Date: 2006-03-01
To: Journal Jitters
Miles today: 0.0

It¢s kind of scary keeping an on-line journal. Friends and family are reading, DH has shared the link to my journal with folks he works with, I have given the link to people I have worked with, my mom gives the link to everyone she runs into (only a slight exaggeration), and then there is the wonderful hiking community that are quite fond of reading trail journals¢¦.what if I say something really stupid?! Certainly a possibility! I do hate to embarrass myself. Guess I will just have to take the risk ¢ I think it is worth it to be able to share my ¢adventure of a lifetime¢ with whoever may be interested, and I look forward to being able to re-live the hike via my journal from my retirement rocking chair down the road a ways (a long ways)!It seems there are many styles of hiking the AT ¢ from being a purist of one type or another (passing all white blazes), a blue-blazer (sometimes taking short-cuts, blue blazed trails), or a yellow blazer (using vehicles and roads for shortcuts). 2000-milers hike the whole trail either all in one year (thru-hiker) or in sections over several or many years (section hiker). My goal is to hike the whole trail this year, passing all white blazes, but beyond that, it is whatever works best. In other words, I will be happy to slack-pack as the opportunity arises. That means carrying a much lighter pack with just what is needed for the day¢s hike, doing a day section, then getting picked up by some arranged shuttle to spend the evening in town, home, or a hostel. Some hostels offer this option and I plan to do some day sections near home when I get to this area. I also don¢t care whether every last step is northbound. If I want to do some day sections ¢backwards¢, it works for me, just so I am hiking the entire trail. Doing some slack-packing provides a bit of a break for knees and feet, and I do want to keep them happy. I have a new hiking buddy ¢ his name is Jeremy and he is my cousin¢s 11-year-old son. He indicated he would like to join me for a couple of days or so as I come through this area on my hike, and I said let¢s see what you can do on some day hikes first. So he joined me with his loaded pack about 3 weeks ago for a 9 mile hike and did fine. This past Sunday he joined me for the 11.2 mile stretch from Spivey Gap to Nolichucky River (Erwin, TN), and did great ¢ a regular Energizer bunny! Doesn¢t seem to get sore or tired (or he keeps a real good secret) and our paces match quite well, although he does take frequent 15-second breaks waiting for me. I actually thought I did pretty well keeping up with him. We had a beautiful clear cold day with lunch at 32 degrees at No Business Knob shelter. The #1 question I get asked is still ¢Are you going alone?¢ or ¢You¢re not going alone are you?¢ or maybe ¢Who are you going with?¢ I¢ve got my answer down pat: ¢I am going with lots of other hikers!¢I am nearly ready to go! I am wrapping things up at work this week, then will have 2 weeks to finish preparing for the hike; need to pack my drop boxes, do more training hikes, practice setting up and taking down my tent in the rain, and also finish preparing to be away for 6 months ¢ somehow that seems harder to prepare for than for the hike itself. Only 17 days till take-off. I started counting at 252 days, so I am definitely making progress! (Sorry about my excessive use of exclamation points. I just can¢t seem to write about hiking without them.)Till next time,