Trail day 1 - Prof

And so it begins!

It's so great to finally be out here. After months of preparation and dreaming we finally are on our way. What a day to start with too! It was done raining this morning when we began but stil overcast. We left the hostel we stayed at last night and went to McDonald's for breakfast. We filled up on water and then went off to walk through town to the trail. We got a hitch from an awesome guy named Joe which saved us from a long walk (walking in town is so much worse that on the trail lol) and before we knew it we were waving goodbye and heading up the trail. 

 

We then hiked up hill for almost 7 miles, a brutal climb to start with but worth it when we made it to the top of the ridge. With all the rain they have been getting down here the trail was striped with rivulets. They were so beautiful both to see and also to hear as you approached. I'll be posting a video of some when I get wifi. It's funny how although mother nature can be brutal she rewards you in the end. The rain was a huge pain but the streams and the roar from the few waterfalls we saw made it worth it. 

Eventually we made it into camp at Rice Field Shelter. We turned in early so we didn't push ourselves too hard but I've still spent a majority of my time this evening stretching. This is a beautiful campsite tucked into the trees on a bald ridgline over looking West Virginia. 

 

One drawback is that there isn't water up here and the nearest water is a stream .5 miles back down the hill. We ate lunch and then went back down to fill up on more water. After we returned I took a beautiful nap in the hammock and then got up to talk to the other folks around camp. I talked quite a bit with Mass, Teach, and Rocketman. There are also a couple German guys that are here and we talked a bunch about beer 🍻.  

After watching a beautiful sunset that Doc will be sharing later I crawled into my hammock again. As I wrote this I'm falling asleep to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees, a couple night birds calling, and two coyotes are preparing for their nights hunt in the distance.