Date: 2008-12-22
To: Meeting Certain!
Miles today: 0.0

      After packing late into the night, waking up incredibly early to 9 inches of snow at my door, which had to be shoveled away in order to get to the 7:25 am train, I began a long day of travel to North Carolina on Saturday, the 20th.         Once there, we made another stop at REI so I could buy a Nalgene bottle for a hot water bottle warmer and Erik picked up a down jacket, a rain jacket, and a pair of hiking poles. After some dinner and unpacking, it was time to get some sleep before another early start. We had a nearly four-hour drive to Virginia ahead of us to meet Certain for a lesson in hanging a hammock.        By the time we arrived at her house and were welcomed in, all I honestly wanted to do was take a nap and have a guitar lesson! (I bought myself a guitar in July and have been absolutely dying for some lessons! With all of my money going to the trail, however, this is something that has to be put on hold. A few nights before, I had a dream about visiting Karen¢s and Certain¢s home, and in the dream, I walked into their house to see two guitars in front of me. I was so happy! Then, in real life, I could not believe my eyes, when I walked into their home, and saw none other than two guitars hanging on the wall ahead of me. Unbelievable!) But after a delicious chicken sandwich made by Karen, it was time to get down to business.         Certain went through the contents of my pack and we discussed the few things that I had chosen to carry that were different from her decisions. Then, she let me pack up everything into her Catalyst and try it on. It felt great! She then taught me the figure eight knot for tying my hammock onto a carabiner, and the half-hitch knot, which she uses for just about everything else. We then gathered the components of my hammock (tarp, stakes, underquilt, carabiners, straps, and hammock), and headed out to a field with a couple of evergreens. It was a raw and windy day, providing an additional challenge to the instructional set-up. Certain taught me how to judge the proper distance between two trees for a hammock, how to work the ring and strap system, and how to test out the hammock before getting inside. She also adjusted my underquilt, and helped put the self-tensioning lines onto my tarp, all with infinite patience. We did not have time to put up the tarp as the sun was setting, but she did demonstrate her method of throwing a bear bag rope. We gathered everything up, headed back to her house, and went off to enjoy some sushi at a Japanese restaurant. Because Erik and I both had appointments in Durham the next morning, we had to drive back home that night. Before we left, Certain graciously allowed me to borrow several pieces of her valuable equipment to try out: her Catalyst pack, hammock straps, wide sleeping pad, and stuff sack!         We didn¢t arrive home until 3:15am, and after our appointments the next morning, spent the next couple of days catching up on rest, organizing our gear, finishing some work (Erik) and formulating a plan on where to hike next. We were thinking about hiking in the Pisgah National Forest to avoid the higher elevations on the AT and the cold and snow that comes with it, as well as for a change of scenery, but Certain recommended going to the Shenandoahs. Since we could easily drop off her equipment at her house afterwards, we decided that was where we would head.                Because we weren¢t ready to leave early enough on Wednesday to arrive in the Shenandoahs, hike to the nearest shelter, and set-up the hammock before dark, we ended up staying in Durham, walking around a hilly 2.9 mile running path with our packs, and setting up the hammock in the woods there. At first, people gave us strange looks, as they were probably not accustomed to seeing backpacks on this trail, but towards the end, became more friendly and interested in what we were doing. As I was setting up the hammock, one man stopped to say that he had enjoyed watching us hike around and wondered what we were training for. When I told him, he was very excited for me! It seems that the dream to hike the entire AT is more common than one would think. My first set-up of the hammock was a bit amusing, as the tarp didn¢t exactly match up with the hammock, leaving my head exposed to the sky, but it did support my weight, so at least the basic principles were right. I think it was a problem with the spacing of the trees. Again, night was falling, so we packed up and headed out in search of a place to eat on Christmas Eve.