Date: 2012-12-24
From: Reno, NV

To: Reno, NV
Miles today: 0.0

It's been almost four months since we completed our Appalachian Trail thru hike, and we still can't believe we did it! We talked the other evening about how well the whole hike went. The whole hike was my (Karen's) dream, not Gary's, but he really latched onto my dream and worked very hard to make it happen. He was the one who researched lightweight equipment, and outfitted us. He also did most of the daily planning, such as mileages, when to resupply, when to take zero days, and the like. Once he figured these things out, we would discuss them and make changes as needed. He also did the cooking, since he was more comfortable operating the alcohol stove than I was. I would fill the water bladders and treat the water. We both set up the tent together, the dozen or so times we used it, and each of us would generally put his or her own sleeping bag and blow up his or her air mattress, though this varied depending on whether one of us was really exhausted at the end of the day. Also, usually I would stuff Gary's sleeping bag and roll up his air mattress in the morning while he made breakfast for both of us. Of the equipment we brought, we ended up only switching out our sleeping pads. We started out using closed cell foam pads and found we weren't sleeping very well, so we bought Thermarest Neo Air XL air mattresses in Damascus. (Random note: What a difference! We immediately noticed we slept well all night long, every night, once we made this change.) This change added only four ounces to my pack weight and about eight ounces to Gary's. (Random note: This included subtracting the hip length foam pads that we gave away once we purchased the air mattresses. We still used the full length, quarter inch closed cell foam pads to protect our air mattresses from the wood shelter floors.) We kept our pack weights as light as possible, especially me, since I'm under a hundred pounds. My pack was generally between fifteen and twenty pounds, with a top weight of twenty four pounds after resupplying. My base weight was about ten pounds. The rest of the weight was food and water. Gary's pack was generally under thirty pounds, with a high of thirty-two or so pounds. His base weight was about sixteen pounds, since he carried the tent, stove, dishes, and some of the heavier food. His clothes, being larger, were also somewhat heavier than mine. He carried the first aid kit, while I carried the toiletries, vitamins, and the like. We felt it was fair to have him carry a heavier pack than I did since he was so much larger than I. Our goal was to have both of us be able to comfortably hike the same number of miles per day, and at a similar speed. As it turned out, Gary could still out hike me on the ascents, though I could keep up on the flats and descents. For the most part, we were similarly tired at the end the day, though I tended to feel the extra weight we carried out of town after resupplying more, or at least I whined about it more. We also tended to feel the need for a zero day after about the same number of days. We had agreed from the start that whenever it stopped being fun, it was time for a day off. This worked well for us. Our training for this hike seemed to work pretty well. I retired in June of 2011 and started carrying a fifteen pound pack on most of my walks and hikes for the next nine months. Consequently, I hardly even felt my pack by the time we started our thru hike. I think what really helped us, though, was our thirty years of long distance running on trails. Both of us had done ultradistance trail runs of up to one hundred miles in length. This helped us mentally to realize that, even tired, we could hike another five miles if needed. We have also ridden our tandem bicycle across the country once, and I have ridden my single bike across several times as well. This gave us the experience of exercising all day long for many days in a row. We had also hiked several times in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in Maine, in Georgia, and in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, to get a feel for the Appalachian Trail. Knowing a little of what the trail would be like motivated us to train for the thru hike. Still, thru hiking the Appalachian Trail was more challenging physically than we had anticipated. Even though we had hiked in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and in Maine, we hadn't remembered all the rock slabs and hand over hand climbing. The most difficult thing physically about thru hiking the AT, however, was hiking fifteen or so miles a day, day after day, even when we were tired. Fortunately, we both found the hike easier mentally than we had anticipated. Neither of us found it difficult to get up and hike every day, and the days seemed to go by quickly. The almost six months it took to complete the hike seemed to go by in a flash, so we must have been having a good time. (Random note: I frequently thought to myself, "I'm living my dream!" How many people get to do that?) Whenever I would think to myself that it was hard, I would think of all the fourteen hour days I had put in working, or, when I would think how hard it was to gather and treat the water at the end of twenty mile day, I would think of all the people in the world who have to walk miles to get their water. I figured out about halfway through the hike that I really didn't like to camp...but that it didn't matter one bit. We both love to walk all day, and THAT was what mattered. We also figured out early in the hike that we both liked to stay in the shelters. It saved time and energy not to set up the tent, though we did carry it the whole way, and we used it a dozen or so times, especially in Maine, where the shelters didn't seem to be where we wanted to stop at each day's end. (Random note: We would not hike the AT without a tent. Even though we didn't use ours very often, we felt it was worthwhile to have it in case of emergency.) Many people prefer to sleep in their tent every night, however, enjoying the privacy that tenting affords. Some people were able to get by without a stove, eating cold food all the time, but we enjoyed eating a hot breakfast most mornings, and liked our hot dinners as well. (Random note: we only used our stove to heat water, which we poured into our dishes, into which we had already put our food.) We saw less wildlife than I had thought we would see. I saw only three bears, all in Shenandoah National Park. Gary saw one additional bear in Massachusetts. We saw more deer, but probably not more than thirty in twenty-two hundred miles. We also saw a few rabbits, some squirrels, a mink, a porcupine, a vole, and a few shelter mice, but not many. We saw two Copperhead snakes in rock crevices, and a couple of timber rattle snakes along the trail. We saw numerous toads, who scurried off the trail in front of us, a few frogs, and many orange efts. (Random note: Efts are the terrestrial stage of newts.) We heard many birds, especially in the early mornings. The loudest bird was a whippoorwill, who woke many of us up one morning. The trees and wildflowers we saw along the trail were beautiful. Since we started in Georgia when it was still winter, and the trees were bare. It was interesting to watch as the trees started to leaf out in early spring, and as the earliest flowers came up. As we walked, it became summer, and we saw different flowers. By the time we completed our hike in early September, the leaves were starting to turn fall colors, and we saw few wildflowers. I never tired of photographing the flowers and trees, to try to identify after we came home. We had heard the AT described as the Appalachian Social Trail. This was true for us. People on the trail and in trail towns were unfailingly friendly and helpful. Trail angels always appeared when you least expected them, and when they were most needed. There was nothing like finding some cans of Coke or Dr. Pepper at the base of a steep climb, or a note saying breakfast was half a mile ahead and to the right. It amazed us that people would pick us up in beautiful new cars when we'd be hitch hiking...even the day when we were soaking wet after hiking most of the day in the rain. People in trail towns were amazing, too! The post office workers were so kind, and so helpful for answering all kinds of questions, from telling us where we could find a notary on a Saturday, to who could use our worn out hiking shoes. Another time, a man invited us to stay in his yard near the trail. The next morning his wife took us out for breakfast. I could go on and on about the kindness of people along the way. Hiking the trail gave us faith in the upcoming generation of young people. The young hikers were high quality people: intelligent, honest, and helpful. One time, I left my front pack by accident at a shelter. We realized this four miles down the trail. Gary hiked back for it, but the two young men still at the shelter were about to carry it forward and catch us at the next shelter! Another time, when Gary accidentally left one of his water bladders at a shelter, another hiker carried it forward, passed us while we were in town resupplying, and left it with a note up ahead in a shelter, and leaving word with other hikers as to what he was doing! I could go on and on about the great people we met along the way! All in all, I think I can say that our hike was an unmitigated success. Sometimes, when someone has wanted to do something for a long time, the reality is a disappointment. Sometimes, however, the reality is even better than the dream. That was the case for our thru hike.