Date: 2010-03-08
To: Drop Box OCD
Miles today: 0.0

It¢s getting so close! I finally realized this on March first when all of a sudden I needed to have my drop boxes planned, packed and ready by the second week in march, and all my gear ready to ship to the Hiker Hostel.   All of a sudden everything that I have been planning for these last couple months is here. Before I was impatient about it being here and now that I am starting to say good bye to friends, I am having mixed emotions about leaving. I have been in Seattle for nearly five years now and have made a lot of friends. I have really fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest Mountains as well. This past Sunday I did my last hike in Washington until I get back in October with my hiking crewe (Lauren, David and myself). We have all been hiking together nearly every weekend for the last 4-5 months. And now this past weekend was the last hike for the three musketeers until October! So sad! For our last outing we climbed Mailbox Peak which takes a fast 2.5 mile ascent up 4,000 feet to the summit. My legs were killin¢ today. Makes me wonder how I¢m going to feel the first week on the AT. I¢m preparing for wet hikes & cold nights followed by painful mornings. I¢m actually looking forward to it. Weird, I know, but I guess a big part of doing a thru hike is to see what you are made of by pushing boundaries. These will be good experiences that teach good lessons I think. As for drop box planning, I have decided on sending myself 13. I planned five to contain food in places that it would take more effort to resupply or where resupply is scarce for the long term. (Fontana Dam, Harper¢s Ferry, Delaware Water Gap, Glencliff and Caratunk). My 8 other drop boxes are at places where I will need new maps. I definitely do not need all of these drops, but I¢m looking forward to the potential mail and goodies I may get from friends and family. (So if you¢re reading this, my dear friends & family, SEND ME STUFF!) Anything edible, lightweight or that I can read is always good. ? I would love to hear from everyone as to what you are up to while I am away. It will be hard to keep up with all of you while I am on the trail and having updates about your lives would be awesome! As for what is in my drop boxes, I made a spread sheet with an inventory for every box entered. OCD, I know! I just know I¢ll forget what I put in them once I take off. Mostly, I just have guidebooks, maps and food. My extras would include QTIPS, multivitamins, Gatorade, Emergen-C, ibuprofen, travel sized toothpaste, floss, body powder & soap. I threw razor blades and lotion in every box as well so that I can shave my legs. I guess I¢m not as hard core as most. I am also on medication (synthroid for my thyroid condition) and I divided up a 6 month supply in my 13 boxes. I also read somewhere about this breakfast shake concoction that I decided to include on my trip for nutrition, energy and ease of bfast preparation in the mornings. It consist of one packet carnation instant bfast + muscle milk + powdered milk + one packet of VIA instant coffee (that was my add in). In the morning I just have to throw this powder into my water bottle, shake and voila! Instant breakfast shake w/ nearly 400 calories and a caffine kick to boot!I went to Costco last week with David to get bulk supplies for my 5 food drops and managed to walk out of there with 100 snickers bars amongst everything else! That¢s nearly $50 in snickers bars! I thought this was hilarious and sent a picture of this to one of my close friends. Turns out, he had gotten a new phone and didn¢t have my number programmed in yet, so he replied ¢who is this?¢ to which I replied ¢Jared! It¢s Beth! Who else do you know that would be purchasing 100 snickers bars all at once!?!¢ (Love you Jared!) I¢m sure I¢ll never want to see another Snickers bar as long as I live after this trip. Lol.Sidenote: Did any other AT thru hikers have trouble getting the Central Virginia and Connecticut/Massachusetts guidebooks from the ATC? I ordered the whole set last December (three months ago!) and it was missing those two. I called in late January about it and they told me that they would have them sent to me by late February. Here I am in the second week in March and still they have not arrived. I called again last Friday and the guy told me that the computers were down and that he would call me back. And here it is Tuesday and I haven¢t heard a word. I leave Seattle in two weeks and this is making me nervous. I¢m going to have to have them send Central Virginia to my mail drop and Connecticut/Massachusetts to David here in Seattle to put into my drop box. It¢s a pain in the arse and I was wondering if other thru hikers are having the same problem with the ATC. Well, this post is already waaaaaaaaaaay too long, so I¢ll end it here. I¢m sure I¢ll manage to post a couple more entries before I start the trail in three weeks. Back to OCD planning I go!Cheers!-Beth