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…