Date: 2005-10-06
To: ALDHA Gathering
Miles today: 0.0

I drove up to Hanover, NH last weekend for the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDA) Annual Gathering (http://www.aldha.org/gather05.htm). Well worth the time and bad weather. Besides, it was practically in my back yard. By the time I reached the campground through rain and holiday traffic everyone had moved on to the high school for the opening event. Lucky I met old hands Jojo and Nomad and followed them back into town. I told them if I couldn¢t find my way around Hanover I was worried about find my way on the trail. Practically in unison the told me the trail is easy. It¢s find your way off trail that¢s the challenge. Nomad pointed out the white blazes on phone poles leading through town. When I offered to carry something for the folks working the registration table they plunked the cash box into my hands. Nice way to say welcome.Honesty, the crowd was a bag of mixed nuts. Granola crunch to red necks, corn balls to sophisticates, red states and blue states. One woman was breast feeding here baby in the bleachers. Another told me she¢ll probably carry a concealed weapon on the trail. There was hugging, kissing, handshaking, back slapping. It was a big old thru-hiker love-in. I wondered, are these truly my people? The best part of the evening was the thru-hiker class roll call. The class of 2005 was loud and proud. Quite a few people who had completed the trip more that once. Baltimore Jack had done it at least five times.During the weekend there were presentations on everything from bears to boots to hiking the PCT. There were many trail personalities from Baltimore Jack to Miss Janet to Yogi (favorite AT journal writer from¢99) I learned a bivy lesson. It leaks¢¦ a lot! It rained the whole weekend so I tested it out. I set it up Saturday night before dinner. An inch of water pooled in it by bed time. I slept in the car in my sleeping bag both nights.I attended several good workshops:From everything I¢ve read about tarp camping I¢ve thought it was more of a fad practiced by odd diehards. But after hearing explanations and seeing demonstrations, I changed my mind. I wouldn¢t use one in buggy conditions, but otherwise tarps look easy to use and make sense for lightening your pack. At another workshop I made a Pepsi can alcohol stove. I¢ll make a few more to test various designs, but will use alcohol instead of gas or butane. Everyone I talked who had used alcohol stoves swore by them. Light, free, good savings on fuel.The Q&A session with the class of 2005 was great. They contradicted each other, but their experienced taught that there is no one good way to do the trail. Some said mail drops are great. Others said they¢re needless and expensive. Some liked tents, other used only shelters. After stocking up on the rest of my needed gear I¢ll look into getting lighter footwear. A big comfort came when many admitted to having little to no backpacking experience when they started out. Best piece of advice was to constantly check for deer ticks. They sound like a much bigger problem than I expected. I disagreed with Warren Doyle about the value of online information, but he did a very good workshop for Appalachian Trail Dreamers. He bugged me but had great advice on how to work with trail instead of treating it like an adversary. Sounds like hooey-guru mumbo-jumbo, but makes sense.I had great conversations with experienced through hikers and future planners. The first night I had a long chat with Radar. We talked for a couple of hours in his car in the pouring rain. I asked questions about gear, clothing, the trail social scene and on and on. Two different hikers from Virginia told me to call when I need them. A Canadian hiker starting the trail in March with his girlfriend gave me great tips on homemade cooking gear. I hope to see them out there.Long entry, but a great event. So much good information and networking. Highly recommend next year¢s in Harpers Ferry.