I have completed 27 years on the AT!
Today officially marked the beginning of my AT thru hike and my 27th year of life. It was quite surreal to embark on such a long trip on my birthday.
The AT teaches you to adjust your plans…
I had originally planned to hike today with my sister and brother-in-law from Amicalola State Park to Springer Mountain to celebrate my first day. However, something came up and they couldn’t accompany me.
Another gentleman who was walking with his friend in his attempt to walk took me to the visitor center. That’s where I got my hiker tag #1554!!! It was great and I like the colors they have this year on the labels, it’s a great memory 🙂
Today was a solo trip and the Springer Mountain access trail is no joke! I always watched documentaries about people hiking and everyone said it wasn’t an easy start! They were right! Especially after climbing the 600 steps to Amicalola Falls, it was brutal. I’m not used to carrying a heavy backpack, I’ll definitely take it easy this first week. 
After arriving at Springer camp/shelter, I set up my tent and made some tuna ramen for some extra protein. I left my bag of food in the bear box at the shelter and chatted with some of the other guys who were there. None of us have trail names yet, but we’re all trying to hike so I’m sure they’ll come in due time.
I experienced my first magical trail that night when a man who works at one of the shelters in North Carolina brought pizza to the shelter. Very grateful to him because he answered many questions and even after we had eaten, I devoured a couple of slices. After that, the lights went out 🙂
thank you for coming to my tent talk 🙂
PS: this was from 03/30 and some of the dates are going to be off, the service has not been excellent hahaha
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