A New Year is Upon Us

The Journey of 2200 miles begins with the first step ~ Lao Tzu (paraphrase). 

A New Year and I have an excursion planed. On March 20th I shall start from Springer Mountain in Georgia and head northeastward until I reach Baxter Peek in Maine. I am alotting myself 150 days to do this which should put me out until August 17. If by August 17th I am not in the State of Maine I shall depart the trail, regroup, then try it again at a later date.

I have a hero admiration, not worship mind you, of Emma Gatewood. For those of you who are not in the know about Ms Gatewood here's a quick run down: Ms Gatewood, at the age of 67 decided to walk the Appalachian Trail in 1955.  The trail was a few decades old by then but had fell into disuse.  Also, the trail started at Mount Oglethorpe, about 20 miles southwest of Springer Mountain, at that time.  Ms Gatewood carried an old ditty bag with an Army wool blanket, a shower curtain, a change of clothes, can meats, and certain odds and ends.  Her whole outfit weighted around 20 lbs.  She grew up on a farm and spent most of  her adult life on one and her family lived off the land, basically.  Getting her vegetables along the trail was a natural for her.  Also, she finished the trail in 142 days.  Look her up: Emma Gatewood

The reason why I am doing this first and foremost the personal gain.  The feeling of accomplishment that few has done before me.  In an age and time where I feel like all I am doing is going through the motions this should be catalytic spark I need.  I shall awaken each day to new challenges.  I shall see what I have not seen before.  I will have struggles and win victories.  And even in defeat I shall learn from my mistakes and be able to conquer anew.  

The second reason why is that it will geas me to actually start projects that I have been shying away from and see them through.  Already with the planning and the execution of preparing for this hike I have found myself able to start and finish other projects 

The third reason is to get rid of some of this damn weight that seems to not want to leave.  It has taken me over 17 years to revoke my membership in the 300 club and this hike will give me a greater margin to stay revoked.  Also, since I am getting older the benefits of losing my weight will help me tremendously.  In my line of work I come in contact with people who has various health problem and have their mobility greatly reduced, even down to non existence.  A great number of those invalid are younger than myself.  One of theses days I too shall become an invalid but I am hoping to put that off as long as possible.

And the forth reason; I'm turning sixty.  With that admissions I am fastly running out of time for such long excursions. Also my adobe is needing vast amount of repair done to it.  The original parts of the house was built back in the 1890 with various additions added on.  The main thing is that it needs a new roof.  Every bank I talk to about financing a new roof doesn't want to just finance a roof but finance rebuilding the whole house, and to their specifications. In other words, a mortgage again.  That will put a stop to any fancied long excursion again.  

 

My Pack

The old pack that I used that saw me walk the Silver Comet Trail about three times and even spent a month with me out on the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama will sadly not be coming with me.  A few years ago I got curious and weigh the pack and discovered that it weighed a whopping 18 lbs by itself.  No wonder I found it impossible to keep my gear under 40 lbs!  My new pack is a 75 ltr pack that weighs in at 5 lbs.  

In this I'm going to have a do hammock, straps, fly, ground tarp. insulated air pad (this pad takes me only 50 breaths to inflate) camping stove, cooking cup, a small fry pan, and let me got back to this because this pack seems to be getting dynamic.

My Expectations

My expectations on the hiking aspect is to make about 8 miles a day or 50 per week and spending at lease one day a week resting up.  As my legs and feet gets more use to the extra walking with the extra weight then I should be hitting 100+ miles a week. 

Why I'll be relatively safe

First of all I am an experience woodsman and will gain even more experience as I go along.  

Second is that the incident rates upon the trail is relatively low.  I know that most folks seems to live under the assumption that I will have to fight my way through herds of man eating bears, hords of mounted highwaymen and myriad of viper snakes that line the trail and just wait on the unsuspecting hikers so they can sneak a bite into an ankle and release built up venom but the opposite is true.  The occasional bear I may encounter will more than likely be a black bear who are actually little cowards.  They make act like they're in the hood and be all gangsta like but show them you are more hood than them and they'll skedaddle out of the area as fast as they can.  If I do meet up with a brown bear then that one two will be skittish and usually won't attack unless provoked.  As far as highwaymen; I don't see them as a problem since hikers now usually carry next to no cash and they trying to pawn off used gear would look a little suspicious. And as far as snakes, mostly the harmless types will be crawling in the day.  Vipers like to hunt at night where the heat signature of their prey can be distinguish.  They also are smart enough to stay away from trails where they are likely to be trampled on.  As long as I am careful about the brush I'm going through when I have to leave the trail then I should be relatively safe.

 (This one post has taken myself a long time to compose, from 1/27 to 3/9 since every time I start on it I get interrupted.  Hopefully the ones I post on the trail will look... well, like there is some intelligence behind them.)