Day 3
Hiked today: 3.7
Total hiked: 31.2
I woke up today as soon as it was light enough to see. My entire body was buried in my sleeping bag, my feet were in my pack to keep them warm, and I have all my clothes on and I'm still cold. I grab everything as soon as I can, don't even fold my tent -- I just stuff it in my pack -- and make way for Neely gap through Blood Mountain. This is supposed to be the hardest part of the hike from what I've heard. It's not far, but I took a benedryl to help me sleep (which it did not) but woke up groggy and feeling bad. I ran out of water the night before, and everything I passed was frozen, even the little running water I did find wouldn't fiter through my water filter because THAT was frozen. Everything was frozen in my tent, even my pants. So I push forwards, contemplating whether or not I want to go home (it was that bad of a night.) I pass Blood Mountain shelter which was really nice and had a fire place (wish I stayed there! Would have died if I went the extra mile and a half up-hill though) and though for sure I wasn't at the summit. However I was, took some nice pictures, and made my way down. Got a little turned around, and my knees are shot because it was pretty steep down. I need hiking poles. I was not sure whether I would want them or not, but after today, I need them. Anyway, I make it down and see the glorious Mountain Crossings supplier/hostel. I run inside, buy a water, and tell them I am staying the night. I need a warm and good nights sleep. Alpine (one of the guys who works here) asks if I want to work for stay, so I gladly do so. Not too much todo, but enough to keep busy so I don't fall asleep and mess up my sleep schedule. Here is where I found out I almost had hypothermia, and here is where they tell me I am absolutely crazy for using a 30 degree sleeping bag this early in the year. So as well as getting treking poles to save my knees and legs, I get a pack liner which is essentially a smaller sleeping bag so it should bring me down to a 5 or 10 degree bag. Wearing my clothes when its really cold out, I should be fine. A guy named Pirate lives on the AT, basically at every point, and uses most of his money to helping hikers and mainting the trail. So he had cooked up some wonderful sloppy joes which were free (aside from a tip jar where I threw in a couple dollars) and I started working. Alpine was really nice to me, and helped me out a lot with the gear I am lacking. Gave me a little of a discount too.
Anyway, don't expect anything this long while using my phone. I am on a computer right now which is at Mountain Crossings. So I am going to enjoy a nice hot meal, and a warm bed. Won't be in another town for 5 days or so. Oh yea, and its snowing again. I hope I don't have another kill me moment though. The next few days I'll be going at a slower pace!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Possibly the worst day of my life.
Day 2
Hiked Today: 19.7
Total hiked: 27.5
Sorry I didn't update this earlier, but yeserday was terrible. Started off a little later than I would have liked, left the camp around 9. I wanted to make it to Gooch Gap shelter because the one before that was only like 7 miles away and I wanted some more miles than that. So I decided to go there. The hike to the first shelter wasn't bad, decent weather. I made it there around 1, which again, was later than I would have liked. I decided to push through and go the next 12 miles to Woods Hole shelter. This is when things went bad quickly. It started to rain, nothing unexpected though. Then the higher up I got, the colder it got, and then it started snowing. It was almost all uphill too. I am tired, and fairly wet. I stopped for a few minutes to eat some food (who knew I would like peanut butter so much...) and kept going to try to get there before dark. HA, before dark. There was a couple camp sites on the way after Woody Gap that I could have camped at, but then it really started getting cold, snowy, and very WINDY. So I decided I would have to tough it out to make the shelter to have some protection. Finally, just as it's starting to get dark, I see a sign up ahead. It says the shelter is 1.4 miles. I almost died. I kept going, sore, tired, hungry, and cold. Finally about 8:30 I make it to the shelter, its basically pitch black. I am too tired to eat so I have a few bites and pitch my tent in the shelter to protect me from the howling wind. I use my headphones as ear buds to I try to get some rest, but the howling wind wakes me up every couple of hours. I don't get much sleep and later I find out that I had early signs of hypothermia! I did not think it would get this cold in Georgia! That was a tough night, tiring, cold, wet, just all around a bad day -- so much so, I was ready to come home.
Hiked Today: 19.7
Total hiked: 27.5
Sorry I didn't update this earlier, but yeserday was terrible. Started off a little later than I would have liked, left the camp around 9. I wanted to make it to Gooch Gap shelter because the one before that was only like 7 miles away and I wanted some more miles than that. So I decided to go there. The hike to the first shelter wasn't bad, decent weather. I made it there around 1, which again, was later than I would have liked. I decided to push through and go the next 12 miles to Woods Hole shelter. This is when things went bad quickly. It started to rain, nothing unexpected though. Then the higher up I got, the colder it got, and then it started snowing. It was almost all uphill too. I am tired, and fairly wet. I stopped for a few minutes to eat some food (who knew I would like peanut butter so much...) and kept going to try to get there before dark. HA, before dark. There was a couple camp sites on the way after Woody Gap that I could have camped at, but then it really started getting cold, snowy, and very WINDY. So I decided I would have to tough it out to make the shelter to have some protection. Finally, just as it's starting to get dark, I see a sign up ahead. It says the shelter is 1.4 miles. I almost died. I kept going, sore, tired, hungry, and cold. Finally about 8:30 I make it to the shelter, its basically pitch black. I am too tired to eat so I have a few bites and pitch my tent in the shelter to protect me from the howling wind. I use my headphones as ear buds to I try to get some rest, but the howling wind wakes me up every couple of hours. I don't get much sleep and later I find out that I had early signs of hypothermia! I did not think it would get this cold in Georgia! That was a tough night, tiring, cold, wet, just all around a bad day -- so much so, I was ready to come home.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
It has begun
Day 1
Hiked 2/1: 7.8
Total hiked : 7.8
miles to Katahadin: 2170.5
Hiked 2/1: 7.8
Total hiked : 7.8
miles to Katahadin: 2170.5
So today is the end of day one. It was really nice and fairly warm, sunny skies, and a nice breeze. I only hiked 8 miles to hawk mountain shelter because I started around one. About half way to the shelter I met my first thru-hiker, jeff, who is really nice. Hiked with him to the shelter to meet two more people, one thru-hiker, and one is leaving at the next town. They were nice as well. Besides the frightening close pack of coyotes howling, it was a great first day. Ill be adding pictures daily so look at those!
via BB
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Less than 3 days!
Less than 3 days until I leave. I got a pack upgrade because I needed more room in my pack. I like the new one a lot more than the other one just for organization reasons. Anyway, I have been talking a lot with Survivor Dave who is driving me to Springer and he has helped me out a lot. If anyone needs to get from the Atlanta airport to Springer, contact him. He is very helpful and will pick up any gear you need. http://www.atsurvivordave.com is his website.
Thanks to backcountry.com, I was able to return my old pack, even though I had used it for a month and there was nothing wrong with it other than it not fitting my needs, and get a new one and got credited the full amount I paid for the original!
There is hope once more for completing the whole trail. So we will see when one month comes if I will continue or come home. It may be the former.
This is how communication is going to go:
My phone will be on in the morning for an hour or so. Probably between 8-9, depending on how many miles I plan to do that day. Then in the evening it will probably be on for 3 hours or so. Probably about 6-9. It all depends on sunlight and how many miles I plan to walk. However, My phone will most likely be on 4 hours a day so I can update this, e-mail, and have some sort of connection with the outside world.
So I have everything packed and ready to go. I eagerly await Sunday morning, next post will be from the trail.
Oh, I also went and talked in my brothers grade about the trip as they are studying Lewis and Clark and the teachers thought it would be relevant for me to come in. So hi everyone in 2nd grade!
Thanks to backcountry.com, I was able to return my old pack, even though I had used it for a month and there was nothing wrong with it other than it not fitting my needs, and get a new one and got credited the full amount I paid for the original!
There is hope once more for completing the whole trail. So we will see when one month comes if I will continue or come home. It may be the former.
This is how communication is going to go:
My phone will be on in the morning for an hour or so. Probably between 8-9, depending on how many miles I plan to do that day. Then in the evening it will probably be on for 3 hours or so. Probably about 6-9. It all depends on sunlight and how many miles I plan to walk. However, My phone will most likely be on 4 hours a day so I can update this, e-mail, and have some sort of connection with the outside world.
So I have everything packed and ready to go. I eagerly await Sunday morning, next post will be from the trail.
Oh, I also went and talked in my brothers grade about the trip as they are studying Lewis and Clark and the teachers thought it would be relevant for me to come in. So hi everyone in 2nd grade!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Bummer.
Well all my gear is here, and ready. I tested it up at bear mountain a couple days ago and I was kept warm even in the low 20's. Everything is comfortable and works well! I am very excited.
However, the past couple weeks have been tough. My roomate is leaving which means my girlfriend Hannah and I need to figure out a new living situation. We were contemplating moving to a smaller place for just us and started looking around but everything was terribly small and run down for the price we could afford. So we are going to have to find a new roomate. Chances are it won't be someone in school as it's mid-year. I just hope we don't get anyone weird and creepy. That being said, I won't be able to do the full trip this season. I will probably just do a month of it. It's a bummer because part of the reason I wanted to do the AT was to finish it. Since my flight and transportation is all set up, I am going to have to live with the fact I can't finish. A month will probably get me into the middle of Virginia.
On the plus side, my transportation from the airport to the trail is a guy named "survivor" Dave. Turns out he was an executive chef for 25 years and since I want to go into the food industry, we will have a nice hour long convo about food and hiking. He is planning another thru-hike for 2010. Hopefully I will be able to replan a thru-hike sometime then too (once school is finished.)
Anyway, thats all of the updates for now. I've been asked to talk at my little brothers school because the theme of the 2nd grade class is expeditions and Louis and Clark type stuff and word got around that I am hiking (now part) of the AT and they thought that would be along the lines of their theme. So I will probably be doing that in the next few weeks.
So the bummer is I can't do my planned 4 month thru-hike, but the plus side is I will be able to prepare and practice for it one day. Next post will be the day I leave!
However, the past couple weeks have been tough. My roomate is leaving which means my girlfriend Hannah and I need to figure out a new living situation. We were contemplating moving to a smaller place for just us and started looking around but everything was terribly small and run down for the price we could afford. So we are going to have to find a new roomate. Chances are it won't be someone in school as it's mid-year. I just hope we don't get anyone weird and creepy. That being said, I won't be able to do the full trip this season. I will probably just do a month of it. It's a bummer because part of the reason I wanted to do the AT was to finish it. Since my flight and transportation is all set up, I am going to have to live with the fact I can't finish. A month will probably get me into the middle of Virginia.
On the plus side, my transportation from the airport to the trail is a guy named "survivor" Dave. Turns out he was an executive chef for 25 years and since I want to go into the food industry, we will have a nice hour long convo about food and hiking. He is planning another thru-hike for 2010. Hopefully I will be able to replan a thru-hike sometime then too (once school is finished.)
Anyway, thats all of the updates for now. I've been asked to talk at my little brothers school because the theme of the 2nd grade class is expeditions and Louis and Clark type stuff and word got around that I am hiking (now part) of the AT and they thought that would be along the lines of their theme. So I will probably be doing that in the next few weeks.
So the bummer is I can't do my planned 4 month thru-hike, but the plus side is I will be able to prepare and practice for it one day. Next post will be the day I leave!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
More Gear
Well, the boxes keep coming. I must say, it is fun getting numerous boxes a day of cool stuff. Things I have received are:
My sleeping bag
Back Pack
Boots
Little things
Two shirts - they weigh a 2 and 3 ounces!
baselayer pants
and my mini lantern
I was kind of worried about buying all my stuff online because I can't play with it first and also I have to wait which is something I don't like doing. However, my experiences with the online retailers have been great so far. A majority of my gear came from Backcountry and they have been extremely helpful. Free shipping (over $50) and a lifetime warranty! They say if you ever find something wrong with something they sell you or dislike it for any reason, you can send it back. Thats not 30 days or even 3 months, but for life! So that is why I went with them for a majority of my stuff.
Also when I was searching for some small things like a flint and lightweight rope for my bear bag, I came across Antigravity Gear. I placed a small order with them, and got a call a couple days later. The man I spoke with told me that the order of flint and steels had just come in and they were out of yellows. Since I picked the color at random, it didn't really matter. So just picked red and got my stuff two days later. Actually I missed the package on Saturday so had to wait until I could get it today from the post office. I opened it up and found an extra item. As a 'thank you' for the day or two delay and not having my first color choice for a 1 in piece of plastic, they sent me a bandana with a map of the Appalachian Trail from Maryland to Connecticut on it! I looked on their site and it was the cost of half my order. I thought it must have been a mistake, but e-mailed them and they said it was a gift. Anyway, they were very kind and helpful. I actually just placed another order for a 4.3oz water purification system. So thanks George and Matthew!
My sleeping bag is extremely comfortable and warm. It weighs 1.5 lbs and is rated for 30 degrees F. The top portion is very roomy and large and there is plenty of space for my legs. I want to test all my gear out for real, but can't until finals are over.Once I do test things out for real, I will put my thoughts up so anyone else thinking about doing the trail can get some input.
Pictures of the gear I have gotten so far are up.
My sleeping bag
Back Pack
Boots
Little things
Two shirts - they weigh a 2 and 3 ounces!
baselayer pants
and my mini lantern
I was kind of worried about buying all my stuff online because I can't play with it first and also I have to wait which is something I don't like doing. However, my experiences with the online retailers have been great so far. A majority of my gear came from Backcountry and they have been extremely helpful. Free shipping (over $50) and a lifetime warranty! They say if you ever find something wrong with something they sell you or dislike it for any reason, you can send it back. Thats not 30 days or even 3 months, but for life! So that is why I went with them for a majority of my stuff.
Also when I was searching for some small things like a flint and lightweight rope for my bear bag, I came across Antigravity Gear. I placed a small order with them, and got a call a couple days later. The man I spoke with told me that the order of flint and steels had just come in and they were out of yellows. Since I picked the color at random, it didn't really matter. So just picked red and got my stuff two days later. Actually I missed the package on Saturday so had to wait until I could get it today from the post office. I opened it up and found an extra item. As a 'thank you' for the day or two delay and not having my first color choice for a 1 in piece of plastic, they sent me a bandana with a map of the Appalachian Trail from Maryland to Connecticut on it! I looked on their site and it was the cost of half my order. I thought it must have been a mistake, but e-mailed them and they said it was a gift. Anyway, they were very kind and helpful. I actually just placed another order for a 4.3oz water purification system. So thanks George and Matthew!
My sleeping bag is extremely comfortable and warm. It weighs 1.5 lbs and is rated for 30 degrees F. The top portion is very roomy and large and there is plenty of space for my legs. I want to test all my gear out for real, but can't until finals are over.Once I do test things out for real, I will put my thoughts up so anyone else thinking about doing the trail can get some input.
Pictures of the gear I have gotten so far are up.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
My stuff begins to arrive
Today was the first of many shipments of gear I will be receiving this week and next. Yesterday I got my flashlights and knife at Paragon, but today was the first box. I must say, I do love this tent. Unfortunately it is not a self-standing tent and needs to be staked down for it to be erected. No problem for me -- I just went out into the middle of Stuyvesant Town and pitched it. Its beautiful. You can see the pictures, its incredibly roomy on the inside, quite large from the outside, and the best part? No poles! There are two airbeams on the inside which you inflate. This thing... is awesome. Everyone at Nemo Equipment (where the tent is from) was wonderful and very helpful in advising me what would be best for my needs.
This is a wonderful tent, it's just unfortunate that next weekend is finals week and I have projects to do which means I can't actually test it out. Oh well, in the mean time, it's packed away waiting -- more like calling -- for me to use it.
This is a wonderful tent, it's just unfortunate that next weekend is finals week and I have projects to do which means I can't actually test it out. Oh well, in the mean time, it's packed away waiting -- more like calling -- for me to use it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
