Date: 2003-03-17
To: The Awakening ...
Miles today: 0.0

Well   ...as of 4 PM last Friday I officially became an unemployed AT thru-hiker. This morning is the first "working day" on which I did not set the alarm and was not glued to a computer screen at 7:30 AM. For someone who has been employed just about every day of their life since they were 11 years old, that's quite a sensation. It's both liberating and restraining at the same time. I think this one is going to take me quite a few days/miles to get over.Be that as it may, my "job" now is to tie up all the loose ends here in Laramie and finalize my clothing/gear before flying to Atlanta on 3/23. Actually I'm in pretty good shape in that regard because I've been nibbling away at the list on a day by day basis for the last month or so. The Taxes are done (Yipee   ..we're getting a return!) and my first maildrop box is packed and ready to be mailed. That box contains 4 days worth of food which will get me from Neels Gap to Dicks Creek Gap, where I will be hitching a ride into the town of Hiawassee for re-supply. I also put the final touches on my "bounce box" last night. A "bounce box" is a container in which you place items of gear/clothing etc that you will need at some point along the trail but that you would rather not lug in your pack during the hike. These are typically items that are not easily purchased in towns along the way. You basically mail this bounce box to yourself in 2 - 3 week intervals along the trail.Tomorrow should prove interesting. The outdoor editor for our local Laramie newspaper (The "Boomerang"   ...long story, don't ask !) took interest in my thru-hike. He wants to do an initial article and then run updates at various times during my hike. Can't remember the last time my name or picture was in the newspaper so it's kind of got me a little excited. Now Laramie is a small town and that means that just about everybody here is going to know who I am and what I'm doing in about a week or so. So much for anonymity, I guess. It should be fun though and I'm really looking forward to the interview. About the only pending issue to date is my tent. However, I contacted Kurt at Wanderlust Outdoor Gear and he assured me that it is being sent today via "overnight mail" service. Why am I still waiting for a tent, when I could have used one of the many others I have in my gear locker ?? Well, it's all about weight. The lightest tent I currently own goes out the door at about 3.5 pounds. Now, that may not seem heavy to some of you however, when you start adding everything up in your pack and then you embrace the thought of carrying that load on your back for 2,100 some odd miles, it's cause for reflection. Fortunately for hikers, there is a company called Wanderlust Outdoor Gear. The company was started by a former thru-hiker and it dedicated to ultra-lightweight shelters. The tent I purchased is called the Nomad Lite and the entire assembly, complete with poles and lines, tips the scale at 1 pound/11 oounces. That's a saving of almost 2 pounds off my back right there. Another advantage of this tent is that it uses your hiking poles as it's main support so there is no duplication of weight. The Wanderlust tent achieves this light weight through the use of silicone impregnated nylon rather than traditional taffeta materials. It is also a "single wall" tent, meaning that there is no separate tent fly to place over the tent body. The "silnylon", as it is called, is 100% waterproof. But   ...that brings me to my current anxiety over its arrival. Before I can take the tent out in the woods I have to apply silicon seam sealer to all the stitch lines. That, in addition to the waterproof nature of the silnylon, guarantees me a dry shelter.OK   ...OK, enough about gear. But if you've read any of the other entries here on Trailjournals you've already figured out that hikers like talking about their gear. Funny though, because most of that talking takes place BEFORE the hike begins. Once hikers are out there on the trail they are much more focused on the experience and only concerned with the actual performance of the gear.So, where is Footslogger's head at the moment ?? Actually, most of my thoughts these days are centered in one of two areas   ...being away from my partner and best friend for 6 months OR the pure enjoyment I am about to experience on the trail. Leslie and I were reminiscing the other day about her thru-hike in 2001. She openly admits to having had doubts in the beginning about her ability to complete that hike. In my case, those doubts are absent. I've been through far tougher scrapes in my life physically. I think for me the challenge will be more mental. Six months of walking, day-after-day, through all types of weather and sometimes totally alone, will at some point begin to take its toll. It's at those moments in my hike when I will have to reach deep inside and find the strength and determintation to carry on. Something tells me though that the combined support from Leslie, other family members and friends and my own desire to see this through, I will prevail !!About 2500 or so people attempt a thru-hike each year and the latest statistics reported by the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) indicate that the completion rate for thru-hikers is around 17%. That means for every 100 hikers who start this journey at Springer Mountain only 17 reach Katahdin. Some lose heart early on for whatever reason, most likely being that they underestimated the hardships involved. Some hikers sustain injuries, either accidentally or by pushing themselves too hard at first. Another cause for dropping off the trail is sickness. Hikers are totally exposed to the elements, other than when they are in towns, and often catch colds or are bitten/stung by creatures and require professional medical attention. A certain number of hikers acquire intestinal problems from the diet or parasites in some water supplies. In some cases these hikers received treatment and can resume hiking after a few days/weeks of convalescence. However, an AT thru-hiker must always remain aware of the calendar. Reason being      ...Baxter State Park, the home of Katahdin in Maine, shuts its gates in mid October for the Winter. So, if you haven't reached the summit by around October 15th it is possible that you might be turned away.   Hikers who find themselves in jeapardy of being shut out of Baxter State Park due to any of the delays mentioned above often will skip ahead and summit Katahdin in September and then reverse their direction to Southbound, finishing their thru-hike further south where they left off. If all goes well, my start date of March 29th is more than adequate to allow for a safe paced hike and an arrival at Katahdin by the end of September.I guess this is getting a little long and I really do have to turn my attention to the remaining items on the list of "To-Do's". Time flies and before I know it the week will be gone and I'll be on the big iron bird headed toward Atlanta and my destiny on the Appalachain Trail. Speaking of time flying   ...there were moments when I thought 2003 would never get here. That anxiety and impatience turned into doubts that March would never arrive. Ah, and then came the wait for March 23. Funny, in looking back now though that it all seems to have happened exactly as one would have expected      ...ONE DAY AT A TIME !   That only goes to show once more that we have to live life in the Forward direction but often can only understand it in REVERSE. Anyway, this week is sure to go by fast and soon find me in Atlanta on the evening of 3/23. Although my central focus is on the start of my hike the morning of 3/29, I am truly excited about the many things that will happen during the week in between. I am going to make a presentation to my former Boy Scout troop regarding the AT. I am also going to spend time with my daughter and son, Erin and Ike, and visit with my many friends in the Atlanta area. All in all it should make for a great "wind-down" to the preparation phase and "cycle-up" for the hiking phase of my adventure.Once again I thank everyone for tuning in and reading my journal. You know, it's easy to get all caught up in the process of getting ready for a thru-hike and "zone out" to some extent. It can be a selfish process and I'm sure I've been guilty of that at times. But in these final days of preparation I have clearly come to realize that it is also a process much larger than ME   ...and I could never be pulling it off without the love and support of my wife, my family and my friends. Just know that you'll all be there with me as I make my way northward on the trail.