Day 8: Crossing borders

Plumorchard Gap Shelter - Standing Indian Shelter

Today I walked 12 miles, mostly up.

The weather was beautiful and perfect. Spring is not here yet, but from the viewpoints on the ridges, you can see it happening in the vallies below. It's rising, slowly, up the sides of the mountains. In the trees up here, the buds are swelling. Spring is poised to arrive-- you can feel  it-- even though for now the nights are still cold enough that I need to sleep with my Sawyer filter so that it does not freeze.

We finished Georgia and began North Carolina today. Less than two miles before the border, I ran into Wok and Honey just arriving with trail magic again, so I grabbed a beer, thanked them profusely, and hurried up the mountain to celebrate. Etienne was waiting at the small sign and a few other hikers arrived minutes behind me, and we all shared a single-beer toast to our first completed state on the Appalachian Trail.

My body feels good. A little sore in places, but overall I'm so impressed with it. This is part of why I love backpacking. My attitude transforms from resenting myself and my body for not being "beautiful" enough to congratulating my legs and my lungs for what they can do.