Do or do not, there is no try

RDay 1 6 miles 1017 ft up 745 feet down.

Hot sauce and sickness

Flight from Asheville to Newark. Then sickness hit us. The headline said it will be hotter in Vermont than Miami. The doctor said Knockerz has pneumonia. Another doctor said Darkside has bronchitis. A great way to start?

A train to NYC, 2 subway train rides to Grand Central Station, then Metro North train directly to the AT. Off we go 3 days later than planned.

It turned that with those days of downtime recovering from sickness we were able to catch the last train out in New York City that stops directly on the Appalachian trail.

The conductor letting us out of the back of the train said the stop was not going to be available from July to September. If we did not get the sick delay we would have missed that opportunity to get off at that iconic one door station. Plus we missed the worst of the heat wave.

As in life what seemed like a curse getting sick turned into a blessing.

As we started it’s was a hot day walking through the fields. We’ve got our first climb ahead which Knockerz struggled on. Her hips have been messed up so the climbs are rough on her.

It’s so surreal being out here and seeing first hand all this iconic stuff that I’ve only seen in pictures here on the Trek.

Even with all the research and planning we did we are making so many my newbie mistakes. Although we have been through the pack so many times the weight is too much. We gotta shed some gear and dial in our food and water carries.

At the start of this hike many have people have referred to imposter syndrome. I too now feel that. Once I started walking through this first pasture my fears disappeared and I set my mind on moving forward. I can’t believe I’m here I can’t believe I’m starting this journey.

The climb was tough on us and we took several extended breaks. We stopped at the wrong water source about a mile from Wylie shelter. I’ve got to do a better job monitoring Farout. I’ve carried too much water in the wrong places.

We arrived at Wiley Shelter in time to set up and cook a meal. It’s been a hot day we’ve only done six miles but we are still motivated.

Thank you to our trail angel family for hosting us while we recovered. Today was the day. We missed hike naked day by one day but we got to get off the train directly on the AT in Pawling.

God is good.