Date: 2011-04-11
To: The plan evolves
Miles today: 0.0

This will be my third entry, so the journal should finally post. If you read the first two posts, you'll see that the original plan has already gone by the wayside. I didn't manage to get on the trail in GA in March. The good news, however, is that I will be on the trail by Memorial Day. (The job situation will be resolved and the house will be rented.) The new question is where to start. Do I start at Springer Mtn and just do what I can? Do I do a SOBO from Katadyn and try to work the entire trip in. Do I even plan for six months on the trail or settle for three? At this point, my decision is going to be to start at Harper's Ferry, WV and head north. I want to experience the flow of the hiker community on the trail and the SOBO trips seem to be more solitary. I expect by starting in WV, I'll be joining those already in progress. I'll be the newbie trying to find his trail legs, experiencing the excitement of new beginnings among groups of trail veterans that are amused by my wonder at each new delight, but I can live with that. Maybe for someone coming out of the Virginia Blues it will even be a fresh reminder of why they are there and how they felt at the beginning. How do I picture this adventure and why am I doing it? The simple answer is that it is something that has been calling to me for a long time and if I don't do it now, I likely never will. When i was a boy scout I never had the chance to earn the fifty mile hike badge. Now's my chance. For a more involved answer, read on, but this is a free flowing narrative that may ramble. If at the end you feel you've wasted five minutes of your life, don't say I didn't warn you.I'll start with a plan to reach Katadyn. If all goes well and I'm still excited to be out there, I can come back to Harper's Ferry and head south in late August or early September. Autumn in the Southern Appalachians could be an amazing trip in itself. I'll start slow in Rocksylvania (8 - 10 miles a day) and as the weight comes off and the stamina builds, so will the miles. By the time I reach New Bearsy, I should be into the flow of the trail. I'll be prepared to handle squirrel mobsters and the mosquitos in attack formation in New York. A pleasant stroll (yeah, right) through Connecticut and into the Berkshires, followed by an assault on the Whites in Vermud and the Presidentials in New Hampshire which will move me out of the summer heat. Stumbling into Maine after destroying my knees and my confidence in the Mahoosuc Notch, I'll likely come face to face with my first moose in the middle of the trail and kill an afternoon trying to get pictures without getting trampled and gored. Finally catching a glimpse of Katadyn in the distance, I'll feel the excitement building as I traverse the Hundred Mile Wilderness and make that final climb to the mile high summit.This is the was the fantasy goes, anyway. Notice, I've conveniently skipped the parts where my legs are so tired I can't take another step forward let alone scramble over another boulder. I've ignored the blisters, bug bites, and near heat stroke of a summer hike, followed by the intense thunderstorms. I've totally glossed over the part where I am facing yet another in a series of pointless ups and downs (PUDS)with the tears on my cheeks being washed away by a fourth day of rain, my waterlogged feet tender and torn from being constantly soaked. I've failed to mention the part where I am two thirds of the way up another three thousand foot climb, nearly dehydrated, my body having already burned off its fat reserves and starving for calories while fighting to stay warm in a forty mile an hour wind above the treeline. Then there the times when my feet go out from under me and I spend a few minutes turtling while I figure out how to stand up, assess the bruises and figure out if I broke or sprained anything. And weighed against all of this, is the sense that I am saving my own life. I'm getting out from behind a desk where five or ten pounds a year add to my waistline and slowly destroy my knees. A place where borderline high blood pressure gives way to hypertension. I'm giving my body the chance to break down and rebuild itself. I'll allow my mind to let go of the clutter and focus on finding that quiet place where I can recover parts of myself that I've lost and discover parts of myself that I knew could exist. I'll alternately commend myself and forgive myself for a lifetime of choices made and decisions fumbled. I realize it is a tall order for a three month (or six month) walk in the woods. But just like the fantasy hike in the first part, if even a part of the wonder is acheived, it will be worth it.If anyone has actually read this, thanks for reading... think a good thought for me as I begin and come back to plow through any updates on what actually happens.