We’re really doing this!
This morning, our wonderful shuttle driver showed up bright at early at 7.30am in a souped up Jeep Wrangler to take us to the Springer Mountain Trailhead to begin our section hike.
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We hiked south for a (uphill) mile to get to the southern terminus and it was surreal to stand there and sign our names in the trail register.
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It was about a 9 mile hike today but we ended up doing an extra mile and a half due to taking the Hawk Mountain campsite turn off and not the Hawk Mountain Shelter turn off. Oops.
Weather was cooler than we had expected (and dreaded).
Ran into a few people on the way. Everyone is really chatty and friendly here but we also got warned about some weirdos at this shelter at night so we shall see…
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Surprisingly there are a whole bunch of people here at Hawk Mountain Shelter on a Sunday evening.
Maybe the bears will harass them and not us.
My feet are doing great. I do have pain in my left hip joint and also wearing a tank top is making my arms chafe from the pack. Applying lots of body glide and maybe I can wear my shirt differently tomorrow (unfortunately only packed a long sleeve I want to avoid having to wear).