Date: 2003-12-08
To: "You're doing what???"
Miles today: 0.0

"I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me." - Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne.I am going to bet there are a few of you out there (especially those of you whom I am introducing to this whole hiking thing) who have absolutely no idea what it is that I am doing next year. Let me clear a few things up...1. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, as it is officially known, AT to the rest of us, stretches 'up' America (the way I am going) along the eastern side of the country from Springer Mountain in Georgia in America's south-east to Mt Katahdin in Maine in the north-east. I will be walking through 14 states along my 2170-ish mile (3500-odd kilometres) thru-hike. 2. The direction I am going is northbound which is NOBO in hiker speak, also known as Georgia to Maine - GA>ME again, hiker speak. Just so that when you see the little letters at the end of my e-mails you don't get confused and think I have done some bizarre university degree you didn't know about.3. It is not an organised tour. No-one is guiding me on this trip. There is no-one at the end of the day to set up my tent and cook my dinner except me. I am doing it all under my own steam and (lack of) knowledge. Trial and error is probably going to be a good way of describing my first few weeks. I have never hiked before in my life and it is a damned long time since I was in the Girl Guides. Scared? You bet. Looking forward to it? Bring it on I say!4. It will take me around 6 months or so to complete. Yes, I will be walking for 6 months. Yes, me. Stop laughing now...please. Mountains? Yes, there are a couple of those (250-ish plus). Are they big? Having not a lot to compare them to around here, I am just going to say yes. Some upwards of 6000 ft ( that's upwards of 1800m for you metric lover's).5. "Who is going to carry my stuff?" Why, that would be me. "Where will I sleep?" Either in my tent or in a man-made shelter provided along the way (these do tend to have a resident population of mice so there is a good chance I will lean towards the tent). "But you can't plug your hairdryer into a tree!" I know that, and as I won't be showering for a week or so at a time, hair drying is going to be the least of my problems. "Where will you go to the toilet?" That would be in a privy (dunny to those of us that know what that means) at one of the shelters, or the good old fashioned squat in the woods. Of course, waste and human by products all get buried well away from any water sources.6. "You can't carry 6 months of food with you the whole way!" I know that, nor would I wish to try. There are towns along the way which the AT passes through, close to or not very close to right the way to the end. I will be doing my resupplying of goods at these places. I will be using a 'bounce box' to move the stuff I don't want to carry with me from one town to the next. I will try to compile some sort of mail drop, pickup, schedule thingy before I leave but it is a little bit difficult to do from the other side of the world...7. "What are you going to drink?" I will mainly be drinking water. No, there aren't many taps out in the back country, so I will be using a filter to clean the water that I collect from streams etc to make it digestible/safe. I will need to find a water source every day to keep myself hydrated along the way.8. "But, when you leave here it will be Summer, is it Summer in the US then?" Ahh, no. The start of my trip is going to be bloody cold actually, the end of the US Winter. High possibility that I will be hiking through snow. Snow storms have been reported in April in Georgia some years. I am starting on the 29th of February. You work it out.9. "Why the 29th of February?" It is Leap Year Day of course! A perfect day to start a major undertaking, life-changing journey. Technically, I will start hiking on the 28th of February. That is when I will be leaving Amicalola Falls State Park to head to the top of Springer Mountain. I will not even be on the 'official' AT until I reach the top, where there is a special marker. I will actually be staying about 1.5 miles south of the top of Springer Mountain, hitting the real thing on the 29th.10. "But you have a shocking sense of direction, how will you find your way?" Panic not my friends. The AT "is marked for daytime travel in both directions, using a system of paint 'blazes' on trees, posts, and rocks." - according to Step by Step, published by the Appalachian Trail Conference.Any questions so far? If so, e-mail me and we can tackle them together.