Day 1

Jackie, Aunt Christine, and Slip drove me to the start of the AT in the morning. That involved going up a mildly treacherous forest road to drop me at the Springer Mountain parking lot. We were all glad we had the Jeep...

The lot is actually north of Springer and the southern terminus of the trail. So I walked .9 miles south to get to the start, only to turn around and walk back to the lot. Jax, Aunt Christine, and Slip were kind enough to walk the first ~.2 miles with me, and then we had to say goodbye. They had a 12.5 hour car trip ahead so understandably needed to leave me to fend for myself. 

I hiked the rest of the way south to Springer. It was gorgeous, even with the overcast weather. I took it all in. So it's official. I've set foot at the trail's starting point and now it's only north from here.

I spent most of the day hiking alone, leapfrogging with the same people, our hiking paces out of sync. That was fine with me as I got used to the rhythm of hiking with a 30 lb pack again. It was a lovely, slightly muddy hike.  I even took a side trail break to see Long Creek Falls.

After seeing the falls, I was taking a break and a big group stopped to chat - Phillip, Doc, Stitches, Sam, and Okee were all solo hikers who had linked up the day before on the 9 mile approach trail to Springer, though you'd have guessed they were friends for years. They were all so friendly and chatty, and I ended up hiking the rest of the day into camp with them.

We stayed at Hawk Mountain campground, newly built by GATC. Okee, the only other lady in the group, and I shared a tent pad and cooked dinner in the rain. It had held off until around 5, but got us right while we were cooking. Just trying to stay as dry as possible. It'll be an early morning to take advantage of the beautiful weather forecasted for tomorrow