Date: 2004-04-15
To: Getting Ready
Miles today: 0.0

To check out my AT-PCT Comparison Chart go to my 2008 PCT journal POST#1Most AT thru-hikers start in March or April. Many plan for over a year. It¢s the middle of April now, and I¢ve just decided to go. I¢m committed to other activities through the end of April. Let¢s see what needs to be done: Airline tickets, transportation from Atlanta to the trail, guide books, maps maybe, some new lighter gear, boots are still in the shop, cancel cable tv, cancel Internet service, cancel long distance phone service, arrange long term care for the house, get Valley Voyageur stuff to camp, set up a Yahoo email account with all my friends and family email addresses. Oh my gosh, what have I done.Well, the earliest airline ticket I could afford was for May 2, 2004. That was fine because of all the other stuff to be done in those 2 weeks. There was not a moment to spare. That is just as well because that left no time to consider the magnitude of this adventure. Lots of people spend the better part of a year preparing for the AT, and that¢s understandable. I can¢t operate that way. Of course I do have lots of experience preparing for adventures. There have been about 12 to 20 weeks of adventures for each of the last seven years. No matter how hard I try, it seems to always come down to that last late night or an all nighter for the final packing. Lately I don¢t even try to pretend to get ready ahead of time.This time though, with the magnitude of the entire AT looming, there was a valiant attempt to get ready ahead of time. Clothing and gear began accumulating on the couch at least a week before departure. Weights of everything were recorded using a digital fisherman¢s scale for the big stuff and a kitchen scale for anything under a pound. There were some stunning realizations such as: newer warmer sleeping bags could be lighter than older not so warm bags; lightweight zip-off shorts with out legs weighed 7 ounces compared to gym/swim shorts of only 2 ounces. This stuff adds up. Typically a pack for me for a week would weigh between 40 and 50 pounds. That¢s OK for a week or two where miles don¢t matter. To survive more than 2000 miles, there had to be a dramatic cut in weight. I am not a huge proponent of ultra light hiking when it comes to cutting survival gear. However, the AT is a heavily traveled, well maintained trail with well known climate and is seldom far from civilization. I will still carry the extra weight into unknown or harsher environments but for the AT, I was prepared to cut all but the essentials.I hate shopping but cutting weight was too important on a 2000 mile hike. Besides, some of my gear was just too tired to survive the trip. Fortunately my two year old Andonista backpack by Wild Things of North Conway, NH still kept me happy at only three pounds. Wild Things makes a similar lighter pack called the AT but it was too stripped down for me. My preference is to buy locally made gear whenever possible. Fortunately, North Conway, NH is such a mecca for backpacking, climbing and skiing and is home to several manufacturers and retailers. The manufacturers actually have real factory outlets in their factories. The stitchers are just on the other side of the wall or door or ceiling. It¢s great. After several rounds to Ragged Mountain Equipment, Wild Things, Chuck Roast, Peter Limmer & Sons, Eastern Mountain Sports and International Mountain Equipment with fisherman¢s scale in one hand and credit card in the other, I came home with the booty. There was a new 1 pound 45 degree down sleeping bag by Mountain Hardware, a prima-loft jacket from Chuck Roast, Epic shell jacket & pants from Wild Things, various and sundry items from Ragged and EMS.