Date: 2005-02-18
To: Back on the AT
Miles today: 0.0

Life on the east coast has been treating us very well. We like to call it the "simple life". Our parents both instilled us with strong work ethics and we have both had jobs since we were 13 years old, so not working is very foreign to us. It was very strange at first but I think I am getting the hang of it :-) Lazy mornings have been spent reading, sipping coffee, watching day time TV (I will admit that I am a bit addicted to "Days of Our Lives"), training on the treadmill (Dave walks with his pack on), thinking up plans to catch raccoons and playing around with Casey. Yesterday we decided to get all of our gear ready to go, as if we were taking off on the approach trail, and see how we could handle it. Dave will be carrying most of the heavy duty gear, the stove and fuel, the tent, the ground cloth, the water filter, the first aid kit, his thermarest, his sleeping bag, and his clothes. I will be carrying my sleeping bag, my thermarest, my clothes, the pots and pans, and all of the food. We still had yet to purchase a substantial amount of food so we headed off to ShopRite. We decided to buy 3 days worth of food. We bought Lipton dinners, packages of tuna, package of mashed potatoes and gravy, peanut butter granola bars, snickers, bagels, olive oil, and peanut butter. We are not going to be doing many mail drops so we plan on resupplying every 4 days give or take. Dave decided to split the food into 3 plastic zip-lock bags to see how it would work. After the split we still had food left over which makes us think that the supply that we bought would last us longer than we originally thought. Although burning thousands of calories may mean that we eat WAY MORE than we think we will. We will know soon enough!!!Dave packed my new Gregory with all of the food and now our packs were about full weight. Dave's Dad, Michael, was able to take sometime off of work and we headed for the AT. We went to an area that Dave used to hike and camp all of the time as a kid, I don't think that he ever would have thought then that he would be hiking the entire trail years later. We took off up the blue blaze road and headed to see my first shelter. I have stayed in shelters before, in VT we call it a lean-to, but to see my first shelter on the AT was exciting. The Brink Road Shelter was smaller than I imagined but thinking about walking upon it on our 1,318th mile would probably be one of the highlights of my day. I know that the next time that I see that shelter it will look like a Ritz-Carlton to me...well maybe a Super 8 Motel. After taking pictures and checking out the stash of things left for hikers: magazines, bug spray, stove fuel, batteries and a trail registry, we headed back for the white blazes. Dave and I were both thrilled because we could hardly feel the weight of our packs on our backs. Dave's pack weighed 31 lbs. and mine weighed 28 lbs, which is about the heaviest that it will get. Going up the hills with the help of my poles felt like walking on the nice flat soft paths of Oregon, although in reality we were in the midst of the rocky world of NJ AT hiking. When we reached the bald of the mountain we stopped for a snack and some pictures. We then realized that we would have to head back soon because it would be getting dark shortly. We wanted to continue on, Dave and I don't mind hiking in the dark at all, we did it often in Oregon, however the terrain is so much rougher here in NJ and all that we need is to get injured and then our dream would be over. We will have plenty of time to continue on and hike in the dark, especially if we attempt the 4 state challenge (I'm sure that some of you know about this). The challenge is 4 states: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 42 miles in one day. In Oregon we hiked beautiful Forest Park, 30 miles, in 11 hours. Granted Forest Park has nice soft trails and few gigantic hills but it was the most difficult thing I have done in my life and it made me feel like a could conquer anything, even the 4 state challenge. After yesterday's hike we could not be more excited to get out there. What an adventure we have in front of us. Tomorrow we head to Vermont!!!!!! I can't wait to be home and see my family and friends. In Vermont my good friend, Michael, will help us load all of our pictures onto our site. So please stay tuned for our pictures, even some of our friend (who is frolicking off in the woods of NJ) Rex the Raccoon. 30 Days to go!!!!!