trail days has come to an end

Well trail days is over, it was definitely an experience. Never seen so many campers together other than scouting event in one place. Lots of cool things to see, lots of backpacking vendors with lots of really neat things. But the Saturday night camp fire was by far one for the books, they had 55 gallon plastic barrels and they were beat them like drums all the hikers or dance around the campfire like a bunch of wild Indians. It’s definitely something to see but not tale part in. 

It’s now Sunday night and there’s only maybe a handful of tents left here I decided not to hit the trail this morning because everyone was leaving and hitting the trail and I knew it would be packed and they would be hard to find a place to stay for the night on the trail. I will be hitting the trail first thing tomorrow morning and start making my way north, the weather looks to be good so it should be a nice hike more to come. 

Back on the trail again.

I’m in Damascus for Trail Days and then hit the trail on Sunday.  Hopefully the weather will be nicer!

Nuke and Boot

 

Sometimes in the IT world just rebooting doesn’t work or fix the problem.  That’s when we go for the “Nuke and Boot”.  A Nuke and Boot is when you wipe the hard drive clean, reformat the hard drive and reload the OS (operating system, i.e. Windows) 

That is where I am at, Nuke and Boot, I’m currently re-working all the gear I took and take ½ of that!  Different rain gear, I’m taking a poncho instead of a rain jacket.  Everything is being packed in dry bags, I’m going to use a 55gal trash bag for a pack cover.  I’m also taking a beefier tent that will hold up to the rain better.

They say, “you pack your fears”, let’s just say the fear is being soaking wet!

I’m planning on restarting the AT around May 14 ish, I’m planning on going to the Trail Days festival in Damascus, VA the weekend of May 14^th and take off northbound.  This will leave a large gap in the south that includes the Great Smokey Mountains NP.  But I will come back and fill those in at some point.

So for now it’s more training and gear adjustments.

See ya on the trail!

Home Sweet Home

I made it home and what an adventure that was! I couldn’t find a rental car in all of GA that would let me do a one-way rental. I was stuck in Helen, GA and working the phone trying to find a shuttle to the next largest city, while trying to arrange an Amtrak back to Atlanta and that doesn’t work out. Then I finally get a shuttle ride from the Grateful Hiker Shuttle to North Springs, GA. This is the last stop for the MARTA train. I book a hotel by the airport and take the MARTA to the airport, had flight booked that I had to change twice. Get to the ATL airport and call the hotel only to find out that they do not offer a shuttle to and from the airport. Ok, let’s get a Lyft, $20 to go to the hotel, that $40 bucks round trip… Hell no! Start working the phone again, and found a hotel with a shuttle for about the same price. 

Now that I made it home, what’s next… I love being outdoors, hiking, camping, Kayaking, cycling and even Glamping! But, the AT is a whole other animal. Long distant backpacking is its own sport and it is nothing like backpacking. The gear is so different, I went with what I would take on a normal backpacking trip and it was the wrong gear. You have to go into the AT with the mindset that you are going to be wet the whole time. I just wasn’t prepared for that. I am going to return to the AT this year and it’s going to be a section hike. I’m thinking about doing the section that goes through Shenandoah National Park and further south. About 3 weeks of backpacking.

So with that, I will keep posting and let you know when I will reboot the Reboot!

With great Sadness

Blood MT!

Just a quick update, made it over Blood Mountain today, a 13 mile day and I’m spent!

tomorrow’s profile

Jump on in the water is fine!

Tomorrow I’m going to jump into this full force, I’m going to hike from woody gap to Neil Gap, almost 11 miles. So it’s kind of a do or die hike, in the 11 miles there’s 5 miles right in the middle that requires bear canisters. This is the only place on the entire trail that requires the bear canister, and it’s only from March 1 to May 31 and if you get caught without one the fine is $100. So I need to make the full trip in one day and that’s gonna be 11 miles. There is an outfitter at Neil Gap and I need to make some gear changes at that point. So, I’m already sending gear home from the above the clouds hostile. It’s mainly extra clothing that I’m sending home my second hiking pole and a few other odds and ends that I just don’t need or if they get wet they never dry out. So I should have Wi-Fi tomorrow and I will upload a video from the top of blood mountain.   Blood mountain is the highest point on the AT in Georgia.  So, not only do I have a 10 mile day, but I have one hell of an uphill to do as well.

day 4 video

day two video

Video from day 3, there is no day 2 video. 

videos from the trail

Day one

Waiting on the bus all day

Today is Saturday the 20th, I’m at Hightower gap and I’m waiting on a shuttle to take me to a hostile. It has been raining nonstop until today. All my gear is soaking wet and my boots too. I haven’t been dry since I started and I’m really looking forward to a hot shower dry clothes, clean clothes!

The first few days on the trail been really tough, it has been learning experience a trial by fire, actually by rain and a time of trying to rework your mindset. The hardest part of this hike so far is the main game it’s all the little things like, trying to push you out of your mind the distance that you have to go how far you’ve been Where is the next water. Surprisingly, the one thing that’s not creeping into my mind is thinking about the whole trail it’s just impossible to think that far ahead out here you’re literally just thinking about survive in the next few days to stay warm, stay dry and stay fed. It comes down to the simple things of life and pushing everything else out to become truly a very simplistic person to drop all the baggage and all the fears.

Day Zero

The day and time is here, every piece of gear has been scrutinized, weighed and reevaluated at least four times, my bag is packed. The trail starts tomorrow, the first day scares me the most, the reason why is it the foundation for everything to come or sort of. It’s a long uphill 8 1/2 miles just to get to the start of the Appalachian trail and I’m climbing somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 vertical feet over that distance. It’s a bit of a daunting task, howeverthere’s campsites along the trail so if I don’t make it to the top, I just don’t make it to the top. I can always make camp and spend the night and get up the next day do it again. I had five days worth of food the weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So when I was at REI I picked up another dinner just in case We get really bad thunderstorms and I spend the day in a shelter riding out the storm. It’s getting late I’m tired it’s been a long day of travel and I need some rest.  

Tomorrow! It’s finally trail time I will be posting pictures.

Leaving on a jet plane...

 My bag is packed, everything is in place and the time has come.  I can't even begin to describe how I feel, I have a flood of emotions going on.  I'm excited about what is about to begin, I'm scared to leave everything behind.  I'm leaving everything, my wife, home, friends and family, all to walk 2200 miles! What is the deep drive to do this?  This is not a natural thing to do, everyone I tell I'm going to hike the AT all have that same look and and same response, " are you F'n nuts?  They all asked the same questions, are you scared, what about food, and the one that always gets me, are you carrying a gun?  No, it weights too much!  Yes, it’s scary, I'm leaving a very comfortable life and I will be walking 2200 miles, this is a journey that I alone must travel.

With that, my next post will be from the trail on Tuesday March 16th... 

One Week....

One week from today and I will be starting the AT!  It’s just so much, I have to keep telling myself this is nothing more than 24 one week backpacking trips. When I start to think about the whole trail, the magnitude of the hike and the distance really becomes overwhelming and really flares up my anxiety. Part of the reason for the Reboot is to try and get rid or get a better handle on the anxiety that is plagued my life. 

I just have to take this one day and one step at a time. My fitness level is not exactly where I want it to be when I start, I would have to say I’m at about 80% of where I wanted to be. However two or three weeks on the trail and I think my fitness level will be where it needs to be to finish the trail.

25 pounds, plus..

 I have made all final gear choices and my base weight is 25 pounds.  What does base weight mean, it is everything except food and water.  Which by the way are the heaviest by far.

Total weight with food and water is right around 34 lb.  It's crazy to think this is everything that I need to live with for the next 6 months!  There are people on the trail with much lighter packs and some with heavier packs.  For another $2000, I could drop about 4 or 5 lbs.  It comes down to money = weight!

Have you ever wondered what gear it takes to hike the AT, here is my list of the gear I'm carrying, this is just the main items, if you have question please leave a comment.

• MSR Hubba NX 1 person tent with foot print
• Big Agnes Sarvis SL 20 Sleeping Bag
• Klymit static V sleeping pad
• Foam pad (my one luxury item)
• Ursack bear bag & 75 feet of 3mm cord for hanging
• Frist aid kit
• Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter, backup purification tablets 
• 650 fill down puffy jacket
• North Face rain jacket and pants
• Columbia thermal top and bottom
• 2 pair of ExOfficio Give-N-Go Sport Mesh Boxer
• 2 pair of Injinji toe socks
• North face shorts
• REI Pants
• 2 tech Tee Shirts
• 2 bandanas 
• Stove, windscreen
• Snow Peak titanium 750ml pot and titanium Spork and fuel
• campsuds, MSR scrapper and brush
• lighter, backup storm proof matches
• titanium 500ml cup
• Anchor power pack and cables for charging
• 1 Smart water bottle and 1 Nalgene bottle
• Camelbak 2 liter bladder
• Black Diamond hiking poles
• Head lamp, Black Diamond 350
• Camp shoes, Vibrami 5 toes
• titanium trowel and 1.5 rolls of TP
• 5 days for food; 5 dehydrated meals, 4 packs of tuna, 2 packs of BBQ Chicken
• 5 cliff bars, and trail mix
• Plus other items… 
  
  
  

Bigfoot?

Found this along my hike today, there was a set of 3 and they were a good 2 or 3 foot longer stride than mine  they say there is a Sasquatch in the CVNP.  

All I know is the track was big.

Depends? (AKA Dale) and I hiked the Lamb Loop today and it was a tough 5 miles. It’s a mountain bike trail so there are lots of rollers, up and down mounds that you got to go over but just made it a real grind. But it was a good work out for the legs.

i’ve got my hotel booked in Atlanta, the shuttle to the Trail head booked and ready to go. It’s coming up fast, three weeks until I leave hard to believe it’s finally coming around. All the years that I’ve wanted to hike the trail and always in my back of my mind I would think yes it might happen it might not happen. But now it is going to happen and I can’t wait.

It’s getting real now....

Airplane ticket is bought and it’s starting to get real! I’m making final gear choices, I will start posting what I’m going to live with for the next 6 months.  It’s kind of weird if you think about it that way, everything I need to live I will be carrying on my back for six months. I am counting things down to the ounce because ounces equal pounds and every ounce will count on the trail when you have to carry it for six long months.

Today’s photo is a picture of Brandywine Falls frozen over. It’s been over two weeks since the high temperature has reached above freezing. Makes for a spectacular picture I think.

Trail Angels

Along the AT there is this thing called “Trail Magic”. What is Trail Magic and where does it come from? Trail Magic is anything that happens to benefit a hiker or hikers. First let me say that this is something that a hiker should be surprised by and the hikers should never expect it and always be very thankful for. It shows up in many ways, everything from gallon jugs of water at a trailhead so that you can skip the chore of filtering water, to someone cooking burgers at a trailhead and having a cooler of cold beer. The people that perform these feats of selflessness are called “Trail Angels”. Some people never set out to be a Trail Angel and it just happens, for instance someone picks up a hiker hitching a ride to town to resupply, that’s a Trail Angel. For others is calling in life, they spend the entire hiking season helping hikers. 

 They say the trail will provide! This is what I’m hoping for, I’m a person with some very strong ADHD traits and …. Squirrel ….. Wait, were was I. Oh yeah, the trail will provide, some hikers will make plans for everything all the way down to where they will resupply. I’m going into this with the thought of the trail will provide. The only thing I will have mailed to me will be a gear change from early winter gear to summer gear. Food and everything else I need I’m going to acquire along the trail. 

 If anyone has any questions about the trail and my trip please feel to ask.

Why Reboot?

There is a tradition on long distant trails to take on a trail name. There are some that are earned on the trail and others that just come about. My trail name is Reboot, why Reboot? My wife Cathy came up with the name for me, it embodies one of the reasons I'm doing this hike. As a retired IT person it hits home for me, it's time for a reboot of my mind, body and soul.

PUDS- Pointless Ups and Downs

Today’s hike was 800 feet of total elevation gain, that 80 floors in a normal high rise.  Throw in 8.5 miles and a snow covered train and it makes for a full day.  Feeling stronger and 40 days until I hit the trail..

The sun is here, or it’s a nuclear attack!

The sun is something we very rarely see here in Northeast Ohio, but to be able to get out and hike in the sun is quite a nice thing. Lots of training still to do and lots of gear choices to be made but I’m finally getting ready.

Training, training and more training

so far from the month of Jan I have logged 110 miles. now the goal for Feb is over 200 miles. I'm feeling stronger every day and that feeling of being an athlete is starting to come back to me, and I rather like it. However, training in Northeastern Ohio in Feb has its challenges, the cold snowy days are just not easiest. But, I’m making due, in fact the snow covered trails make it much harder to hike and this should make the southern trails seem nice.

It’s time to get serious!

The broken foot is just about healed and im way behind on training. I've got 3 months to get ready.