Date: 2012-02-15
To: Prep #10 - Once more with feeling!
Miles today: 0.0

IT¢S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! Oh wow sorry. Whew. Glad we got through that. But seriously all references to 80¢s rock bands aside, I am now happily no longer talking about heading out to the trail in years, months, or even weeks but in a matter of days! The time is almost here! It has been such a long planning process I can hardly wrap my brain around it. But I am filled with so much excitement and itching for February to rush by. This is absolutely foolish because I have sooooooo much that needs to get done before March. Thanks to lots of prep hikes I feel very comfortable with all my gear and ready to be on the trail. Yet I still have this nagging doubt that I am unprepared or forgetting something. Whether this is trail related or not, I cannot say. Maybe it¢s because I¢m still winded when climbing hills, or maybe there is some critical gear item I completely forgot, or something to do with finances, grad school applications, my brother¢s wedding, sorting through and storing my accumulation of material goods for the trip. Ahhhh stress, it will be such a relief to be on the trail and if I did forget anything I guess I¢ll find out the hard way.For the first week of February, I had the great pleasure of being invited back to my island in Maine to teach a week of ceramics with the students of the one room K-8 school there. The kids are awesome and it was so much fun being back. We also took some time to talk about the trail as these guys are going to be following along as I move north. Promise I¢ll try to keep things kid friendly. It is so much fun talking to young people about the trail because they have fewer hang-ups regarding animals, raving hillbillies, and tend to have more interesting questions that polite society doesn¢t wish to discuss. Let¢s talk in depth about what pack it in pack it out actually means. Wahaha, I wish you could have seen their faces. I was doubly fortunate for the opportunity to stay and catch up with my good friends the Finns who teach there. These two are so adventurous and have already done amazing things despite being so young. But their stories are not mine to tell so I¢ll just have to leave you in suspense. There was something so right about being able to walk the same trails that inspired me to undertake this journey and I had this incredible sense of reaffirmation and preparedness. Maine¢s beauty cannot be adequately described; instead its graceful rawness has to be felt. And it will get under your skin, drawing you back to it again and again. For me there will be this extra incentive to reach this land that has already stolen my heart. Darn you for being so magnificent while being SO. DARN. COLD. Of course, being in Maine in January also gave me the opportunity to try out my new hiking clothing in colder climates than Virginia¢s unusually mild winter season. I was very impressed with the performance of my thermawrap jacket and only hope it has the durability to last a long time on the trail. I was able to test my hiking ensemble down to 20 degrees and was warm but I was a little concerned that being in sustained low temperatures night and day might bring me down from comfort to just tolerable. So I¢ve decided to add a lightweight fleece as an extra precaution against the chill and something soft to use as a pillow. I know I know what a princess and the pea moment huh? So on the way home I stopped in Boston to visit my friend for a few days and took the opportunity while she was at work to hit up a REI to return my new keens. I loved these shoes but had a problem with the top stitching on one digging in and bruising my right foot. This was not the case for my left shoe so I don¢t want anyone to be concerned about the brand as I¢m sure this was an anomaly. Of course I simply cannot resist browsing up and down Every. Single. Aisle. and what do I find? Why sale sale sale! All sorts of goodies on clearance. It was so hard but I resisted and limited myself to a great pair of keens to replace those I just returned (Sale!) and a fleece which just so happened to be my favorite color (Sale!). OOO sparkly. I must have you.Okay now has come the moment I¢ve been waiting for, laying out all my gear and doing a final assessment. I don¢t think I have ever owned this many named brand products in my life. I feel like I am a giant walking billboard. While I know there are a lot of great off brand products and DIY gear out there, I never seemed able to get my hands on it or there was some kind of weight advantage or special cut that I liked more and was willing to pay for. Despite my heartfelt distaste for wearing all things branded, here I am. Still, there is something very satisfying about just creating a large pile of gear and thinking, ¢This is it, this is all I am going to have access to in the next 6 months, every piece here has a function, a purpose, and I will feel the weight of it all with every step.¢ I¢ll upload a picture in the next few days if you too wish to witness this magnificent moment. Also check out the hilarious poster I totally stole from my hiking partner who in turn stole it from someone else. Ah facebook, what will I do without you.Before getting into my last thoughts, I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has helped me reach this point through their words of encouragement, generous gifts and support, and for inspiring me. I have been surrounded by strong, adventurous people all my life that always provided a glimpse of what is possible and supported the same traveling spirit in me. You know who you are and you have my love, always. I also wanted to thank the hiking community which has so graciously accepted me and been so willing to lend me their knowledge. Thank you Webbear for making sure I knew about the new bear canister requirement (I will hike through that section I think), and for Certain, who has taken the time to meet me, go through my gear with me, and generally reassure me that I¢m doing everything I can in preparation. She is an amazing person and you can check out her journal here: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=4316The drive home left a lot of time for reflection and my route actually ran parallel to the trail for the most part. Driving from Maine to VA takes 16 hours and it just kept hitting me that this same path would take me around 4 months. Your brain knows this, but I feel like it can¢t actually process exactly what that distance and time frame really mean. We live in a time and place on earth where we are so quickly connected electronically and physically to each other and places through truly astonishing modes of transportation and communication. I am glad for these things, but am really looking forward to slowing down and truly appreciating just how large our planet is and experiencing a very human scale of movement. Contemplation. This is a word that is often not given its due. Busy lives full of stimulation tend to leave little time for it. But starting very soon, I am going to have more time with myself for reflection than ever before. There will be no escape from myself. Having lived alone on a remote island for two years I have some experience with being alone with myself (which changes you, don¢t think it doesn¢t), but I feel like this is going to be different, something that will inherently connect me with my body through the physical act of walking. And with nothing to distract my thoughts, I know that my mind will peel away old scabs, old embarrassments, examine a personality tempered by society¢s rules, rehash moments of failure and joy, longings, dreams, fears, strengths and when things are said and done, I will know myself. The next time I write will be from the trail. Until then check out this great video and contemplate your own next great adventure: http://vimeo.com/20218520