Date: 2011-03-26
To: Six Days...
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Frequently asked questions:How will you charge your electronics?I have what is called a ¢bounce box,¢ and in it I have all of my battery chargers for my electronics: camera, MP3 player, Kindle, and laptop. I will mail the bounce box to my first anticipated town stop, labeled to ¢Thru-hiker Tami Vanderwilt c/o General Delivery, State, and ZIP code. Post offices will hold a bounce box for up to 45 days. I¢ll get my box, which will also include a razor (ah¢¦.shaving my legs!), a change of clothes, a pair of sneakers, and nail clippers. I¢ll use it while I¢m at a hotel, then mail it to myself at the next anticipated town stop. The box, therefore, is bounced along my trek ahead of me, ready for me when I need it.How will you carry enough food?For the most part I will only need to carry 4-7 days worth of food at any given time, because the trail passes near (and sometimes even thru) towns. Sometimes I¢ll find a full grocery store, sometimes maybe just a convenience store, but it will serve me well enough to get me through to the next stop. In addition, like the bounce box, I have packaged parcels that contain most of what I¢ll need with regard to food, and I¢ll arrange to have Pat send those to me at my weekly town stops. There is one section along the trail, the 100-Mile Wilderness, where I will have to carry 10 days worth of food, because resupply is impossible there.Aren¢t you afraid?No.What about bears?There are bears along the entire length of the trail and, frankly, I look forward to seeing them. These bears are American Black Bears, Ursus americanus, and they are very shy of humans, but they love people food. If I take certain precautions, such as hanging my food high in a tree when I make camp, I should be just fine. The incidence of black bear attacks is extremely rare. I am not worried in the least.Will you carry a gun or mace or any form of protection?No. What about going to the bathroom? Are there rest stops along the way?I¢m sure after some initial trepidation, I¢ll get very adept at using the great outdoors just the way our ancestors did. There is an occasional privy at some of the shelters scattered along the trail, but for the most part I¢ll just have to avail myself of a secluded spot outdoors, just like the bears and the bunnies and every other hiker on the trail. If you want to learn more, I highly recommend this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmwxkD86Ec.I also have a wonderful device that comes highly recommended by female hikers: a female urinary director. Look it up if you¢re curious. Suffice to say that I¢ll be able to pee like a boy without dropping my pants and squatting. Graphic enough for you? Now let¢s move on¢¦Will your family come visit you on the trail?That is unclear at this point, but I hope so. What if Tessa gets tired?I¢ll let her rest as much as she needs. She¢ll be well pampered, I assure you. This hike is my choice, but her participation is compulsory. I¢ll definitely make accommodations for my beloved little hiking buddy. We¢re gonna have a terrific time!What will you do at your town stops?First, based on what I¢ve read of others¢ experiences, I¢ll probably eat. Then I¢ll get my bounce box and resupply boxes from the local post office and find myself a hotel or hostel and take a loooooong luxurious bath, shave, and tend to a week¢s worth of neglected personal grooming. I¢ll plug in all of my electronics and get them recharged. Then I¢ll probably eat. Somewhere along the way I¢ll make phone calls and catch up on e-mail as I sit in an actual chair. Then I¢ll probably eat. After that I¢ll catch up on my blog, maybe grab a bite to eat, and finally, I¢ll enjoy a night¢s sleep on an actual mattress. In the morning, I intend to take my sneakers and jog a bit, maybe do some fartleks (a type of interval training intended to give a major boost to performance and endurance), then eat again. If I¢m ready to hit the trail again I will, but sometimes I¢ll grant myself a ¢zero day,¢ a day in which I log zero miles on the trail. In such cases, if it¢s an appealing and interesting little town, I¢ll allow myself a day of exploring. And while my descriptions of my intentions to eat, eat, eat are somewhat exaggerated and tongue-in-cheek, my research suggests that that is precisely what most hikers do. Because they are burning an average of 4,000-6,000 calories per day, most hikers move along the trail under a calorie deficit. To carry sufficient calories would just be too heavy for most of us. So, when we make a town stop it¢s time to feast! I intend to be very mindful of feasting in a quality way, consuming lots of fresh fruits and veggies that I can¢t get on the trail. Of course, if the occasional Krispy Kreme donut sneaks its way past my lips, well, what can I do? And Tessa will be well rewarded on town stops too.If you have a question I haven¢t addressed, let me know! By the time we¢re through you¢re going to know so much about thru-hiking that you¢ll be ready to try it! Which reminds me¢¦what is thru-hiking? Thru-hiking is the process of hiking a long-distance trail from end to end in a single year, as opposed to section hikers, who might hike a month here, a couple of weeks there, in order to complete an entire long-distance trail. Right now, I don¢t know what I am. I aspire to be a thru-hiker, but I¢m not going to torture myself to do it. I¢ll see how it feels and go with what feels right. I¢m pretty damned tenacious, so I intend to give it my all. Time will tell. I know you'll be rooting for me.