Day 1 off to a good start. We started off at the end point of our hike at Top of Georgia hostel.  Took Joyce and Sally’s shuttle to Springer.  Sally is a 75 year old transplanted mountain girl from St Pete.  Enjoyed the conversation. Derek and I finally hit trail around 1 pm but had to hike a mile to Top of Springer.  The southern terminus. It was a great feeling sitting atop thinking about what lies ahead.  Took a moment to let it sink in and then started our first northbound steps at 2pm.   Weather was perfect.  Took us just over 3 hours to get to our first stop at 7.4 miles in.   Overall not too bad but have some adjustments to make.  Derek has a blister forming and my left hip is raw.  Otherwise pretty good.  Got our tents set up and went off to refill water.  Water everywhere so glad we don’t have to carry as much.   Dinner time and meal choice is chili mac with beef.  I packed 2 bags of this flavor.  Derek went with rice and beans. But not before he spilled his pot of water.  Only for me to follow that up with spilling my bag of chili mac.  So are my second one.  Wrapped up the day and turned in early tonight just to get some extra rest.   Tomorrow will try and double the miles.  

Happy to be on the trail!