March 24 2011

After a delicious breakfast at the Hiker Hostel, the shuttle drove us right to the Springer Mountain trail head. I was equal parts nervous and excited. The weather was perfect and after getting dropped off in the parking lot, we began the quick hike to the top of the mountain. On the way up, I began chatting with two dudes who were hiking about the same pace. This was a relief, I didn't want to be hiking the first few days completely alone. We got to the summit and took some pictures, put our real names (none of us had trail names yet) in the trail log and officially began our hike. We wound up and down through pine, and oak trees and past streams and rodedendren thickets. Around 2:00pm we came to the Hawk Mountain Shelter. We decided to stay the night there, but it took some considering because it was such a beautiful day, and we felt good. The shelter was full, so I chose a spot and set up my tent. That first night was a little stressful. I worried something would happen to my gear, or that I had forgotten something. After the tent was set up, I mingled with the people at the shelter. It being the first shelter on the trail there were all kinds of people there and all different ages and hiking abilities. I considered myself of average hiking ability at this point, and my gear was good quality, but never tested on a long distance hike, so I introduced myself and listened. I eventually cooked dinner, I still wasn't very hungry, but it was dinner time. Two ramen later I was ready to hit the hay. That first night was very cold, 25degrees, the cold didn't bother me though. I was up for a number of hours worrying. Worrying I had chosen a foolish thing to do, thinking it was selfish and silly to do this. I knew my mind was playing tricks on me, but when you're 2000 miles from home in the woods with a bunch of strangers, strange things start to creep into your mind. I turned on my cellphone to see if I had reception. None. So I fell asleep.....