March 18 (Day 1) - The Approach Trail

While camping in Boy Scouts, we would send the new scouts around to other campsites, looking for a left-handed smoke-shifter, a glass hammer, a sky hook, or any other imaginary item that we could devise.  The hazing was all in good fun, though.

I feel as if I've fallen victim to hazing, now, and there was nothing fun about it.  I was told that the approach trail shouldn't be missed, that it is part of the A.T. experience.  The approach is less of a hiking trail and more of strapping 50 lbs to your back and getting on a stairmaster.

I'd like to say that my day got better, but as I was setting up camp on Springer Mountain, there was a freak storm.  Pelted with hail and sleet, my tent was knocked over, and I was drenched.  I packed quickly, as I didn't want to become a lightning rod with my tent poles and trekking poles, and I ran to a nearby shelter.
I spent the night in the shelter, shivering in my sleeping bag on a hard wooden floor.  To be honest, I was terribly homesick, and my first thought at daybreak was to find a hotel.