Day One: A Bold Move

Day: 1 (written end of day July 7th), originally shared July 8th, 2020, 8:06pm.

Miles: 69.3 (Springer Mountain to Dicks Creek Gap)

The highs: A few minutes before beginning, sitting by the first blaze on Springer with Jupiter and DH with our headlamps shut off, just waiting for midnight. Cool moment!

The lows: My waterlogged, blistered, zombie feet

Wildlife: Bear cub (it ran away), grown black bear (watched it run away from me at lightning speed down a forested hill- pretty cool!), two toads, three mice, one turtle, one frog.

People: Saw a few other thru-hikers, including a group of young Mennonite women in matching dresses and bonnets carrying big hiker packs.

Cool, overcast, rainy, HUMID day! Everything went swimmingly. Running big miles on the first day is definitely a gamble but we’ll see if it pays off!