March 2nd - Day 1

The first day on the trail was delightful. The 0.9 mile hike to the summit of Springer Mountain with the entire family had potential to be stressful but they were all troopers and I had a great time. Once the goodbyes and tears from the family were done with, I was on my way.

the whole family at the start of the 0.9mi hike up Springer Mountain, GA

conga line to the summit of Springer Mountain

Sofia and I ascending Springer Mountain

Even Heidi was in on it. She loves hiking!

Finally chipping away at the 2175 miles to Mt. Katahdin and there was a huge smile on my face. We started late, somewhere around 11:30 but Sofia and I were motivated to skip the first shelter at Hawk Mountain which would have been at 8.1 miles. Gooch Mountain Shelter, the next shelter, was a 15.6 mile hike. We were not positive it was a great idea but I had the adrenaline to take on the task. Only about 5 miles in on a snowy day with steady flurries falling we ran into the first act of trail magic. The people from The Georgia Adventures Group had a canopy style tent with hot tomato soup and cheese sandwiches and also other goodies. They were the nicest people and happen to also be from Roswell, Ga, my hometown. After I said thank you about 100 times, we were off again and my morale was super high but that didnt last all the way to Gooch Mountain Shelter. After mile 11, I was dead, Sofia and I had nothing left in the tank, my knees were cramping and my pace was much slower than the beginning but we wanted to make it. Almost at sunset, around 5:30, we saw the shelter. We had made it, almost 16 miles the first day made me feel very good about myself and Sofia. The night was well in the teens with wind chill around 0, one of my fellow thru hikers informed me in the morning. I wasn't too cold at night but the morning was awfully cold and windy.

Springer Mountain summit

the official photo

So amazing!!