Which it is. More than 2,000 miles of Appalachian Trail separate the two towns.
Coincidentally, the owners of the hostel where I'm staying tonight and the owners of the AT Lodge in Millinocket are bffs. Leigh at Hiker Hostel told me on the way from the Gainesville, GA train station to the hostel how the Millinocket couple [who gave me and the hikers I summitted Katahdin with a ride out of Baxter State Park] helped her and her husband get through the first couple of thru-hiker seasons, in 2004-06.
Here's me today:
I slept last night in 30-60 minute intervals aboard the Amtrak Crescent [NYC to New Orleans] train. I woke up this morning to see red dirt, shacks and a big prison rolling by, by dawn's early light.
The air here feels different. I just ate a pimento cheeseburger.
The well-staffed and amenity-rich hostel is full of folks, and has been for two weeks, they told me. It's fun for me to size the newbies up.
[The mountains among us, from a hill above the hostel]
The Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail courses along the southern end of the Blue Ridge, into the Nantahala range, in what was for thousands and thousands of years Cherokee country.
My favorite explorer, Hernando de Soto, and his men were the first to meet the Cherokee, in the 16th century. The Cherokee and European settlers got along until the Revolutionary War. Relations soured when the Americans waged a slash-and-burn campaign to intimidate the Cherokee from fighting on the side of the British. The Cherokee's story virtually ends with the Trail of Tears march in the 1800s to Oklahoma reservation country.
[Statue of Cherokee in front of the Lumpkin County Courthouse]
Dahlonega claimed fame thereafter as a Gold Rush town.
See:
I have to go because the library is closing. But I'll be back very soon. Happy trails!
-Ink
Hernando de Soto was quite a guy! Bet HIS feet were sore. Take care of yours and "May the force be with you."
ReplyDeleteWow.. I didn't know you had started already. I wish I could be out there again this year. I am reading a book now that I think you would enjoy. It is called undaunted courage and it is about Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clarke and his trip to the Pacific. The first 100 pages talk about his family and his preparations so you can save weight by tearing out those sections. But once his journey begins it gets pretty good. I think it would be a great book for the trip..so wanted to pass on the information. (I would just give you my copy but since I checked it out from the library I probably shouldn't lol)
ReplyDeleteGood luck and have a safe and inspiring journey. Mom and I will follow your travels with great interest, and maybe we can meet you along the trail before you make it back to Harpers Ferry.
ReplyDelete@Mississippi
ReplyDeleteThx for the recommend. Does the book mention anything about Lewis and Clark doing a beermile challenge? :) Hope you're enjoying the Sipsey Wilderness.
@folks
Can't wait to see you in Virginia!