I still haven’t managed to get the boat in the water for the season. Weather, work schedule, and a 4-week bout with pneumonia conspired to sap my time and energy. I was able to start the boat’s engine today: all systems check out; so, now I just need the time to take her out for a cruise. Of course, while I was sick, I managed to read a lot of AT Class of 2019 trail journals, mining those for gear ideas and other nuggets of information. I have put up a link to my Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Gear Prospectus 2019 on the Gear page. It’s all virtual and hypothetical right now, but it is a useful tool for learning about gear options. I also dropped a hint to one of my sons about thru-hiking the AT (appropriately over a couple beers at an Irish pub!). He has been into hiking in the past; so, maybe we can figure out some ways to get in some day hikes together with his soon to be 5-year-old son. Reading trail journals likewise has led me to consider the idea of section hiking the AT, at least until the idea of thru-hiking can venture closer to reality. The AT in Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania is only a couple hours’ drive from my home on the Chesapeake Bay; so, at least day hikes or even short section hikes are a real possibility. Another nugget mined from the trail journals is the idea of section hikes on the AT as training/shakedown hikes in preparation for a thru-hike and if done in the same calendar year (like January or February), those sections could then be leap-frogged during that year’s thru-hike (e.g. hiking the roughly 40 miles of AT in Maryland in February and then skipping that section during the thru-hike started in March). Thru-hike purists would likely scoff at that idea as not a legitimate “thru-hike.” But the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) simply defines a “thru-hike” as “a hike of the entire AT in 12 months or less” and strongly advocates for alternative itineraries like flip-flopping. I agree that leap-frogging sections (then completing those sections at a different time during the year) is not a “pure” thru-hike; but in my mind, leap-frogging is just as viable as slack-packing sections. Those couple weeks between a January/February section hike and the rest of the hike starting in March/April are just a lot of zero hiking days strung together. Anyway, just hypothetical ideas and thoughts until real plans and actions get me on the trail.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Quiet Man
I don't have a bucket list. At 61 years old, I have already had the adventures of a lifetime, especially after a 30-year Army career, five years of teaching high school, and a 37 year marriage still going strong. But I still have this deep desire to complete the Appalachian Trial. Archives
February 2022
Categories |