Today was a tough one. I started at Newfound gap after taking the shuttle from Gatlinburg.
Almost immediately the 8 mile climb to the top of Clingmans Dome begin. With my winter gear and five days of food the pack was very heavy and going was very slow slow.
 I ended up making it only to double spring gap and doing 10 1/2 miles. I met a nice park ranger who gave me permission to stay at the shelter. I also met lots of through hikers and there are also many vacation hikers here as well. I have 13 1/2 miles to do tomorrow to get myself back on schedule.
AT Thru-Hike Stats
Section Day # 1 (4/6/21)
Start — Newfound Gap (207.7)
End — Double Spring Gap (197.2)
Today’s mileage: 10.5
Total section miles: 10.5
Total miles on AT: 985.1
Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding. ― Jimmy Valvano
Puffin's Hike 
I am an old friend of Kristen Mueller’s, a doc myself, and am crazy jealous that you get to hit the AT. I’ve only done 2-4 night backcountry hikes but someday, I’m going to tackle some AT section hikes. I’ll be following along your SOBO month. I hope you have good weather, a bit of extra willpower to make the end of each day’s hike suck a bit less, and all the trail magic that can come your way!!
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