2236.

After all the waiting and anticipation, today I actually started. It rained… a lot. Though oddly, it didn’t bother me. It’s probably because I was on a mission to go do it; ascend  Springer and start the Appalachian Trail. It was wet, sloppy, slow. It was perfect.

I was the second person here at the shelter when I got in. The guy here before me was here the night before and decided to avoid the rain and take a zero day. It was nice, I got here early around 3pm and was able to get my tent up and settle in while there was a break in the rain. Hung out in the shelter while more hikers started to roll in one by one. I talked to all of them, and what stood out to me was all the different plans, attitudes, and philosophies about how they approach the trail. My anxieties have quited since yesterday.

I hiked 13 miles in about 5 hours. It was pretty much exactly what I drew up a couple of weeks ago for planning this first day. I feel good physically and hope to carry good vibes into tomorrow. There are 2235 hikers that started before me thus year, let’s see how many I can catch up to.