12/8/2008 10:24:17 PM
I thought this thread was already madeand where did you watch college football at and how did you keep track of your fantasy team?[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 10:27 PM. Reason : d]
12/8/2008 10:26:26 PM
Nerdchick's mom sent us some mail drops, but after she left the trail i received none with food, only winter gear. I mostly didnt want to burden anyone, nor did anyone send me any food on the trail. One thing is that if you have a mail drop and it's saturday after 12 or so, then you'd have to wait around till monday to get your drop. Thanks, bethaleigh . That's right, the symposium was the last time i saw you. Hard to imagine it was that long ago.LOL
12/8/2008 10:48:42 PM
so doza are you in LA. now or what????? joey and i might be making a whirlwind day trip up to D.C. the weekend you are coming through, we were gonna spend a night in raleigh but will probably not if youre gonna be around salisbury
12/8/2008 11:05:41 PM
Yeah man...in NOLA, chillin with the parentals and working on the resume....oh and eating a shit tonpm sending.
12/8/2008 11:16:23 PM
12/9/2008 12:08:14 AM
that is pretty baller dude, congrats.
12/9/2008 3:10:45 AM
^seriously
12/9/2008 3:17:29 AM
Cheers guys
12/9/2008 10:09:29 AM
congrats mantruly an awesome adventure that i envy
12/9/2008 11:01:36 AM
12/9/2008 6:28:23 PM
Next, canoe down the Mississippi, like this guy:http://www.bucktrack.com/Canoeing_Down_the_Mississippi.html
12/9/2008 7:15:05 PM
I know that Johnny Swank canoed the Mississippi ]
12/9/2008 7:19:17 PM
i know you had to do some serious tentfapping
12/9/2008 8:06:26 PM
12/9/2008 8:37:45 PM
I did two states and figured it was all "Etc, Etc, Etc" after that. In fact, I wasn't that impressed with the scenery. Congrats on making it though.I met one guy on the trail that had left his fiance at the alter to hike the trail. I asked him, "Think she'll be waiting when you get back?". He didn't answer.
12/9/2008 8:44:23 PM
Tent fapping..loltwo states? what states? I mean it's no PCT, but the scenery isnt the best part of the trail. It's the times, bro. Maine through vermont and southern virginia through the smokies is the best scenary. If you thought it was all etc etc, then you probably hiked a small portion (maryland-some of virginia?). Seeing the scenery change state to state was awesome even if it wasnt breathe taking views every step of the way[Edited on December 10, 2008 at 12:56 AM. Reason : d]
12/10/2008 12:42:55 AM
so if i heard correctly u did about 13.175 miles per day?
12/10/2008 12:47:29 AM
ummmm...on average...maybe so, but the SD tells a different story. For the first month it was prolly around 13. Maine is a difficult hiking state...straight up mountains...no switch backs. Any more than 13 a day would prolly increase the risk for injury of my knees at least. Maine was the best state....i wish we took it slower.[Edited on December 10, 2008 at 1:02 AM. Reason : d]
12/10/2008 12:51:10 AM
sd?
12/10/2008 12:51:46 AM
Holy shit , good fucking job Erik!
12/10/2008 12:52:43 AM
Standard DeviationTHANKS!!!^
12/10/2008 12:53:42 AM
Wow that sounds amazing. Sounds like something I'd love to do...if only I could afford to not work for that long. What kind of prep did you do, physically?Also, I've bouldered at Horsepens. Pretty chill spot, lots of solid established routes if that's your thing and plenty of rocks to dick around on for a good while. $1
12/10/2008 6:41:04 AM
I did do some training, not much though. I ran a few times a week maybe a month or two prior to leave for ME and biked to work (stopped because lake wheeler was too dangerous)I did this mostly to prevent injury. I'd even say that you dont have to prepare at all, but just to take it slow and work your way up in miles. Knee injury is what plagues most people. so even if you could do more miles in a day, it was probably better to do short days for a few weeks to get the body used to walking every day.
12/10/2008 9:36:34 AM
I want to do this. I need to figure out work/money to do it though.I need sponsors![Edited on December 10, 2008 at 10:55 AM. Reason : *]
12/10/2008 10:55:32 AM
Awesome, congrats!So what was your ratio of "man, this sucks" to "this is awesome" in days?
12/10/2008 11:48:00 AM
Thanks, yo!1/100 probably. There were boring spots of the trail, but nothing made me think "this sucks, i want off". You never knew what the day would bring, whether you'd run into people or wildlife, but when you're bored, you either make miles or make it a short day and: read a book, make a fire, i would play my harmonica. If you're hiking with others, to me, it never got boring. The real shitty days were the days it was freezing and rainy. But after those days are over, they just make for "damn, i cant believe i did that shit" type of days and just make for memories. The trail is the best.If you go southbound, i'd say be prepared for hiking alone and spending nights alone for multiple days. Some people can handle it, and others cant. Sounds like it sucks, but i found being alone very peaceful for the most part.[Edited on December 10, 2008 at 12:57 PM. Reason : d]
12/10/2008 12:44:32 PM
12/11/2008 5:09:24 PM
Wow, keep telling stories. I love this! Congrats!
12/11/2008 5:13:48 PM
12/11/2008 5:24:03 PM
I only did the first bit with Erik, but I can tell you guys the story of our darkest moment.We were in Maine, hiking a short day - maybe 7 miles or so. It had been raining all night and in the morning, so we left the shelter late. An old guy whose trail name was Rosy Eagle was also there, he left a few hours before us. We hiked about 5 miles and it was pouring rain the whole time. The trail itself was under a few inches of water. A group of women hikers passed earlier and said that the upcoming Oberton Stream was running high. Maine has a lot of stream crossings that don't have bridges, it's the only state like that. It can't have been that bad, because the women made it and they were somewhat petite.Well we finally reached Oberton Stream, and it was a raging river of no return. The stream was in a sort of notch between two mountains, so all the rain just went right into it. To get to the stream, you had to climb about 100 feet down a very steep rocky slope. We probably did that hike ten times each, going back and forth to the main trail to try and find a way around Oberton. It was muddy and awful. We were amazed that the group of women and Rosy Eagle had made it. There were some scary looking sharp branches and rocks just downstream of the ford, the whole thing looked pretty dangerous. Turns out the water had been rising all day long, it wasn't that high when the other hikers crossed. Erik went out and tried to cross first, but turned back before he made it halfway. The "stream" was chest deep and very swift. While Erik had been trying to cross the stream, everything in his backpack got wet. So it was chilly and wet, but we'd been wet all day. Things start to suck when you're wet and you're not going anywhere. The only other option was to backtrack 8 miles to Sugarloaf Mountain, hike down a ski slope and try to hitch a ride from there.We decided to camp and in our only good fortune of the day, Erik found a spot in the woods for our tarp that was miraculously not a puddle. It was like 3pm but we got in our sleeping bag (the bag didn't get wet in the river, but all of Erik's clothes were soaked). We definitely didn't want to get out to cook dinner, so for dinner we ate rolled up tortillas and pretended they were taquitos. The next day, Oberton Stream was a bit lower and we crossed at about noon. It was still more than waist high and a pretty scary deal. We talked to some locals and they said the stream is normally knee deep. Guess we got there at a bad time!
12/11/2008 5:44:27 PM
Britta, thats not nearly as hardcore as the stream we crossed in boone while doza was on his visit sometimes trips to the huddle house get vicious
12/11/2008 5:47:27 PM
ha ha ha he told me that story. huddle house ain't worth it. IHOP maybe
12/11/2008 5:53:00 PM
12/12/2008 1:57:45 AM
awesome, DOZAand great threadpls to keep posting
12/12/2008 2:18:33 AM
Dude, that's awesome you hiked the whole thing. Do you remember going through the Lemon Squeezer and walking across the Bear Mtn Bridge in Harriman State Park NY? I grew up around those parts and enjoyed hiking the AT as a kid.I didn't read the whole thread so I might have missed it, but what was your reason for doing the hike? I'm considering doing it after grad school because I just want to be in the woods where the only thing I have to worry about is surviving. Life would be so simple. No bills, no thesis, no work...just surviving. At any point did you feel like giving up?
12/12/2008 10:03:36 AM
The Bear Mountain Bridge is beautiful. The whole Hudson River Valley is breathtaking. I'm glad I drove that way on my way back to NC after Thanksgiving.
12/12/2008 10:38:54 AM
^Haha wow...that's US route 6 in Westchester County. that stretch of road is pretty scary when there's 18-wheelers on it.
12/12/2008 11:13:48 AM
yea, even with smaller trucks, i was like
12/12/2008 11:19:21 AM
NYMountnMan, i sure do remember those two spots. The Bear Mtn Bridge was gorgeous and it was cool that the trail went right through the bear mtn zoo. Heh, i got stuck in the lemon squeezer. The walls of the squeezer are more or less parallel to eachother, but they were slanted so walking through with my pack didnt go well.My reason for doing the trail was pretty much Nerdchick. She asked if i wanted to do it, and it sounded like a good time, so i agreed and never looked back. Personally i never felt like leaving the trail. I loved being out in the woods and living such a simplistic life. It was just plain old fun. Just when the scenary starts getting old, something new and different comes about. At least for me that's what it seemed like. If you go northbound, then the amount of people to hike with is high enough that you can hike and never be alone. Going south bound,you're almost certain to hike alone at some point, but i didnt mind that. It was peaceful. I at no point felt like leaving the trail. I knew that one day it would be over and i would miss it if i ever quit. Stuborness can get you through tuff times as well.[Edited on December 12, 2008 at 11:53 AM. Reason : d][Edited on December 12, 2008 at 11:56 AM. Reason : d]
12/12/2008 11:52:58 AM
Man I really want to do it.
12/12/2008 12:05:05 PM
TWW AT Thru-Hike Fellowship?I call Aragorn.
12/12/2008 12:07:09 PM
What was your favorite state to hike through? Least favorite?What was the longest you went without seeing someone on the trail or stopping in a town?Did you ever get lost at any point? (I heard it's pretty easy to get lost on the AT during a snowstorm because the trail blazes are white)How many pairs of boots did you go through?
12/12/2008 12:37:17 PM
Erik will have to answer most of those, but neither of us wore boots. I wore running shoes and he wore trail runners, which are basically sturdier running shoes. Most thru hikers do that these days, although feet are very personal and preferences can vary a lot depending on your style. I like sneakers over boots because they dry a lot faster, your feet sweat way less, and it makes a huge difference lifting a 1.5 lb shoe all day long instead of a 4 lb boot. I had to replace my shoes after 300 miles, he only wore out one pair of trail runners over the whole trail. Conclusion - running shoes wear out way quicker! If I had thru hiked it would've been a significant expense.Probably the longest section between towns was the 100 Mile Wilderness, which as a Southbounder you go through right away! It's 100 miles between resupply, the longest on the AT. People wise though, it was pretty crowded. We were there in summer and it's pretty touristy so we saw tons of summer camp kids the whole time. ]
12/12/2008 7:31:46 PM
didn't happen without picsI'm Big Business and i approved this message.
12/12/2008 7:32:30 PM
lol khere's one where you can see our shoesand here's the proof! See Erik on Katahdin, he's the guy with the orange backpack, then see him at the Springer sign ]
12/12/2008 7:42:53 PM
My buddy Ben was doing a nobo hike this past spring/summer but ended up getting a really bad infection just after crossing into Maine. He had to come home and have surgery. I can't imagine swallowing that bitter pill.I really became interested in doing this two years ago, but because of school/other circumstances I was unable to. I believe that this is going to be my year! Trying to get my legs healthy, work out some old scar tissue. That's the main thing I'm afraid of. Not my will giving out, but my body physically.If you're in Raleigh I'd love to meet up and talk about your experience and see if you have any advice to offer.
12/12/2008 7:58:09 PM
Ya know what, i met him on the trail up in NH, in the whites. We hung and smoked a bowl at this hostel in Lincoln, NH. I remember asking him what he thought about finishing and katahdin. He was visibly stressed by the question. He was having the time of his life and didnt want it to be over. I heard that he had to get off and was meaning to call him (he gave me his number), but i lost it. Trail name was Sampson, right? Jonathan, one of his room mates was in my major. Sampson was great. He was honestly the first person i met that made me realize that this hike was going to be overwhelmingly beneficial to me. It was a pleasure meeting him. Wish he was going sobo.
12/13/2008 10:06:59 AM
damn. this is fucking awesome. congrats!!
12/13/2008 10:25:27 AM
in Maine we passed a section hiker who had a pair of boots with a "thousand mile guarantee." Well he'd gone about 150 miles and the boots were already falling apart. He was real pissed and had a plan to mail them back to the company with a note that said "150 miles."
12/13/2008 1:53:33 PM