I woke up and got packed up pretty quickly as there was a kind of strange man starting a fire. He had almost no gear but he did have 8 lbs of instant coffee. I made my way to the stairs and it was a really surreal moment. Almost as surreal as seeing the arch for the first time. I’ve never been so determined to do anything as I was to attempt to thru hike the AT. I took a break on each platform during the steps with no shame. I was so proud of myself for being there at all. I could see the excitement when people saw me with my giant pack and they realized what I was doing. It felt so good. I felt on top of the world when I made it to the top of the stairs. I met Brian and his wife Sandy. He’s a Texas Ranger and would be starting not long after me. He saw me struggling and offered to carry my pack to the start of the trail. I let him. First slack pack ✅ I didn’t care.

I finally was on trail and started heading to Springer. I can still feel that jittery excitement from something so foreign but so anticipated a year later. It’s indescribable. It was really foggy and rainy but I didn’t mind. I enjoy the gloomy weather and pretty much nothing could bring me down on this day. I met Fletcher from Australia who was already discussing going home in case the airports shut down due to covid. I felt bad for him. I hiked by myself for the rest of the time unti I made it to Black Gap shelter, making it a 7.3 mile day. I planned on going to Springer but it was raining and once I started to dry off a bit I called it a night. Doug (the kind of strange man from the morning) showed up without Jeff. Apparently his knees were hurting, I never saw him again. Doug told everyone about his 8 lbs of instant coffee. August helped me stake my tent. I went to sleep to the sound of coyotes in the distance.