Saturday: left Indiana at 4am, got a shuttle up to Springer Mountain, hiked 2 miles and stayed at the summit campground.
Sunday: hiked 17 miles and camped
Monday: hiked 17 miles and camped
Tuesday: hiked 16 miles in the rain, stayed at a shelter
Wednesday: hiked 19 miles and made it to the hostel
Not to sound pretentious, but of the 5 "thru-hikers" I met, I don't think anyone but me is actually going to make it to Katahdin. 3 hikers were taking a day off because it was raining, and they took 8 days to get to a shelter I passed in 3. 1 women already said she was quitting, just needed to hike to a road to get picked up. And the last young man I met set himself on fire while trying to cook dinner.
Although I'm not at 20 miles per day yet, I'm pretty close and feeling awesome. My legs are solid muscle, my back is feeling strong, and Roxy is putting up with this adventure with an outstanding attitude and perseverance.
The more I hike, the less time I want to spend staring at a bright screen writing about how in love with everything I am, so these posts might get very infrequent. I haven't had reception anywhere in the woods, and even at the hostel I only have wifi.
Like I mentioned before, I like pictures so here are a few from my first 4.5 days on the trail. 
I haven't figure out how to post captions from my phone, so hopefully this works alright. This was sunset on Saturday night. I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. I want someone to pay me to live in the woods and look at pretty sunsets.
Whales on the trail were the best snack ever. Thanks Myranda and Larryn for the best going away gift ever.
Exhausted. Roxy is a champ for putting up with everything I've been asking her to do. She is amazing.
Insects on the trail.
More Arthropoda specimens.
And another arthropod.
Snakes on the trail!
Angry rattle snake.
Having the time of our lives :)
That's awesome. Glad your first 4 days were good. How's the food aspect with Roxy and any tent issues?
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