Final Days as Ordinary Civilians

In less than one week Kevin and I depart for Harpers Ferry, WV, where we will attend the Flip-Flop Festival, and then head north on the Appalachian Trail. Having read lots of bloggers’ entries, I can’t help but wonder – are we starting way too late?? My uber-planner husband assures me that the ATC schedules the FFF, which is intended as a kick off event, in late April for good reasons. Those reasons would be to avoid the mud season and the black flies in New England, while still capitalizing on favorable weather in the northern states. Having section-hiked more than half of Virginia, I am all for minimizing hiking in heavy humidity. This is one reason I love swimming – no sweating involved!

We are also looking looking forward to a trail with fewer crowds and less competition for resources, albeit fewer opportunities to encounter trail magic. If all goes as planned, we’ll reach Katahdin by early August.

Meanwhile, we have been carefully training and planning. In my next post I’ll share some images of our gear and some thoughts on food. By the way, we have no trail names yet, so I’ll leave that part blank for now.