Day 1

The wifi isn't super fast here so I won't be uploading many photos today but here's how my first few days have gone.
My first trail magic was a woman standing by the side of a nearby road handing out Krispy Kreme donuts and bottles of water. They were quite tasty! The next day I ran into a hiker going the other direction with a fairly light pack but as he neared me he called out, "Would you like an apple or an orange?" I said, "Apple, please and thank you!" and as he handed me the biggest, juiciest apple ever I asked what his name was and he responded, "Dine 'n Dash" and then he proceeded to do just that and took off again.
I also met a few hikers on my way to Justus Creek and we enjoyed a pleasant evening together swapping stories and hanging our bear bags for the first time. The next day was a little shorter so we made it to Lance Creek nice and early. A fellow hiker named Rabbit lit us a fire and we sat around it keeping warm and relaxing a bit. The next day we pushed up Blood Mountain and got some gorgeous views before hitting the steep steps down to Neels Gap which is an outfitter sitting right on top of the AT (great business model and friendly folks to boot).