The drive is complete. I left town around 8:00 AM with an eight hour drive in front of me. It was pretty uneventful until I hit the Atlanta area when things slowed to a tortoise crawl. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do not know how people can live in an urban environment. Why in the world would you want to spend a good portion of your day in a vehicle! Even the so called HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane was crawling along. It took me almost 2 hours to go the last 34 miles but I did make it.
It is now early Saturday morning and after we do a few things (I'm dropping it in the mail today, Ash) Jim and I will head to Amicalola Falls to start the trail. We had a good time catching up last night and it looks like I have a ride set up from where I decide to end this little hike. I am leaving my car at his place so everything is falling into place. When Jim told me he plan was to do the approach trail I cringed. That trail is a humbler of all aspiring thru hikers and it quickly weeds out the ones that think the Appalachian Trail is a mere jaunt.
It is 8.8 miles long from the start of the approach to the top of Springer Mtn., the "official" start of the Appalachian Trail. I did it in '04 and when I got to the top I wondered what I was doing out here. In '05 I rationalized that since I had already done it I didn't have to do it again! Here I am again but it may , and I use that word loosely, may be better because I am carrying much less pack weigh, body weight and I have hiked. There was one thing I told Jim though. I said the approach trail is kinda like women and childbirth. Very painful and you wonder what the hell but once it is done it recedes from memory and only the good remains.
I think I am going to give birth to a child later today!
I have no agenda or time frame out here this time. I will hike as I please and as fa as I please. Depending on our start time we may stop at the shelter before the top of Springer or push on thru. Either way we are just going to enjoy. I plan on taking it a little slow because I mentioned in m previous post that Moonpie will be in Franklin, NC on the 12th and I want to time my hike so arrive there then.
I do believe there will be a lot of thru hikers starting today and tomorrow. Monday is March 1 and that is one of the heavier star times for those that want to do the long walk to Maine. The weather looks very promising for the next 10 days. The only potentially bad day is supposed to be Tuesday. The temps look yo be in the high 40's to mid 50's during the day and the mid 30's to high 20's at night. I can deal with that! I am packing a LOT of layers. Warmth is my friend and I plan on keeping it a good friend!
So that's it. The day has come. I am ready to roll. I have not really decided how I am going to chronicle this hike yet. format wise. I guess it all depends on what kind of reception I have in the hills and how cold my fingers get while I am typing away up there. No matter what I will get posts to Ash and she will put them up. Here is a special shout out to you Ash ... Thanks for your help and I will see you in May!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The time has come. It is hard to believe that I will be stepping onto the AT for an extended hike 5 years after my thru hike. It is a totally unplanned hike, unplanned in the sense that it was never on my radar until a couple of weeks ago. I have been looking at my A.T Guide (kindly provided by David Miller, aka AWOL) and seeing what I will be walking over again brings back memories so thick I just have to pause. Every shelter, every town, every brushy hill, deep gap, low gap will bring back the memories.
“Dreams aren’t perfect, they can come true, but they aren’t free“. I started my 2005 Trailjournal off with that line and that year the dream came true. Since then there have dreams that have come true yet there are those that I still pursue. How that first one changed my life is something I will never, ever, be able to express in words. Many of you that know me know how I feel and what I feel. The people I have met on the initial hike and since then are closer to me than all those people I met while working in the corporate world. Unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy and I do have to return to the corporate world in order to fund my next hike. However, there is a huge difference now, I can walk away when I want to. They no longer own me and I know I can survive without the “stuff”.
As I type this I have the TV tuned to a movie called “The Astronaut Farmer”. I have not seen it before and again, those of you that know me know I am a big movie freak. This one is about a rancher that builds his own rocket to go into space with. The name of the rocket, “The Dreamer” .. How appropriate! If we decide not to follow our dreams what are we? I am not talking about the monster dreams, follow small one and build to the big ones. There are still a couple in my head that may or may not ever happen, like flying in a fighter (and yes, civilians can do that) but I do know that if I had followed the same treadmill I was on 5 years ago things would be so much more different now.
The weather looks good for the first 5 days of the hike which means that a lot of the snow and ice will melt off. The weather this year has been horrible and I feel for the Southbound (SOBO) thru hikers. Again, for my non hiking friends these are folk that started at Mt. Katahdin, in Maine and hike to Springer. After my season in the Whites was over last year I hiked SOBO with GG for about 3 weeks. We went through Vermont and into Mass. together and the weather was none to nice. As a matter of fact it was darn cold, wet and snowy. I do expect a little more of this kind of weather as I head north from Springer. I will be hiking with Jim, “The Backcountry Bartender” for the first few days. I also found out that Moonpie will be in Franklin, NC on the 12th, about the time I will be in that area. It will be good to see her again. We hiked many miles together on the PCT in ‘08. Sheltowee already sent me a message saying he would pick me up when I get close!
I am in that last minute panic mode making sure I have everything wrapped up before I leave which today will be a hectic one. I've been adding little things to my list of "to get dones" before leaving town. My next post will come from Atlanta if I have time.
“Dreams aren’t perfect, they can come true, but they aren’t free“. I started my 2005 Trailjournal off with that line and that year the dream came true. Since then there have dreams that have come true yet there are those that I still pursue. How that first one changed my life is something I will never, ever, be able to express in words. Many of you that know me know how I feel and what I feel. The people I have met on the initial hike and since then are closer to me than all those people I met while working in the corporate world. Unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy and I do have to return to the corporate world in order to fund my next hike. However, there is a huge difference now, I can walk away when I want to. They no longer own me and I know I can survive without the “stuff”.
As I type this I have the TV tuned to a movie called “The Astronaut Farmer”. I have not seen it before and again, those of you that know me know I am a big movie freak. This one is about a rancher that builds his own rocket to go into space with. The name of the rocket, “The Dreamer” .. How appropriate! If we decide not to follow our dreams what are we? I am not talking about the monster dreams, follow small one and build to the big ones. There are still a couple in my head that may or may not ever happen, like flying in a fighter (and yes, civilians can do that) but I do know that if I had followed the same treadmill I was on 5 years ago things would be so much more different now.
The weather looks good for the first 5 days of the hike which means that a lot of the snow and ice will melt off. The weather this year has been horrible and I feel for the Southbound (SOBO) thru hikers. Again, for my non hiking friends these are folk that started at Mt. Katahdin, in Maine and hike to Springer. After my season in the Whites was over last year I hiked SOBO with GG for about 3 weeks. We went through Vermont and into Mass. together and the weather was none to nice. As a matter of fact it was darn cold, wet and snowy. I do expect a little more of this kind of weather as I head north from Springer. I will be hiking with Jim, “The Backcountry Bartender” for the first few days. I also found out that Moonpie will be in Franklin, NC on the 12th, about the time I will be in that area. It will be good to see her again. We hiked many miles together on the PCT in ‘08. Sheltowee already sent me a message saying he would pick me up when I get close!
I am in that last minute panic mode making sure I have everything wrapped up before I leave which today will be a hectic one. I've been adding little things to my list of "to get dones" before leaving town. My next post will come from Atlanta if I have time.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
It begins anew
Since my last update there have a couple of changes in the plans. To make a long story short I quit the job I had. It was an agonizing decision but something I had to do for my mental and physical well being. The agonizing part is that it may put a cramp in the plans for this winter. There is a financial goal I want to reach before I head to New Zealand and I may not reach that goal before December. If I don’t reach it then I will work through the winter and start The PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) in late April and then head to New Zealand after that. It will still allow for the endless summer but in reverse. I want to make sure I have enough money saved to do both adventures without having to agonize over every penny spent.
I have discussed this with Ash and if she doesn’t reach her goal then she will do the same. If she does reach it then she may head over to NZ and then meet up for the PCT. Again all of this depends on timing, money, and health. I do know that I will be on the PCT next year no matter what. That trail and I have a little score to settle!
I will be returning to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for another season of caretaking this summer. There isn’t a lot of time before I would have to head up there and I do have a work ethic. I do not want to approach a new employer, get a job, and leave with 6 weeks or so. It isn’t fair to them and goes against my morals. So, what do I do in the meantime. I have enough money to live on till I head up north and some saved for the journey. If I stay in town it costs more to live and I do not want to dip into the trip fund. If I go hike I can live for way cheap so guess what .. I am going to go hike!
On the 26th of February I am going to head to Atlanta where my friend, known as the “Backcountry Bartender” is going to give me a ride to Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. From there I am going to hike north for awhile, meaning that I will hike till it is time to head to NH. When I find out my exact start date of work I will head back to Atlanta, grab my car, and head to NH. The normal season for the Whites job starts toward the end of May but I may have some work there before the actual start of the season so my start date may vary. I figure this gives me about at least 2 months on the AT.
For any new readers, I did hike the entire AT in 2005. That year I left in mid March and after 2 months I was in Atkins, Virginia, 538 miles into the trail. Things have changed a lot since then. I am more experienced, weigh a lot less and can do double digit miles without thinking about it. In 2005 it took us 3.5 days to get to Neels Gap, Ga. Now, if I wanted to I could probably hit it in 2 days. I was talking with Clearwater the other day, a friend I met in ‘05 and have hiked many miles with. He says, “Cuppa, you could be in Waynesboro before you finish.” Waynesboro is the town just before the start of the Shenandoah’s. 853 miles into the trail. I laughed and said it would be cool because there is some pretty hiking in Virginia. No matter where I end up I plan on having fun.
One thing that hit me just before I start typing this up. Here I am heading back to the AT for a pretty substantial hike albeit not a thru-hike and this year is the 5th anniversary of the complete hike of the AT in ‘05. That kinda slapped me with an “Oh wow!” because I had not even though of that before.
Anyway, I will be keeping a journal of my hike on this blog. Ash has kindly accepted to be my transcriber (Ash, I know how you can write so feel free to add snide and cutting comments anytime you like into the entries J ) and another friend, Caitlin has offered to be backup. I will write daily updates though I may not be able to send them each day. No matter what they will eventually be posted. I have kept my journals from previous years on “Trailjournals.com” but I am posting on the blog for this one. I want to use trail journals for thru-hikes and attempted thru-hikes. That means my attempt of the PCT again next year will be on Trailjournals. I do hope you all follow along and I hope to be able to tell you a good story along the way!
I have discussed this with Ash and if she doesn’t reach her goal then she will do the same. If she does reach it then she may head over to NZ and then meet up for the PCT. Again all of this depends on timing, money, and health. I do know that I will be on the PCT next year no matter what. That trail and I have a little score to settle!
I will be returning to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for another season of caretaking this summer. There isn’t a lot of time before I would have to head up there and I do have a work ethic. I do not want to approach a new employer, get a job, and leave with 6 weeks or so. It isn’t fair to them and goes against my morals. So, what do I do in the meantime. I have enough money to live on till I head up north and some saved for the journey. If I stay in town it costs more to live and I do not want to dip into the trip fund. If I go hike I can live for way cheap so guess what .. I am going to go hike!
On the 26th of February I am going to head to Atlanta where my friend, known as the “Backcountry Bartender” is going to give me a ride to Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. From there I am going to hike north for awhile, meaning that I will hike till it is time to head to NH. When I find out my exact start date of work I will head back to Atlanta, grab my car, and head to NH. The normal season for the Whites job starts toward the end of May but I may have some work there before the actual start of the season so my start date may vary. I figure this gives me about at least 2 months on the AT.
For any new readers, I did hike the entire AT in 2005. That year I left in mid March and after 2 months I was in Atkins, Virginia, 538 miles into the trail. Things have changed a lot since then. I am more experienced, weigh a lot less and can do double digit miles without thinking about it. In 2005 it took us 3.5 days to get to Neels Gap, Ga. Now, if I wanted to I could probably hit it in 2 days. I was talking with Clearwater the other day, a friend I met in ‘05 and have hiked many miles with. He says, “Cuppa, you could be in Waynesboro before you finish.” Waynesboro is the town just before the start of the Shenandoah’s. 853 miles into the trail. I laughed and said it would be cool because there is some pretty hiking in Virginia. No matter where I end up I plan on having fun.
One thing that hit me just before I start typing this up. Here I am heading back to the AT for a pretty substantial hike albeit not a thru-hike and this year is the 5th anniversary of the complete hike of the AT in ‘05. That kinda slapped me with an “Oh wow!” because I had not even though of that before.
Anyway, I will be keeping a journal of my hike on this blog. Ash has kindly accepted to be my transcriber (Ash, I know how you can write so feel free to add snide and cutting comments anytime you like into the entries J ) and another friend, Caitlin has offered to be backup. I will write daily updates though I may not be able to send them each day. No matter what they will eventually be posted. I have kept my journals from previous years on “Trailjournals.com” but I am posting on the blog for this one. I want to use trail journals for thru-hikes and attempted thru-hikes. That means my attempt of the PCT again next year will be on Trailjournals. I do hope you all follow along and I hope to be able to tell you a good story along the way!
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