Day 0
So Jeff (now two suns) Justin and Preston got here last night and wanted to stay an extra night so I'm waiting with them here. I will resume with them tomorrow.
via BB
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Lazy
Day 0
I didn't feel like hiking much today, so decided to stay just one more day at the outfitters. Worked a little, went into town with Pirate, and now just hanging around. The more I hear about the trail, the more I realize I won't be able to do the whole thing with the amount of money I have. So I will just hang out in towns where I can, try to work for stay and food and see how far my money will take me. Don't really have a planned time of being back to the city now, so I can wander for however long the cash will support me.
Tomorrow I WILL be hiking. It'll be much warmer too. Supposed to be in the mid 60's this weekend. Funny considering it was 5 this morning.
I didn't feel like hiking much today, so decided to stay just one more day at the outfitters. Worked a little, went into town with Pirate, and now just hanging around. The more I hear about the trail, the more I realize I won't be able to do the whole thing with the amount of money I have. So I will just hang out in towns where I can, try to work for stay and food and see how far my money will take me. Don't really have a planned time of being back to the city now, so I can wander for however long the cash will support me.
Tomorrow I WILL be hiking. It'll be much warmer too. Supposed to be in the mid 60's this weekend. Funny considering it was 5 this morning.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
It's cold.
Day 0
I woke up this morning in the hostel, with two heaters, and it was 45 degrees! Pirate turned on the radio and the weather person said it was going to stay windy and cold (it was -10 this morning with the wind, and is probably 0 now) and that it will be warming up and getting less windy tomorrow. So I am working at the store for the day and staying the night again. I like the guys here so it's cool.
Tomorrow I will start walking again.
I woke up this morning in the hostel, with two heaters, and it was 45 degrees! Pirate turned on the radio and the weather person said it was going to stay windy and cold (it was -10 this morning with the wind, and is probably 0 now) and that it will be warming up and getting less windy tomorrow. So I am working at the store for the day and staying the night again. I like the guys here so it's cool.
Tomorrow I will start walking again.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Rest Day
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!
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!
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!
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