Date: 2006-02-16
To: Post Hike Thoughts
Miles today: 0.0

We have been home for five months now and I have to say that we are anxious to go back to the trail to finish the last 300 miles in August. In September when we got to Cleveland via Amtrak from Boston we were able to see our youngest grandson that was only a month old at the time. Now we have learned that our other daughter is going to be having a baby the end of September of this year. So we will be wanting to get back in time for that great event but we ARE going to finish this northern leg of the trail. We figure if we leave by the middle of August we should be able to make it back in time. Since Toto was not able to do a lot of the trail this year he wants to go back next March to do the whole trail. I do not want to be home while he is out there having all of those wonderful experiences so I will try to go with him.For some reason I am wondering if I am even physically able to do it. I had pains before from arthritis but since coming off the trail I think I may have more stiffness than before. But I try to tell myself that it is only because I have not been as active as I was every day on the trail. I think I have stiffened up more--at least it seems that way to me. I have been trying to use the treadmill as much as possible and I have grand intentions of keeping it up. I've gained back all the weight that I lost (and in a very short period of time) and I am determined to get my weight down a bit before starting out this year for the last leg of the journey (from Pinkham Notch to Katahdin). I felt a lot better after losing my weight. When I was in the hospital in PA (after having my little episode of amnesia) all the tests came back negative except for my blood cholesterol and the Dr. seemed more concerned about that than anything. It has been elevated for some time and I have not wanted to go on medication to lower it. My dad has never been able to take it and because of what it apparently can do to the liver (because the liver enzymes have to be checked periodically when you take it) I have resisted taking it. I ordered a supposedly natural cholesterol blocker so will see if that helps after 60 days. I checked my level with the tester they sent with the bottle of medicine and it was 264. I made an appointment to have it checked next week and also to have a colonoscopy scheduled just to make sure everything is OK in that department. I want to be as healthy as I can be when I hit the trail again. When we first got home in September I was rather down because we did not finish and I really AM glad we stopped. Still, I have been pretty much uninterested in updating this journal or even looking on the trail journals of other hikers because I did not want to deliberately think about it. But think about it I did--every day! I do not think a day has gone by that either of us has not thought of the trail, the people we met on and off the trail, the sound of the birds, flowing water, the wind blowing the in trees, or the still silence that is often experienced. Yes, we want to be out there again and want to experience together what Toto missed when he had to be home working until his retirement date in 2005.I have to say that next year we will not plan as much. We will probably resupply more in towns--especially bigger towns. Last year I had many boxes prepared to be sent that we just did not need and we ended up sending them ahead or back home. Some of them we did not even have sent. Many items can be obtained from hiker boxes (boxes with items that hikers are getting rid of because they already have too much or just do not want to carry the weight of an item any longer). We never sorted through hiker boxes much because we usually had too much food with us all the time. We ate in towns whenever we could so often carried food for a long time before needing to resupply. I definitely would not even try to hike without my Cho-Pat knee braces!! They were what got me along the trail without knee pain. Since we have been home and we have walked more than a few miles without them my knees hurt and I am slowed up tremendously. Only a few times on the trail as I was hiking downhill did my knees hurt, but it was only a hint of the pain that I would have had. Even then, I tried adjusting my gait and extension of the leg as I stepped and the pain was gone. The braces saved me!! Toto even bought a pair of them because when he came out in VA to hike with me one weekend he started having knee problems. After the braces he did not have any problems. Of our gear, we will probably not change anything. I might get a Big Agnes sleep pad because I had a lot of problems with aching hips and back on my Thermorest, even though it was a thicker one. I would not hike without hiking poles. I don't know what I would do without them.   My hands tend to swell when they are dangling at my side so that gave my hands something to do.I had boots at the beginning but I think I will not wear them again. My New Balance shoes felt a lot better. But I think I will get the Soles insoles this time. I heard one of the hikers praise them, even months after he got them. We loved our water Katahdin water filter and we bought a new cartridge for it in Vermont. I wish it were a bit less bulky but water is important to both of us and it gave us good clear water all the time. We used a water bag for carrying water from water sources sometimes but I thought it was awkward when it was full and there was a distance to the water source from the shelter or camp site. The platypus that a lot of hikers used was nice and could be stood up and had a cap on it. The water bag had to be hung.I bought a silk sleeping bag liner when the weather got warm so that I could sleep in it instead of the sleeping bag. Since I got cold at the start of the hike it probably would have helped keep me warmer since it is supposed to add several degrees of warmth.We used an alcohol stove and it worked ok. For no more than it weighed it was great. Alcohol was easy to get and there was no fuel canister waste.We are definitely getting Springer fever. We would start out this year again but we have already decided that next year is the year and so we will just read other trail journals and gather as much info as possible from others until March of 2007. The AT is in our blood and even though at one point on the trail after Mike joined me I thought that I would never want to do a thru-hike again, I am anxious to go again. I haven't forgotten the difficult times or the rocks that sometimes the trail went over. But they are not what we remember the most about the trail. It is the people that we never would have met and the places that we would never been if it were not for the trail. The trail and its memories are calling us back for a thru-hike and after that for some section hiking. As for me, I have no desire to attempt the CDC or PCT. I believe that Toto would love to do one of them but it will have to be someone else that goes with him. So we will continue to read trail journals of those out there this hiking season (2006) and dream about next year.