Category: Backpacking

“Directions: Quit your Job.
Buy some gear.
Get to Georgia.
Hike 450 miles North.”

[Side track Cafe, Damascus, VA]

I wonder how badly this is beating up the AT’ers who are thruhiking.

Rare spring storm batters Northeast for 2nd day – Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070416/ts_nm/usa_storm_northeast_dc

I wonder what my trail name on the AT will be.
Probably something like ‘gadget’ 🙂

So Bunny has been sick lately and I really didn’t want to leave her alone for any longer than I possible had to and this has put the kibosh on me running around.
I have plenty of things to do around the house, so I’m not cranky about it (plus, taking care of Bunny is never an issue, I just wish she wasn’t showing her 16 years.)
I figured now was a good time to start organizing my stuff for the trail.
I know that some of my gadgets will be hotly contested as extra weight, but they will have to just deal with it.

So far my list of things in the pack is:

REI Ultralight pack
1st aid kit
camelbak
water bottle
waterproofs
2 tshirts (coolmax) + 1 on me
1 pr pants(zip offs to shorts)
yoga pants
hiking socks 4 pair
fantastic and magical underwear
smartwool long sleeve shirt
long janes
sleeping bag*
stuff sack for sleeping bag*
sleeping bag liner
GPS + map
charged batteries
camera
flashlight
headlamp
toiletries
trekking poles
hat
gloves
notebook/pen

The food and the tents will all be shared when we get there, but I’ll definitely be bringing some nibblies. I don’t do well under group feedbag situations.
I’ll add and refine to the list later.

*stuff still on the to buy list

Dear future self,

Actually, I *have* gotten a start on this list item. Mom and I have
plans to go on part of the Appalachian trail in June of 2007.
We’ve talked about this since we both read Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the
Woods and were kinda charmed by it.
We’ve gone hiking before, and while I ate everything I could put my
hands on then (I was in 2nd grade or something) I had a blast, and I think I might even
have more fun this time.

love,
present self, fredlet

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: fredlet – 43 Things
Date: Nov 22, 2006 7:18 AM
Subject: walk (a part) of the Appalachian Trail
To: fredlet

Dear future self,

I’m reminding you about your stated goal on 43 things, to
“walk (a part) of the Appalachian Trail”.

How’s it going?

Sincerely,
Your past self

Every time I listen to (or read) Bill Bryson’s book about the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods, I get the strange idea of walking some of it.
It isn’t really about being with nature or all the walking… or even about a challenge. I think I’m more excited about all that self sufficiency and, to a lesser extent about all that luscious camping equipment.
And although a city dweller friend of mine mentioned off-handedly that he was ‘rusticating’ and that camping with me held some appeal… I think that the Appalachian Trail would be slightly beyond the pale of his camping limits.
And just for the record, Bill Bryson when he discussed the… erm… more daunting sections of the trail and said (and I’m paraphrasing here) ‘If Daniel Boone, who wrestled bears and then dated their sisters, was afraid of (this bit of wilderness) then I should be, too’ I fall in love with this book all over again.

A Walk in the Woods “Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path…”