Date: 2012-04-20
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I would like to give one a little taste of what it is like for a thru-hiker. You can get on youtube.com and type in "A days life of a thru-hiker". It gives one an idea, however, one doesn't really know what it is like till it is their journey. Cost. Oh boy! When I did research the approx cost hiking the Appalachian Trail, I read $1 per mile, beep wrong wrong wrong. It is actually about $3 per person per mile. For couples, I suggest $2000.00 per 500 miles. Avoid going into towns to cut cost. Get a group together for hotel rooms, cabins, shuttles, and laundry. Do not go to walmart to purchase shoes, boots, sleeping bags, tent and backpacks. These items do not last and can be very heavy. One will end up repurchasing these items on the trail and end up getting better gear and it is very costly on the trail. We hear if one has bought Mountain Hardware, Big Agnes, Montbell and other big brand names, exception of Marmot, even better, become a member of REI, they are great about replacing gear. If anything happens to them on the trail, give the company a call and let them know that your a thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail and they should replace the gear free. Majority of thru-hikers like the "The A.T. Guide" by David "AWOL" Miller. In this guide, there is a list of numbers of the company's.We use Aquamira water treatment, it is light weight, and cheap.When we wake up Scooter will boil water for breakfast while I pack up the air mattresses and sleeping bags. We eat, pack up our gear and start walking, usually before 9 a.m.. We stop for lunch and take our shoe's and socks off while we eat to let our feet air out, which we take maybe 30 minutes. After we pack our food up and put our shoe's on, we walk till we either get tired, find a good spot or if we chose something out of the "AWOL". Scooter cooks and sometimes I will start putting the tent up, but he stakes it down and I will prepare our beds. Scooter always starts a fire, for there is nothing like a hikers tv. When it gets dark (hikers midnight) we go to bed.As we arrive in town we try to get a bite to eat, then hurry to do laundry, resupply, update trailjournal.com and repack our backpacks. The computers that are available have a limited time that one can be on for there are many hikers that need to use them also. I am very thankful for the places that provide them for the thru-hikers, but most are not able to upload picture's.Most hostels will let a thru-hiker work for stay, which can save money the bad thing is a thru-hiker still has to do laundry, and resupply.As we lay down to go to sleep, our bodies ache every night. I believe that they ache and hurt for they are use to moving so the muscles have a hard time relaxing. We have purchased hammocks and are hoping that the aches will be less.If one is reading our journal and I have not updated it in a week or maybe even two, the reason is the towns are anywhere from 3 to 5 days apart and the computer may not be available.I am sure that I have missed something and if you have a question please ask in the guest book and I will try and answer as soon as possible.Aimster