Date: 2018-03-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Yikes, only 18 days until my big hike begins!  I¢m super excited, but I would be lying if I said I wasn¢t a little nervous too.  Trailjournals.com requires that I make 3 entries before my journal becomes available for public view.  There¢s definitely a learning curve here, so I¢m sure I¢ll need all three entries before I feel comfortable using this journaling format. The struggle is real, but I¢m here to talk about the A.T.(Appalachian Trail).  The A.T. is approximately 2190 miles long. Actual distance fluctuates because the trail gets detoured or rerouted from time to time.  This is usually due to forest fires, but can be almost anything from natural disasters to increased bear activity.  Yep, I said Bear!  The A.T. runs through 14 states from Georgia to Maine.  A few hikers choose the opposite path from Maine to Georgia.  As for me, I¢m a NOBO (northbounder) from Georgia to Maine.  Hikers going the other way are called SOBO (southbounder).  I¢m hoping to cross paths with some SOBO¢s along the way and get their perspective from hiking the opposite way.   A through hiker is someone who hikes the entire trail in one season.  This is my goal!  I¢m hoping to earn the title of  NOBO Through Hiker 2018.  There are no rules to this except you must walk every inch of the trail in your season.  So when I come down to re-stock I must go back up where I came down.  I¢ve got 2 planned trips off the mountain during my 6 months out there.  Each will be for a few days off the trail.  The same rule applies¢¦ I must go up where I came down.  And of course timing is important.  I cannot take too much time off the trail or I won¢t get to finish in my season.  I know there is a cut-off date to summit Mt. Katahdin in Maine, and  I¢ve got to summit Katahdin! Back to my nerves¢¦in 2016 there were 3,337 hikers who attempted to through hike the A.T.  685 of those hikers actually made it.  That¢s around a 20% success rate.  More than half of the hikers who attempt a through hike are in their 20¢s, but the rest fill up the ranks 30¢s,40¢s, 50¢s, and older.  I¢ve personally noted in my readings that middle aged women rarely make it.  As a matter of fact not one of the middle aged women I¢ve followed have ever made it.  I¢ll turn 54 years old on the trail, the odds are stacked against me¢¦but I¢m not a quitter.  Why do hikers drop off?  Lots of reasons.  Often times it¢s due to sickness or injury, and on a rare occasion death. Most times they just give up. It¢s not in them to go the long haul. Sometimes they get what they came for without going the distance.  All I know for sure is that I¢m not a quitter!  As my daughter Kayla says ¢if mom comes off the trail early it¢ll be on a stretcher¢!  She¢s probably right.  None the less,  all of these little tidbits of information gets my nerves going just a little.  Well I guess this is enough to be a decent first entry in my journal.  I¢ll talk about the common illnesses and my trail name over the next two mandatory entries.  The hiker world is very interesting, so I¢ve got lots to share. So long for now from Paducah Kentucky,  where I¢m visiting my kids and grands one last time before I set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Blue Raccoon (2018)