Date: 2004-01-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So, this is my first entry here on trailjournals. I've found the site to be extremely useful in preparation for my hike, and I hope one day that maybe someone else can learn from all the silly mistakes I'm bound to make.When I discovered I could actually make this trip this year, and made the firm decision in August, I began to look for a partner. I wanted someone to split gear weight with, and someone to split setup and teardown with each day, and occasionally too I suppose someone to share the sights with. Normally I'm a very solitary person and one of the myriad of reasons I'm making this hike is to have time alone. I do not anticipate spending much time in town, or in shelters, though we'll see how that goes as the hike goes on. In fact, my start date was deliberately selected to avoid major crowds.As it turns out, looking for a partner for the thru-hike felt an awful lot like posting a personal ad. I mean, it pretty much was. If you're going to spend every night with someone for six months, sharing what is arguably the most spiritually powerful and emotionally and physically difficult journey of your entire life, you'd better like them. A lot. So I met this wonderful woman, and her name was Joanne and she lived 9 hours away from me, up in Toronto. We had a million things in common and clicked right away. We began to plan our trip.One of the things we shared that was particularly convenient is that we're both vegetarians. This may not seem like a big deal, but what a difference it makes in meal planning when you know you can't count on finding what you need in your average trail town, and when you can't take dried meats or any of the vast majority of trail foods because they're made with meat or meat stock. We found a great website (www.waltonfood.com) that sells freeze dried food in 2.5 and 10 pound cans, and we planned about 2 dozen different meals. We were gonna be the best fed hikers on the trail :P (Anyone see that trail video with the guy who pointed to his food and went "ramen, mac & cheese, lipton noodles and sauce, ramen, mac & cheese, lipton noodles and sauce..."?) We planned a gazillion mail drops (well, 26). We talked endlessly of gear choices and weights and clothes and everything else, down to the contents of our first aid kits (who needs cravats when you can rip up a shirt?). We were ready.Mean time, I began an exercise regimen. I'm getting in shape. I know its not the kind of shape I'll be in four weeks into my hike, and I know the beginning will be very hard, but I figure that every step I take on the treadmill, pack or no pack, makes every step I take on the mountain a little easier. I also started gathering gear and food. I'm making my own trail mix, and packing a lot of my own meals. I picked up one of those mummy bags by Sierra Designs that lets you squirm and stretch, because I'd go nuts if I couldn't. I was willing to carry the weight (it's a 3 pound bag) for the comfort. I also got a full length sleeping pad (14 ounces!) for the same reason - if you don't sleep well, you're going home, so you do what you've gotta do. I'll make it up elsewhere. My pack weighs a little less than 5 pounds and is almost as old as I am, but faithful and comfortable. Also, my mom sewed my trailname into it about 15 years ago I still have no rain gear, but I think i'll be getting it shortly from warmlite.com. I spent almost $500 on footwear finding two pairs of the right boots, but boy was it worth it. I like hiking poles and picked up a lightweight pair for women from EMS. My partner suggested (for all you women out there!) a simple contraption they sell to invalids that allows you to pee without taking your pants off. Sometimes it must be nice to be a guy :P Anyway, I haven't used it yet and I'm told it takes practice. We'll see how that goes. For the record, if you've never been to MEC up in Canada, you have no idea what you're missing. Its without question the biggest outfitter in the universe. I think you can go to mountainequipmentcoop.com and see what they export, but I'm not sure.So, I'm almost ready. I've got probably another 100 hours of prep work to do. I'm leaving work on March 1st to take care of the rest of it. There's so much for me because I'm packing so much of my own food to save money and to be able to have my own camping meals with TVP (textured veggie protien) and no meat in them. Most people won't have to go through all that trouble if they don't want to, but I'll be saving a couple bucks a day on food for my time. I'm obviously very excited. For a while it was this surreal thing, and now that it's so close, it's starting to feel really real again. Yesterday I broke into tears for 45 minutes and couldn't stop myself. I have never been so happy, or so overwhelmed. It's almost too much. There aren't even words for it.