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.
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.
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…
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).