Day 1: The Start

And so we begin.

On top of Springer with Sam. The nice weather didn't last long.

We threw out what little things remained at our apartment in Asheville and took off for the trailhead in Dean's car, listening to tapes of obscure goth metal bands while Dean and Sam looked for the best place to get boiled peanuts. Big thanks to both of you, we love you dearly.

Upon arrival at Springer Mountain's parking lot (let it be known that the seven mile dirt road up to this particular parking lot is scary as all get out and we almost died multiple times), we found that we had to backtrack 0.9 miles to the official terminus on top of Springer... So we did. Dean and Sam came along and when we got to the top, Dean heard a lady talking about Oklahoma, so just to irritate the bejesus out of us and force conversation, he loudly exclaimed something about me, Stevie, and Cheyanne being from Oklahoma, to which the stranger immediately asked, "Where in Oklahoma?!" I replied that I was from Norman, and turns out so was she... In fact, turns out I danced with her daughter when I was in the 3rd grade in front of the entire school to the "Copa Cabana". You know, the cheeseball song by Barry Manilow.

Wow, so embarrassing.

As of this moment I'm laying down in my newish Zpacks Hexamid on a polychro groundsheet, slowly sliding on my sleeping pad toward the bottom left corner. This is not a very fun way to spend the first night in my new tent, but hey, that's the price you pay for not testing it. Not so far away are the muffled voices of Cheyanne and Stevie, who periodically throw things at me just to make sure I'm not asleep yet. Further in the distance is the low roar of a water fall, Long Creek Falls to be exact. They're located about 150 steps off trail five miles in.

Waterfalls near out first camp site.

It's going to rain tonight. And then tomorrow. And then the next day. And the next day. And the next day. Or at least the forecast says so. But today was nice, so I'll dwell on that tomorrow when I'm wet and tired and starting to turn into a human sized prune. Or maybe tonight when I get hella wet cause I set up my tent in a whack spot that collects hella water. Only time will tell I guess.

Regardless, life is good.

It's feels so surreal that we're out here doing this, and I can't really wrap my mind around the fact that we're walking to Maine, but I think that will fade in time as I adapt to my life living in the woods.

Until next time,
Colton