldn't say that! You could certainly miss it!"

I didn't have a ton of confidence in the directions I was given, but was pretty sure the trail head was up the road...not 3.5 but not 4 miles away. 

Steph had to drop me off 1/2 mile from the trail head because the dirt road was too rough for her sweet little Toyota Corolla to drive down. 

So, we stopped the car and I got out. I felt completely unsure about heading down the dirt road and out of site. There's nothing like not even being able to find the trail head to boost your confidence before heading off into the wilderness. I was so nervous for my upcoming adventure that I could have puked and cried at the same time. I did neither. I just stood there looking like a deer caught in headlights.   

Thankfully the trail was pretty easy to find. I just had to walk a little over 1/2 mile down the dirt road to find it. And so the adventure began.