Date: 2010-02-07
To: Counting ounces isn't fanatical, it's practical.
Miles today: 0.0

After a day of shoveling historic amounts of snowfall (28.5 inches), my back could use the rest that comes from writing a journal posting. Despite the hours, it was additional aerobic exercise for the hike ¢ getting your lungs ready and adding muscle to your core has proven helpful in the past.I¢ve been toying with addressing gear weight for the first timers who may not be giving it a full measure of respect and/or offering up an opinion on beginning at the Approach Trail, which seems to be a source of deliberation in many others journals. So, I thought I¢d slay two topics with one back rest.We¢ve all heard the radical stories of toothbrush handles cut in half, frankly, when I first read of these as a hiking rookie, a month from my first ever adventure, I thought it sounded like an extremist point-of-view. When you¢re new to hiking, new to the exuberance that a thru-hike adventure triggers, walking into a gear store is close to visiting Santa¢s Village as a five-year old. The doodads and whizbangs, the whatchamacallits and doohickeys, well they¢re all so cool and seductive. It¢s easier to say, ¢That will make the journey easier,¢ than it is to know if you¢ll actually need it ¢ let¢s be honest, how the heck would a first timer or virgin like I once was know? You¢re probably smarter than I was then and would never let that happen, right? Which leads to my first philosophical axiom of thru-hiking gear:¢Carrying more ¢ Spending more won¢t increase your chances of making it to Katahdin.¢It sounds stupid now, but I actually once thought that if I bought the best and biggest, expedition size backpack, it would help my thru-hiking odds rather than a less expensive one. As demented as that was, I also thought the most important aspect in choosing my pack was (wait for it), it had to be blue. Yep, I was a genius ¢Because we all know it¢s more important to look marvelous than to feel marvelous ¢ a blue pack would compliment my eyes better. These are important things in life.I wasn¢t going to allow the cost of something keep me from making sure I had every trail conquering dingle-dangle with me in my first backpack, a load weighing in at a coffee-table rivaling 54 lbs! Good Grief Charlie Brown! I was starting to understand why so many would stop their hike at Neels Gap, a decision usually made on the climb of Sassafras. After 50 miles of less than gleeful trudging, I decided that carrying ten days of food and owning backpacks that weighed 7.3 lbs EMPTY, wasn¢t the best path to joyfulness and stopped.My base weight is now a product of knowledge and miles. My empty pack now weighs 2 lbs, its green and black, but I think some female hikers still occasionally find me handsome. Occasionally being the key word. My tent is a cavernous Tarptent that is a scant 2 lbs and my sleeping bag (1 lb 10, 20 degree beauty) and six panels of a Z Rest at 6 ounces, brings my main, big ticket items in at SIX POUNDS, a full 1.3 pounds lighter than my first backpack was with nothing in it. Most of my clothing went blue to compensate for losing that blue pack ¢ vanity is a powerful force. In summary, it is the big ticket items that will usually mean the greatest weight savings, unfortunately it's usually there our gear buying exuberance begins when we¢re new to it all. This now leads to my next great axiom of thru-hiking gear: ¢Counting ounces isn¢t fanatical, it¢s practical.¢The example above proves the obvious benefits of paying attention to what something weights ¢ the smaller items are no different. Three ounces saved here gathers with five ounce saved somewhere else, like a snowball adding up to pounds eliminated. But maybe you¢re not a cupcake like me; maybe you¢re full of piss-and-vinegar and have the resolve of a Special Forces platoon? Carp, (2004 successful Thru-hiker and retired Special Forces) started the AT with 80 lbs. At Neels Gap, he hesitantly whittled it down to a measly 60. Carp was/is one tough son-of-a¢¦ he made the summit of Katahdin. It was about two months after me, but he made it. It is extremely easy to trivialize the weight of one item sitting on your living room floor, but the AT, is after all, a mountain footpath. It cares little whether you¢ve been a Senator or a store clerk, it will rise and fall without bias, challenging your muscles and will turn our own lactic acid build up against us. Carrying less agreed with my knees and demeanor, it helped me to look up more rather than stare down. The AT¢s beauty and freedom and simplicity and vistas and grandeur are not the exclusive domain of the lighter load, just a bit easier to appreciate. The Approach Trail's infamous reputation is a direct result of that gear weight choices rather than its steepness. Notorious because of leg muscles not conditioned yet rather than an inordinate amount of ruggedness. The Approach Trail is foreplay to what will be a long love affair. I¢ve hiked it twice and neither time did it reduce me to goo. If it were to happen in month two, no one would give a thought, but because it is optional and arrives on Day One, it¢s legendary. If anything, The Approach Trail is more about your mindset, whether you¢re ready mentally or not. When I had 54 lbs on my back that first time, I started using the forest service road. But when I returned in ¢04 with a load of 34 lbs feeling smarter, more trail savvy, I took the Approach Trail, which I discovered was scarier in trail lore than that section itself. Reaching Springer Mountain and that first AT blaze by way of the Approach Trail gave me a tad more empowerment for the journey. You might also be treated to one of the best laughs of the hike by what you may find discarded by others. In my case, having to step over a cast iron skillet. Classic. Ok, that¢s it for today¢s entry and you know what? I think my back feels better already. See you all soon, just 21 days till I hop Amtrak for Georgia ¢ training rocks. See my Gear List for more.