Countdown for 2017 NorthBound AT Thru-Hike

Countdown: T-2 Weeks

The time seems to be flying now. I continually find myself running through mental checklists to ensure that I have everything I need for the hike. This is tempered with the realization that if I need something I will be able to purchase it along the trail. There are plenty of people that will mail items to the mail drops as well. The other checklist has to do with taking care of things at home prior to my departure. This is all about being proactive so that my wife has all of the information she needs. This will help in addressing the day to day household items like paying bills, and account accesses. So I’m defaulting to prioritizing the home list now while I’m still here.

My Journey to the Adventure

I’m going to be traveling from Japan to Dulles International Airport.  My wife and I live in Fussa, Japan.  Fussa is located in the western suburb of Tokyo.  So the journey starts with a bus ride from Fussa to Narita airport.  Then I will travel from Narita to Dulles.  So we are talking at least 18+ hours between my home and arrival at Dulles.  At Dulles I will rendezvous with my son.  We will then drive down to Georgia to begin our 2017 AT North Bound Thru-Hike.   We have a goal of finishing our hike by mid-September, while making sure we take the time to enjoy the trail.

Our GPS tracker is working

We just did a trial test of our SPOT Gen 3 tracker and it works like a champ. The basic subscription service seems to be quite adequate.  You can have a mailing list of people that you want to keep in the know.  The email updates include a custom message along with GPS coordinates.  There is link to show the coordinates on a map.

Good Reading List

I just finished reading ‘AWOL on the Appalachian Trail‘ by David Miller.  I found this to be a great book.  His ability to describe life on the trail was very helpful in my preparation process.

Another book that a friend shared with me was ‘Long Distance Hiking’ by Roland Mueser.  This book was also very good at describing what the trail is like.

Both of these books highlighted the adventure of the hike, and the wonderful experience of meeting all of the different people along the way.

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Comments 1

  • Loopy : Mar 27th

    Good luck. Godspeed.

    Reply

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