Get in the groove

  Finally it was a couple of days of what I had been looking for. The night air still had a chill but, the days were great for hiking. When the sun would dip behind a cloud and the breeze would kick up you had to make the decision of stopping for a light jacket, or pushing on until the sun would give you some rays.

  With my schedule of late rising and early stops I had managed to get behind the early crowd of hikers. I was able to get a couple of days of that wilderness experience I wanted. I was able to stop and camp away from the shelters, where the forest was my own. I was able to enjoy the sounds at night, and the wake up call of the early morning birds. I had managed to somewhat get my trail legs and was ready for whatever the trail would bring.

  It was so nice to look at the upcoming hills and not worry if I would make it to the top. I knew I would make it, even if I did take longer than some of the “professional” hikers. I did notice however that the forest was a little quieter than I had imagined. It was still early in the year and the sounds of crickets and tree frogs were absent. It left the night sounding still. Every little creature stirring in the leaves sounded large when trying to sleep. My first night camping alone, I was excited and a little scared. If something were to happen I would have no way to take care of it. It was just a personal fear I had to overcome though. I made it safely through that first night, and had a great outdoor experience all the way to Hiawassee.

Natural Spring with great tasting water.

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

A quiet day

The first days on the trail you can’t help but have many thoughts vying for attention. You have all the concerns of the “real life” that seem to stay in the back of your head and nag you. You also have the concerns of the trail jumping around in there. You begin to wonder how your body is going to hold up, and the ever-present worries of making to Katahdin before time runs out.

  You have become accustomed to outdoor living and a schedule begins to form for your days. You have an average time to wake, your average time to pack, and a time to start hiking. I found at this point that I was not as worried about the waking and hiking time. It was a relief to be able to do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it.

  After leaving the hostel was the first time that I truly enjoyed a full day of hiking. I was getting further away from Springer, which meant less time wondering if I would call for a ride home. I had talked to Melanie, one of my best friends and ground support for the hike, and made arrangements to be picked up in Hiawassee. Only a couple of days to go and I would run back to Atlanta for the weekend. I would be able to resupply at a regular grocery store, do my laundry, and enjoy some time with my friends.

  My mind was at ease, and I had a great hike that day. It was a little depressing that the trees were still leafless, and there was no foliage out, but it gave me a chance to look around at the hills and see some of the environment around me. Later in the trail when the forest wakes, the trail becomes what is commonly called “The Green Tunnel”. It basically means that you can't see much beyond the trail you are hiking, as the leaves form a tunnel around you, and are too thick to see much of the environment beyond.

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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

Blood and bears

 Blood Mountain, the highest point in Georgia on the AT is a beautiful mountain. On top there is a stone shelter that has wonderful views of the surrounding area. It was the last shelter before coming to Mountain Crossings, and marked the end of the mandatory bear canister ordinance.

 There have been issues with bears around this area in Ga. so all hikers were required to carry a bear canister if they were planning on staying on the trail from Jarrad Gap through to Neels gap. I don’t remember the exact mileage now but it was something like 5-7 miles. I along with many other hikers decided to just hike through the section and stay at Mountain Crossings, without having the additional cost of getting a bear canister.

  This point on the trail is a heavy use area, as it is only about a mile hike from Mountain Crossings. I had my usual late start the morning I climbed up the mountain. When I arrived the skies were clear and you could see for miles from the top of the rocks that surround the shelter. There were so many people and they all smelled like dryer sheets. I took a few minutes to rest and enjoy the view. I tried to find a place to enjoy the last of the recreational incense I had with me, to no avail.

  After getting accustomed to the odor of the forest the smell of perfume and dryer sheets stand out. One is able to tell a day-hiker from a mile away. It’s no mistake that there are few animals in these heavily used areas. If I could tell from a distance that they were day-hikers, I can only imagine how far away an animal with better senses can tell they were there. The only animals around are the ones that are expecting to get a free snack from one of the multitudes of people. This is also why there has been an issue with bears in the area.

  When you are out for a hike and you see the signs about feeding the bears, please pay heed to what they say. You may think that your snack is only a small amount and would make no difference in the grand scheme of things, but try to tell that to the people that were sleeping in the shelter one night when a bear came inside looking for food. The sense of smell on the average black bear is so good that it can smell a snickers bar from 3 miles away, so please carry out the trash from the things you have carried in.

  Careful on your way down the mountain, the trail gets a little tricky. After leaving the shelter area, the blazes are hard to follow. I couldn’t see where to go, so I thought I would wait for one of the more “professional”, hikers to come along. I stopped briefly to talk with some others that were enjoying the view. It wasn’t long and another thru-hiker walked by with confidence and I knew it was my chance to find the way down the mountain. I fell in step behind him and we went along down the hill. I tried to give him a little room to enjoy his hike, but I didn’t want to fall too far behind. It was about 5 minutes later when I rounded a curve in the rhododendron bushes that I seen him standing there with a bewildered look on his face. We had followed a water run-off, thinking it was the trail. The run-off had taken us a good distance down the mountain, then left us with an abrupt dead end. In a heavy accent he asked if we were on the trail. Another doubleback, and a few more hikers later and we both found our way down to the hostel.

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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

Trail legs

If you are not used to hiking it can be a painful experience. The first couple of days out you will begin to notice aches and pains in muscles you didn’t even know you had. You will have cramps and muscle tension, allergies and headaches, and unknown pangs of hunger. It is all a part of getting used to the new life you will be living, and commonly referred to as getting your trail legs.

  You can expect the first few days out to find new places on your body. Places and muscles you never knew were there. Luckily, it will all settle in a matter of days. After a couple of mountains your legs will begin to accommodate the new weight distribution, and the pains will start to go away. When you wake in the morning and your legs do not feel like a knotted piece of meat you have achieved your trail legs. My problem with this phenomenon was that I was still in Georgia, and had many friends near. As I began to get my trail legs I would find an excuse, or a friend that would take me off the trail for the weekend. It  was great to see the friends and spend some time back in civilization, but I would inevitably regret it when I returned to the trail. I heard stories that after getting your trail legs your mileage would increase. I wasn’t that lucky though. I was so interested in what the forest had to offer. I would take many of the side trails, known as blue blaze trails. Blue blaze trails are the other trails you come across and get their name from the fact that they are marked with….. you guessed it…. A blue blaze instead of a white blaze.

 There are also times when a hiker may take one of these blue blazed trails instead of the A.T. to reduce the amount of miles they  travel that day, and still end up somewhere on the A.T. When a hiker decides to do this it is commonly referred to as “Blue Blazing.” If you get off the trail and hitch a ride to get farther up the trail it is called “Yellow Blazing”. There are several other blazing types around and I’m sure  to get into those later. In case you haven’t read the earlier entry, a blaze is a 2” x 6” mark usually found on trees and rocks. These marks will guide you along the trail you wish to follow. The Appalachian trail is the only one with a white blaze.

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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

Mountain Crossings

The only building the Appalachian Trail goes through is a combination outfitter and hostel. WalasiYI at Mountain Crossings. They are some of the most important people you will meet on the trail. Along with running the outfitter and having a quaint hostel, they offer a service that is so very valuable. They will help you go through your pack and get rid of the things that you really do not need.

  Everyone will have their luxury items that they want to carry and most will have many items they thought they couldn’t live without. This is where the staff comes in to help. They will help you take everything in your pack and organize it, and reduce the weight of your pack to something that is reasonable for the trail. Winton Porter, the owner, has a great book that can tell the story better than I could “Just Passin Thru”.

  Here I lost about half of my budget. If you recall I only had about 900 dollars to start with. I needed a tent and a rain jacket (and should have gotten a better water carrying system). The prices they had for the things I needed were fantastic, compared to some of the prices I seen online for the same items. After the tent and coat and a nights stay in the hostel, and a few other essential snacks and things, I had spent almost 500 of the 9 I left with.

  I had a great time at the hostel. I was able to meet some of the trail legends as they were there to help Winton with the influx of hikers that were beginning to show up already. A local church had come to the hostel and prepared dinner for all the thru-hikers. It was fantastic to get some fresh veggies and real meat, you know the kind that doesn’t come in a vacuum sealed foil pouch. A couple hours to get cleaned up and inspect the new gear, followed by an evening of sitting outside having a few brews and hearing stories from the seasoned hikers that were around, were well worth every penny I spent.

  My pack was considered huge by today’s standards; however I felt much better after testing the weight on the scale and finding that it was only 42 pounds with 5 days food and a liter of water. The man behind me, called Hawkeye at the time, had a 70 pound pack. It made me feel good to know that I was not the heaviest of them all.

  I could not believe how good a hot shower could feel. After a week on the trail my senses had dulled and the grime had become commonplace. It wasn’t until I had the shower that I realized how dirty this whole hiking thing could be. Of course this is something you get used to as time goes by. Not saying you have to be grungy, as there are plenty of places to rinse off the dirt, but it is a different standard out there.

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

Keep it real

  Keeping the environment clean is a main concern for many people. While one is hiking it is even more important that you leave no trace of your impact on the woods and shelter areas. There are so many people that are out on the trail, and comparatively only a few volunteers that are keeping it clean. “Pack it in - Pack it out”

  It is very important to not leave anything behind when hiking the trail. With so many people out there it would be a horrible mess if we did not clean up behind ourselves. One can tell when approaching a heavily used section of the trail. First the trail will be more compact, next the trail becomes wider and will begin to have bits of glass scattered about. Not long after that there will be old metal cans and bottles lying around, and the trail will be littered with snack wrappers. This can be quite disappointing after a few days of being out in nature. All this trash is just a reminder of the damage humans are having on the planet.

  There are several volunteer groups along the trail that try to keep it clean. Most of these volunteers will walk in with a trash bag and pick up what they can. The problem is, they have to walk and carry the trash out by hand. Sometimes they are doing this by hiking the same hills that will make you question your resolve on hiking the trail. There are many sources of information on what you can do to Leave No Trace (LNT) out there and I highly recommend that if you plan on hiking the trail, reading up on the subject.

  One thing you can expect on the trail is some zealot attitudes on LNT. When it comes to burning trash there are differences in opinion. Burning trash can lead to toxic things being released in to the air, on the other side, is it better to burn them or let them go to a landfill and sit for thousands of years

. Early in the trip there are so many people, many of whom have never hiked before. They have read all the books, looked at all the sites and blogs, and will be out there with a holier than thou persona on the aspects of LNT. It can be quite annoying, especially at the start when you are hiking with so many people around you. It is commonplace to hear people around a campfire arguing over the landfill/toxic air points. Here is where I should tell you to be good and pack everything out. ”Do I say, not as I did”. If there was no residue trash left behind in the fire pit I had no problem with burning. There is nothing worse than to see a fire pit full of half burned trash. It is unsightly, and very messy to clean up. Keep it simple and keep it clean.

Some great info on breast cancer: HERE

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

an average menu

Following is an average menu for a day on the trail


Breakfast: 2 packs of instant oatmeal and 2 pop tarts

Lunch: either a pack of ramen noodles or 2 peanutbutter (with or without honey) on a tortillas

Dinner: 1 pack tuna, 1 pack knorr noodle or rice side (sometimes with a ramen or a pack of instant potatoes mixed in) 

Snacks: 1-2 quart bags of trail mix or G.O.R.P. ( "good old raisins and peanuts")


A menu like this is fine at the beginning of the hike, but as you travel farther most people will generally add at least another dinner type of meal to the day


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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

The shelter dance

Early morning and the sun has just topped the horizon. A loud hiss of air escaping a mattress is usually one of the first things you hear.

  You have a selection of people that rise with the sun. Though they will, most times, try to be respectful but you cannot escape the sound of a mattress being deflated. That is usually how I would be woken up. After one person gets moving then it is a domino effect for just about everyone else in the shelter. The early risers will have already had breakfast, and have most of their belongings packed. Others will take the cue and start to prepare for the hike they will encounter that day. I usually just stayed in my bag and watched the tenacious ones as they try to keep from bumping into one another.

  Some are trying to get their sleeping pads put away, others are trying to find their stove and get breakfast made. Very few, like me, would just sit and watch as the others are weaving in and out of each others way. It can be an entertaining way to start the day. I called it the shelter dance, as the progression of events begin to look like a modern waltz.

  A great time in the morning listening to the plans of where the others are planning to be, what time they expect to get there, and sometimes a brief description of what their life used to be before they started the trail. They all try to be quiet at first, but after noticing that everyone is stirring it becomes quite noisy. One person is stepping out of the way so the other can grab a rogue piece of equipment that managed to make its way across the shelter.

  I would lay there in my sleeping bag and wait. It would take a couple of hours but eventually they would all leave and I would talk myself into getting ready. So early in my trip and I already knew there was no sense in trying to hurry out. I wanted to have the trail to myself while hiking and if you leave with a crowd you hike with a crowd. I would wait and when they were well on their way out I would get around and take my time to enjoy what the morning had to offer. I would take my time packing and have a few cups of coffee. Breakfast for me was usually a couple packs of instant oatmeal and a pop tart or two, so by the time I was ready to hike the sun had a chance to warm the morning breeze.

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

What's in a name?

 

I was of to a great start! Day three in the woods and I still have enough provisions to make it past the first town. At least I thought I did.

  One of two things I did not pack was something to carry extra water with. I knew that in the south there were plenty of streams and springs, so I thought a cup would be enough for me make it to the first store on the trail. I was luck that someone had left a liter neoprene bottle at the shelter. A quick rinse and a god-awful long time with my tiny water pump to fill it, and I was off on my adventure for the day. If only I could remember to pick up that water bottle.

  I was nearly ½ mile away from the shelter when I noticed it. I had left both the neoprene and my cup back on the shelter table. For the first of many times I had to turn around and get them. If I had remembered either one of them I would have carried on, but without either of them I was fated to go back. I was hoping that at the next shelter I would be able to return the bottle to its rightful owner, and if they were beyond that then I would claim the bottle until someone mentioned it. Without much adieu, I dropped my pack and used a brisk pace to get what I left behind. I thought this would be a good lesson, and I would remember to make a “dummy check”, before I left camp from here on out.

  A few hikers passed me with a questioning look on their face. When I returned to my pack there were a couple of guys just passing curiously by. I gave them a quick run-down on the circumstances and they enjoyed a mild bit of laughter at my mistake. I donned the pack and we hiked together for the rest of the afternoon. This time, I made it a whole 10 steps before I realized that I had left the water bottle sitting on the ground. 

  Lunchtime came around, we stopped and prepared our trail food and took a few pictures of the natural beauty around us. A quick trip behind a tree to take care of business, and I found the second thing I was not prepared for. It was day three and I did not realize that I could use that much toilet paper. Luckily there was a little town not far off the trail coming up. I had plenty of food, all the cold gear and supplies I needed except that one critical thing. As I am terribly allergic to poison ivy, the gathering of leaves for that purpose was just out of the question. I resigned myself to the 2 ½ mile hike into town when I hit the upcoming road. We packed our gear back up and off we went. 50 yards and I went back for the water. More lighthearted laughter filled the air as I turned around.

 As time goes by, you turn inside and the conversation will drop. You find yourself staring at the ground before your feet, and before you know it a mountain has come and gone. There are some hikers that will never see the beauty of the trail, as they are determined to get their miles in and barely even look up at the forest around them, so it was for me that day. The road appeared below my feet and without even looking up I turned to walk the couple of miles to the closest convenience store.

  You hear that it is easy to hitch a ride in the south you couldn’t prove it by me though. About an hour of hiking on the road and the store was in sight before someone stopped to offer me a ride. I made a quick trip in and out of the store, stopped and enjoyed a snickers and a soda, and then hiked right back up the hill with no offer of a ride. Yay, I had my toilet paper, I was ready to go. I looked up ahead to make sure I was on the right trail, and there was a huge Forest Service privy right there on the trail. I stopped to get rid of the soda and a quick peek in the men’s room revealed 6 industrial sized rolls of toilet paper. Tired of walking already I stopped for a break and to vent my frustration of the side trip.

  It wasn’t long before I ran into my two companions as they had stopped for an afternoon break. I stopped to briefly tell them of my adventure and we ended up in conversations of the world. One man was an ex-police officer who was planning a thru hike for 2013. He had taken a vacation and was out to hike for a few days to make sure his pack was prepared. As I approached he noticed right away that I had yet again left my water bottle on the picnic table down by the road. They agreed to watch my pack, another quick run and I returned. Everybody grabbed their pack and after a good-hearted reminder to pick up my bottle we were off. The ex-cop turned to me as we began to set off and said, “We are gonna call you DoubleBack”.  I looked at him and said “Well, since you can’t make it to Kathadin this year, I will take your name up there”. 

DoubleBack was a trail name that I would learn to live up to in the coming months.

 Breast Cancer early detection, Why and When.......HERE

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

I got the fever

 If you are planning a future hike of the Appalachian trail I have one strong piece of advice. NO matter what it takes, how long you are there, or what the weather may bring, get out of Georgia before you quit.

  I didn’t realize until well into my hike how much elevation change there was in Ga. I was so aggravated that I would spend one or two hours climbing a hill, then with nothing much to look at go right back down. Even with no foliage around the views were not much to look at. Standing on the bottom of a hill looking up a couple of thousand feet is hard. Climbing up the hill and your heart feels like it is going to jump out of your chest is scary. When the muscles in your leg feel like they are tearing into pieces, your lungs feel like sandpaper, and there isn’t anyone around to hear you complain, it can be a total mental breakdown. Stop, take a break. 

  Too many people, in my opinion, get what I call “Mileage Fever”. They have their trip planned out for every day and they have planned to do more than their body will accept at the beginning. When they don’t make that 17-20 miles they planned on day 2, they start calculating how many extra miles they will need tomorrow. They go through their entire plan to make sure they will get to Katahdin when they planned it. You can hear them all the way along the trail from beginning to end, worried about how many miles they will have to cover today, tomorrow, this week, next month. They get so worked up over the mileage they start believing they will never make it. Many of them, unfortunately, will believe what their mind has got so worked up about and quit the trail. It will start out optimistically. “Only 13 miles a day to make it on time”, quickly it becomes fearful, “I can’t manage to get 18 miles every day”. I made it on an average of 9.62 miles a day.

 Wow first time I actually did the math on that…. Haha , I was SLOW!

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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

A modern wilderness

The shelter that first night was so very crowded. I had spent a couple of hours nearly alone and as the evening came in the shelter filled up. Then another 40-50 hikers filled in around the building. Everywhere you looked there were tents and hammocks. A couple of people had started a small fire closer to where they had camped. I felt like I was on a school field trip.

  It was interesting to watch the different reactions people were having to their first day or two on the trail. Most of them were resigned, some were disheartened, and a very few were still full of excitement. I have to admit, I would have been in the resigned category. I was looking forward to a great wilderness adventure and it felt as if I was on a field trip. I didn’t have the time alone to soak up all things natural, instead I was listening to the kids hoot and holler about how many miles they can/are/will be doing. Instead of listening to the crickets and frogs, I was hearing the latest pop hit blaring from somebody’s phone. The quiet and cozy fire I started became a beast of flames.

  I sat by the fire and one particular group amused me. There were 7-8 of them and they were “starving”, as they came to sit around the fire. They were discussing how they were so proud of the 15 miles they had hiked that day, and how they were going to get at least 15 the next day. One of them sitting next to me was very boisterous about everything they had been through, and as he tenderly removed his shoe, proudly announced his first blister. I looked down and his first blister covered the majority of his foot. I was in pain just looking at it, it was a disgusting sight. He cheerfully announced his intention of another 20 miles the next day. I laughed.

  Next on his agenda was dinner, and this was one of the most amusing things of the entire trail for me. You could tell from way he dressed that he was from a wealthy family. Everything about him had the gleam of brand new, which is not a bad thing per se. As he pulled his stove out of the backpack he merrily talked about how he had never had to cook anything for himself before and that it should be fun! He pulled his brand new stove from his pack, still in the retail box. I found that mildly entertaining, what came next made me get up and leave before I embarrassed myself. As he finished with the box and worried about what should be done with the trash, he pulled out a 1 gallon tin can of denatured alcohol. Yep!  I had to walk away before I laughed so hard my sides ached. As he set the can on the ground he asked his friends if any of them knew how to open the can, as it had a solid metal insert under the lid. After a bit he managed to make a very impressive fire of his own, as his fuel spilled over and caught flame from the campfire. It was time for me to go to bed, I just couldn’t take it, my sides hurt.

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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

Acceptance

So early in the morning I heard a rustling along the trail. The sun was barely starting to rise and the dew was still thick in the air. A couple of early riser hikers were coming down the trail, laughing about the way I had set up for the night. It was enough to wake me and get me started.

  I decided to skip breakfast for the time being and see about getting my things in order. It wasn’t long and my bag was packed. I grabbed the boots, turned them over to shake out any unwanted guests from the night. I was off to see how long it would take for the blisters to start.

  I knew that I would have to take it slow for the first few days. I had not been physically active for a few years and wanted to take it slow. I wanted to make sure I had a chance to enjoy the scenery around me. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get huge blisters that would be infected, but mostly I just wanted to have some time to soak in the nature.

  Starting this early in the year the woods were still asleep. Spring was just around the corner and the trees had yet to bud, the plants were not breaking ground and the forest was bare. You could see through the trees as there was not much undergrowth. All in all the scenery was a little dull. The trees without leaves gave me the feeling that the forest was still in hibernation.

  The hills in Ga. are arguably the hardest section of the trail. They are not the highest sections of the trail, but you have just started, and your legs are not accustomed to the rigors of trail life. Also there are plenty of ups and downs in this section. I began to wonder why. Each uphill meant stopping several times to catch my breath, and let my heart quit racing. It was truly the first time I wondered if my body was going to make it. Each time the thought of a heart attack raced through my mind, I would stop to think of the man that inspired me in the first place. I decided that I would go slow, it didn’t matter how long I take. I would either make it all the way, or I could stop halfway and go to Maine and finish going southbound (doing this is called a Flip-Flop).

  The main concern you have going northbound is that Baxter State Park, the northern terminus, will close before you summit Katahdin. It is recommended that you summit by Oct. 15. that is when they will close the park to camping, and if the weather is too bad they will not let you hike the last 5 miles of the trail, to the peak of Katahdin. Many of the people that hike the trail will flip-flop somewhere in the middle so they don’t have to worry about the time constraint. I knew that I wanted to take it easy. I wasn’t going to worry about how many miles per day I made, and that flipping was always going to be an option for me. If you are going to hike the trail I recommend this mindset, it will make for a much better hike all along the trail.

  I managed to get about 5 miles in that first day. I stopped at least three times on every hill that came my way. I stopped at several streams to watch the water flow by. I stopped to watch squirrels frantically scurry up trees. I stopped whenever my little heart desired. I made it to the shelter about 3 in the afternoon and knew that I was finished for the day.

  I stopped and set my pack in the shelter, and went around gathering some firewood. Several hikers (OMG do I mean several), came by stopping for lunch or a quick snack. Many of them thinking I was never going to make it, since I had stopped when there was still daylight left to hike in. You would have thought I put a knife in their chest when I told them I only made it 5 miles that day. Yet later in the day when the chill set in, all the hikers that came through enjoyed the nice campfire I had going.

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Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

Free at last

  It was a bit later in the day then I had hoped, by the time I came back down from the summit of Springer. The wind had turned very chilly and the sun was beginning to set. A steady breeze was blowing through the bare trees.

  The ladies were talking to the trail maintainer when I came back. He was giving them a little information on what I faced in the months to come. When I arrived we all said our farewells and started the trip back to the parking lot. I may have been a bit anti-social by this point (for which I should probably apologize). I needed to get on the trail and have the car go away. It was the last temptation of returning home, and going back to something that resembled stability. A brief kiss goodbye and promises of being safe, and there I was, finally on the trail.

  It was near 7 p.m. as I donned my pack and watched the Volkswagon pull away. The wind had increased and the air was cold. I walked about 200 feet away from the road and decided that putting thermals on was the best idea. The hiking pants I had on were designed to unzip so you could pull them over my boots. The legs would detach and make them shorts if necessary, however I quickly found out the thermals were not designed the same way. Not even 15 minutes into my adventure and I had my first mishap, I tore the leg of my thermal pants from ankle to knee. It was chilly and I was in a hurry so I ignored the tear thinking that I would sew them later. I wondered if it was a sign of things to come, but put it out of my mind. I was here and I was going to give it my best, one way or the other.

  The sun had dipped below tree line, and the sky was beginning to darken. The cold spring wind was in my face and I decided that I would walk until I was out of the wind and find a place to tent for the night. I came across a point in the trail where the trail split. Off to the left was a little flat spot, made from where the trail used to go that direction, but had been changed when hikers decided to go below the trunk of the tree instead of around it. I pulled out the tent and discovered that it was too small. I rolled out the sleeping pad on the ground, jumped into my sleeping bag, and covered up with a piece of plastic I had brought as a ground-cover. I was about 2 feet away from the trail, covered with some cheap plastic to keep off the dew, and very much relieved. My first night on this grand adventure and I managed to get about 1 ½ miles up the trail. My journey had begun.

Recent news on breast cancer research can be found HERE

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.

The choice is yours

It was a beautiful day, perhaps a bit windy. The sun was shining and the little dirt road wound its way through the mountains. I left my pack in the car, my ex, her sister and I began the climb up the north side of Springer. The climb was a touch slower than I thought it would be. My ex recently had surgery on her back and was excited to be out doing some exercise, but had to take it easy. We stopped about half way up and they rested there to wait on me as I ran to the top of the mountain to sign the register.

  Most of the shelters and a few other key points along the trail, have a register. Years ago it was the best way to keep in touch with your fellow hikers. You could look in the shelter register and see what the people before you were going through. You could check to see if any “Southbounders ( SOBO’s)”, had left any tips on the trail ahead. Most importantly if something were to happen to you, the search party could keep track of where you last signed in. For the bored hiker with some spare time they could be a great read, as many of the entries could be quite entertaining.

  Trying to be conscious of the time I kept a quick pace to the top of the mountain. I met one of the trail maintainers along the way and we spoke briefly. I remember he had a pair of gloves that were awesome. They were like driving gloves, with the fingers cut out, but had a mitt top that would fold over and cover your fingertips when necessary. My first day on the trail and I was already jealous! I made it to the first blaze, with many dreams and hopes running through my mind.

  It was late afternoon when I took a picture of the first white blaze. I made it! I was finally here, finally on the trail, after so many years, and in a way it scared the crap out of me. All my worries came to me in a great wave. How am I going to make it, what is going to happen between here and there? What am I going to do when I get home, for that matter how am I going to get home? I considered just giving up the whole idea, being safe and going back to my stable life. I mean everyone already thought I would quit, why not do it now while I still had a chance to go home? Some where in the back of my mind, the fighter in me broke loose, I looked out over the mountain, took a deep breath, and pushed all those thoughts aside.

  The hardest part of the entire trail was to get started. All the fear, all the worries and apprehension making you want to give up. The fact that a loved one was still close and able to take you home right at the forefront of your mind. Everything that was stable in your life was just a quick car ride away. Ahead of you would be months of grueling physical work, then you would return to the world without a job. It makes you feel small, in the scope of the world, but when you make that choice to go you feel instantly liberated.

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"Living for something more than the almighty dollar."

Fear and emotion

  You would not believe the many thoughts racing through my mind. Would I make it? Will the house be okay? Will the renter take care of the house? What if I get injured? Etc. Etc. I was nervous and a bit scared. I was looking into the unknown, an unknown that had way too many variables.

  Money was the scariest of all. Most people will spend about $3500 - $5000, on a thru hike. I was leaving with right at $900. Would I make it all the way, or would I be one of the statistics, of people who leave the trail when they run out of money? I was looking forward to the time rent would be due again. That would be 3 months away though.

The beginning of the Appalachian Trail

  I had packed for 7 days. That is to say I had brought enough food to make it for 7 days. The water was working correctly, I had spent time with my friends and it was March 5. I was a nervous wreck. Sleep was hard to come by, as I mulled over all the things that could go wrong. I had to leave as soon as I could. I was afraid if I didn’t get out of the house I never would. So many things could keep me from even leaving.

  My plan had been to leave on Mar 7. Tomorrow… a whole day to go and I was way too wound up for that. Every nerve in my body was vibrant with the mix of fear and anticipation. I had to go and I had to go now!

  I made some last minute pack adjustments, left some contact information with my ex, and practically begged her to take me to the trail a day early. She was more than willing to oblige. We waited for a bit until her sister and ourselves were all ready to take a quick day hike. They were going to go up to the first White Blaze with me.

  Having grown up in the area, I had walked up the many steps and 8 miles of trail that comprise the approach trail. I had no intention of making that hike again. My friends were in no shape for it either, and I decided to take  a small forest road around to just a bit north of the first blaze on the A.T. Nearly a mile from the parking lot back south to the top of Springer Mountain, and the first of many little white marks that would lead me on my journey of a life time.

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Lover and friends

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After several years up north and quite a few years before that busy with my own life, it had been a very long time since I had seen my best friends. Sure we spoke every now and then, but it had been so long since I had spent any real time with many of them. This was a great opportunity for me.

  While making my arrangements to leave Springer on March 7, I had planned to take a few days to visit my friends. A part of that 2 week frenzy of plans that eventually led to my first, “work for stay”. Two houses had friends that I have known since my early teens, and one stop in Northern Ga. to visit the Lady I almost married in my late teens. A chance to see long lost friends was worth the trip already.

  I spent one night having the largest, most juicy hamburger, I think has ever existed, followed by some extra special brownies! The next day I helped decorate for a baby shower, Dr. Suess, was the theme. Dinner was a perfectly grilled steak with all the trimmings. The last stop was with my ex where I helped to repair problems with her water heater. I did some work she let me stay. Yes, I did say my ex, and yes I still love her and vice-versa. Life just took us on separate paths.

  It amazed me how many different emotions I could feel at this point. I was about to begin my lifelong dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail. I had met with the people I loved and cared for, and was about to spend several months in the wilderness away from them. The trickle of a bank account I had was horrifyingly scant, and I had to rely on the income from rent to survive for the next 7 months. My pack was heavy, my legs were weak, and I was sleeping about 20 minutes away from the trail head.

Two women and a tiny tent.

This was it! My bus was to leave the next afternoon.

  The tent I had ordered still was not here, even though the company told me three days earlier that it was on the way. I was really worried and decided to call them again to find out more information. Their reply was that they had received no order for the tent previously, and they would return the money. Why didn't they say something 3 days before? If they had the money to return, why didn't they have the order that went with it? Too late to do anything about it, I decided that I would try to hike from shelter to shelter, and pray that I could make it a while without a tent.

  Along the Appalachian Trail there is a system of shelters. Many of them were built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Although the mileage may vary you can expect to run into a shelter about every 10 – 15 miles along the A.T. Today several volunteer groups, along with The Appalachian Trail Conservancy maintain the shelters, and the trail itself. Early in the hike from Springer, you will see at least one shelter in an average day's hike. With a little luck and good weather, you could theoretically make the entire trip without carrying a tent or other shelter, of your own. I personally don't advise this. I have seen a few people who tried, and were stuck trying to hike on in the rain because the shelter was overcrowded when they came in. All I needed was about a week before I would see an outfitter. I really had high hopes of making it.

  I was in my last minute ramblings. My sister and I were discussing the different things on the trail, and arranging some of the mail drops, emergency connections and the like. When she found out I was planning on leaving without a tent, she absolutely refused to take me to the bus station without one. She threatened me with the fact that she knew my ex-lover/best friend in Ga. and that she would tell her not to take me to the trail without a tent. If you have ever seen a couple of worried mothers get together, you would know that my chances of making it, to the trail, without a tent were about one in a bajillion.

  The renter to the rescue! She had, “A little 2 man tent “, I could borrow. During the move she had come across it and was willing to let me borrow it for the hike, bad thing was that it was a Wal-Mart special. I picked it up and it must have weighed about 8 pounds. Twice as much as the usual 2 man tent you might think of long distance hiking with. In the back of my mind I thought it would get me on the bus here in Ohio, and I could ditch it when I got to Ga. Something that heavy, I would send back home, and hike on for a week without it. Talk about a pipe dream!  The women were ahead of me on this one. I hiked out with the tent… never even setting it up to see what it was like.

 A few days later, when I unrolled the heavy beast for the first time, I found that it was actually a “little” 2 man tent. My renter had let me borrow her children’s tent.

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A two week frenzy

  Gear, it was all about the gear.

  Though I had previously prepared for a hike, 24 years had passed. Hard to believe it had been that long. Many of the hikers I traveled with in 2012 were not even born at the time.     

  I still had most of the major gear, my backpack and sleeping bag. A stove, though it was top of the line when purchased, had become a relic on the trail. It was the smaller things like socks, gloves, a new pair of boots, tent, and thermal underwear I was after.

  Ebay, what a wonderful place for a last minute, gear buying, frenzy from around the world. I ordered many of the things I thought were lacking in my set-up. Sent off hundreds of dollars to many people and was starting to get excited about the upcoming trip. The best purchase, by far, a pair of boots from a relatively recent competitor in the market.

  Now, every hiker will tell you, that you need to make sure your boots are broken in and comfortable on your feet before you start such an adventure. I had two weeks, waited for 5 days before they were delivered, and living in northern Ohio, had no mountains to test them.The small town of West Unity, Ohio is located in middle of corn fields. Hundreds even thousands of acres of flat as far as the eye can see. If you are not from the area you would not even know the place existed. I lived in town, my sister just three miles away, a “Rails to Trails” project between us, The Wabash Cannonball Trail. I gathered what gear I had, packed a few extra pounds to compensate for the things I was missing, and managed to get a whole 12 miles on the Hi-Tec Cascadia Event boots before I left.

 There is something to be said about life in a small town, any little thing will never go unnoticed. Though my family had been in the area for decades, all it took was a little bit of hiking gear to catch the attention of the local law enforcement. When you don’t fit the normal farmer look, of course you will be questioned. Now that I think about it, my pack was rather large, I’m sure I looked like a long lost vagrant coming off of the old railroad track. Thirty minutes of conversation with the man I used to serve coffee and doughnuts to, a quick search on the officers computer, and I was free to go. I wondered how many misconceptions, based on appearance, were ahead of me.

 Now, the another consideration for my hike was the fact that I was in middle of putting drywall in the house. Having no idea just a few days previously I would be leaving, the house was a wreck. A single man living alone can be hazardous enough, add to that several years of interior construction, and you have something only a single man could live in. I called in as many favors as I could to get the remaining drywall up. I had 2 weeks to get my bag packed, get the work finished and get all of my belongings put away. A mad dash of shoving everything in the garage. I offered my friend the use of any of my household objects, I sent my important paperwork off to friends and family, in case I needed them later in the hike. I was moving things of mine out, of my friends in, and still trying to come up with an itinerary for my trip. Mind you there was the couple of 3 mile hikes to my sister's house and then another 3 miles back to prepare for the hike itself. So many things going on I barely had time to think. Luckily I found the original paperwork from the first time I planned my hike, and that is the schedule I went with. A plan that was nearly a quarter of a century old, untested gear, and a dream. That is how my hike was to begin.

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 After years of planning the trail, and things getting in the way, I put the idea out of my mind. There were too many things in life to keep the hope alive. The idea became one of those dreams that you like to think about on occasion.

 After my long term job closed, I moved back into the family home, where my mother passed, in a small town in northwest Ohio. I found a crap job, making terrible wages at a local furniture factory. Most of the money I made went to remodeling the old family home. The house had been in our family for near 100 years, and was in desperate need of a little T.L.C.

 It was early in February, a dear friend of mine had just passed away, when I realized that dreams are not meant to be left in the back of your mind. You have to take a chance, throw caution to the wind, and give them a try.

 When I returned home that afternoon my friend from down the street was knocking on the door. She was as young single mother, living at home with her father. For several years she had talked about how she was ready to give things a try on her own. She hoped to find a place to make a home for her two children and get out from under her daddy's wing. In my grief I started rambling on about dreams and making them happen, and before you know it she had agreed to rent our family home so I would have a chance to make my dream come true. She paid three months up front, and I was on my way to the Appalachian trail.

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My Story

  I have a rather large family and through the years I have lost many of them to cancer, from my pre-teen years to my forties. The one most devastating was in the 90’s when I lost my mother to breast cancer. Mom was my friend, counselor, my confidant, in short she was the love of my life. Though she had no love for hiking, she was the one that bought my first backpack.

 In 1987 my friends and I were on a day-hike in the woods of northern Georgia, USA. We happened upon a well worn path leading north through the trees. Walking south down the hill was an elderly gentleman with a large pack and a hiking stick.

 “Great day for a hike”, I said.

 That is where his story began. We talked for about 3 hours and he told me of his journey south on the Appalachian Trail. The gentleman took a seat on a nearby rock,

 “At 77 years of age”, he explained, “have to rest when you get a chance”.

  He told me many stories of his 8 month trip on the trail. He said each day his wife would drop him off and then drive around the mountain to pick him up later that evening, so he could go back to the motel and put on his respirator, and take his meds. He told me how the views and the beauty of the trail were beyond compare. Most importantly he said, “The best people I have met in my 77 years were the ones I’ve met on the trail this year”.

 I was 17 and was so caught up in this man’s story that I immediately started planning my first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. My mom, knowing the mind of a teenager, did not believe I would ever make it, but she supported me. She helped me get my gear that year, the backpack, the sleeping bag and I had everything planned to start my hike in the spring of 1988.

 Life had other plans for me. Though I planned several times to hike the trail something always came up. My mother passed, without seeing me walk that trail.

 I turned forty two, and finally took a chance. I Started at Springer Mountain Georgia on March 6 and climbed Mount Katahdin Maine on October 18, 2012. The backpack with me all the way!

 The hike is over now, I made it all the way, and I met some of the best people of my life.