Date: 2008-11-14
To: Still on for mid March
Miles today: 0.0

It has been a while since our last journal entry but that doesn't mean we have given up on our hike. We're still on for a mid March start from Springer Mountain. We are still going to the YMCA to get into shape for hiking. I (OG) could be pushing myself a little bit harder but I figure there is still time.We purchased an order of Mountain House freeze dried food from www.LDPcampingfoods.com in preparation. We'll be using this type of food about a quarter of the time. A few of the items bought were #10 cans of freeze dried Beef, Chicken and chop meat. We'll be using them to fortify our Lipton/Knorr Sides with protein. We'll also be adding vegetables from www.JustTomatoes.com which also are freeze dried, we'll be ordering them later as they don't come in vacuum sealed containers. Our next order was for Pemmican Bars from www.Mealpack.com, we'll be using them for backup food and quick energy. Some people hate these things but I can tolerate them. They'll be good for long stretches where we need to keep the weight down without sacrificing calories. One place this occurs is the Smokies, another is the Whites where we might or might not get work for stay and need extra food and then another is the 100 mile wilderness of Maine.We went to the local Army base to use the commissary to buy many of the store bought dry goods for our hike. We are both military retirees so we can do that. This saved us a lot of money and they have a lot of hard to find items there. I think we have most of the food we'll need to make our mail drop packages.Some folks buy their food as they go but I prefer to have mail drops. It does have some drawbacks though. First the Post Office hours can mess you up, we may have to to a Mail Drop Marathon on a Friday to ensure we get there before weekend closure. Or the Mail Drop sprint on a Saturday morning to get there when open. Neither of these are very pleasant but sometimes necessary. I really like to know we'll have the items we need at the places we want them at. This is probably more expensive to do but at least we'll have peace of mind knowing we have food we like. I'll be using almost the same places for the mail drops that I did in 2006. The towns will be the same but we'll be using more outfitters and hostels this time to avoid some of the P.O. problems.Incidentally I just ordered The Thru Hikers Handbook by Bob McCaw, formerly the Wingfoot book. I used this book in 2006 and I'm very comfortable with it. They say fear adds weight to your pack and in our case this is true. I remember being cold the first few weeks, I'd have to cook my dinner while freezing and then immediately get in my sleeping bag after I ate and cleaned up. All I had was a windstopper fleece and rain suit. This time we'll have down jackets for both and a few other heavy items. I figure we'll dump these as we go. As an experienced AT hiker I shouldn't be going through this, what's up with that?I don't want to scare any future hikers with what I just said about being cold. The days I mentioned weren't that many, about 10 days, and they were mostly in March and early April. We're intending to take it slow and easy the first few weeks to build ourselves up. We'll shed the weight when it warms up and then we'll pick up the miles.Next weekend we will be sleeping out in our Double Rainbow Tarptent for the first time. It didn't arrive in time for our Vermont hike this summer so we haven't used it yet. Also it should be pretty cold and we're hoping to get a good idea if we will be warm enough with the clothing and equipment we have.