I've been leading up to this part of the trip for a while but I was still surprised how excited I was to get back on the AT. The weather was gorgeous, I was in shape and this was the opportunity I'd been waiting for to do Georgia over again ever since my thru-hike in 2001. Even so, this was the first time since '01 that I had truly wanted to hike the whole thing again. Knowing which summits to camp on. Knowing which shelters are likely to be crowded. And knowing where the tough spots were and my capabilities just completely transformed the entire experience. Despite starting on a very popular starting date, I really had the trail to myself for the first few days since new hikers tend to cling to the shelters for the first few days until they become more confident. It's been even better than I'd hoped for and leaving for the last leg on the Mountains-to-Sea trail will be hard. Even so, I had started to max out on hiking in New Zealand and it's nice to really be in love with hiking again.