Date: 2012-12-15
To: Initial thoughts on physical & mental preparation
Miles today: 0.0

I have begun perusing some other trail journals on trailjournals.com. It would certainly be wise to read some past journals ¢ those of people who were both prolific writers and successful thru-hikers. Thus far, I have only read the preparatory journals of other 2013 hikers. I entertain the thought that I am getting to know friends whose feet will share the same 2000-mile stretch of soil and stone with mine, before any of us have stepped foot on the Trail for the occasion. Establishing any connection with these people will certainly boost my motivation as I prepare for my own walk. In the past it has always been inspiring to connect to other backpackers on or off the trail. Reading the words of aspiring 2013 walkers inspires me just the same if not more so ¢ instead of encountering them and hearing their stories, I am hearing their stories and still have the incentive of encountering them!One common thread thus far has been explanations of how these would-be (hopefully will-be) walkers are preparing for the Trail. I see plenty of mention of physical practice ¢ walking miles and miles with and without their packs, to get their bodies ready to go. I see some mention of mental preparations ¢ doing these training walks in poor weather, and camping out in the cold with just the kit they will have on them.Physical preparationI don¢t feel like my direct physical preparation for the trail approaches the preparations of these other hikers. I have wanted to start walking to work as the bulk of my preparatory walking. As the case often is in middle class New Jersey, life is just so full of things that I must run immediately from waking to work to whatever is happening after work. These things are nothing bad, and probably less than common ¢ some nights I am folk dancing, other nights I have to go to my film photography class or the photo lab, and other nights I am running off to take a weekend or long weekend adventure somewhere. While those adventures may involve day hikes, they have only involved backpacking once this year!While I have not done much of this specifically for the Trail, I do feel like I do plenty that is contributing to my readiness. Folk dancing hardens my legs and feet. I frequently go barefoot so I can harden my feet for the Trail. This has worked well on past backpacking trips ¢ I only received one blister across all of them, and that was on the back of my heel. My sandals which I dedicated to my early dancing were demolished from the top-down, and my current pair of dance shoes (hiking shoes which I walked flat) is in tatters.Past backpacking trips have shown me that I can easily adapt to life in the woods. All of my trips have been in the Delaware Water Gap ¢ not the toughest terrain around, but the best I can do in New Jersey. These trips have been shakedown trips, testing out my equipment and my body and seeing what works and what doesn¢t. Even if the gear wasn¢t exactly what I desired every time, I have felt that I could just keep walking past my finish point if the work world wasn¢t pulling me back into civilization!Outside of backpacking, I find myself outdoors whenever possible. Even on day hikes, I find myself carrying a heavy load. If I am going on a short walk and don¢t need to carry everything I need to survive on my back, I usually find myself loaded down with cameras, lenses, and tripods. Sometimes I fill in any extra space with drinks, to weigh myself down just a bit more. My job also involves plenty of heavy lifting on a daily basis. I feel like I move easily under a heavy load. By April, I bet I will have a better idea on whether or not that is true.Mental preparationThe greatest mental preparation I have done has been interacting with other walkers. This could be picking up hitchhikers near a trailhead, or walking alongside other backpackers for a brief part of their journey, or reaching out to them online. Every time, I come away from the encounter with greater motivation and excitement for my own walk. Not only do I hear their stories and sense their energy (and smell all the trail perfume), but sometimes I gain some practical firsthand advice that I can later implement.I am planning to start reading more about the wild places and their characters. I come from a family which is entirely not outdoorsy. Literature is what really called out to me and inspired me to be outdoors in my youth ¢ most memorable were the works of Jack London, Gary Paulsen, and Jean Craighead George. In youth I dedicated plenty of thought how cool it would be if I could live like the kid in My Side of the Mountain! More recently, I have read A Walk in the Woods. I have some other trail and backpacking books waiting for me to purchase them on Amazon. I might even interrupt my stack of books on New Jersey folklore to get started on these more immediately relevant books. I am counting trail journals as my reading as well, as those writing and their authors will definitely be a huge help to me!My work involves spending long hours on the road and outside the work truck in all conditions. Nasty weather in the woods is not a motivation for this walk, but it is certainly a welcome change from working outside in rain and snow and freezing temperatures and close proximity to uncaring high-speed traffic!In closingWhile I am not yet doing much physical preparation specifically for the Trail, I guess I am starting to take more and more measures to prepare my mind for March. I hope to continue reading 2013 trail journals and seeing their authors on the trail in a few short months!Peace,