Trail Life (137.3 Miles)
As I am again in a hostel escaping the rain I figured this would be a good opportunity to detail a typical day for myself on the AT.
7-8 AM
Wake up and make some delicious oatmeal with peanut butter, cinnamon, and honey.
Break down tent and repack my pack whether its raining or not.
Refill on H2O
8-9 AM
Start hiking north on the Appalachian Trail
10-11 AM
As nature calls find a discrete place to do my business, again whether it is raining or not
Continue hiking…
1-2 PM
Stop for quick break and snack
Continue North
6-7 PM
Find the nearest shelter and set the tent up for the night
Cook dinner of instant food or dehydrated goodness from Outdoor Herbivore
Clean up and hang my food bag so no bears/critters find it
Set up bed and recap the day as the stars begin to come out
Repeat this cycle for 5-6 months straight and you may make it to Katahdin before the snow and cold arrive.
I left out one critical part of the day which is meet new hikers and share great experiences with fellow hikers. This is key to getting through the tough times such as 5 straight days of rain…
Photos from the last two days:
Winding Stair Gap
Part of the AT is actually paved
Follow the white blaze
From a shelter that I visited to escape the rain
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Comments 2
I watched Wild the other night and thought of you. I hope it is going well! If you need a care package sent please send address for the location you want it sent and your friends at Armalite will get it done. Be safe and enjoy the moment!
Hey Jesse, in reading and keeping up with your adventure I’ve come up with several questions for you; though, I’m not sure you’re able to read these responses. Nevertheless, just in case you can here are the inquires I have built up…
1. If you could restart your initial gear acquiring for the AT what would you have added, replaced, or done without? Has the aluminum foil wind shield work as you’d hoped?
2. Has setting up your tent IRL been about the 1.5 minutes it’s advertised as and has there been any sites where it has been more or less difficult to set it up; especially, given the amount of rain you’ve had? Also, how about the packing and unpacking of your overall backpack; are there any interesting stories of struggles? I know you’ve listed about an hour of time for waking up, eating, and packing your backpack before continuing your hike – I’m more or less just curious about any extra details that may be involved with the process.
3. A strange question, but I didn’t see toilet paper on your gear list; therefore, I’m left pondering whether you’re using nature’s toilet paper (leaves) when on the trail or have you been able to simply wait until hostels or other places with actual toilets?
4. You’ve mentioned some particular fellow hikers in your blog (Selfie, Juice, Icarus, Hulk, Turbo, Stink Jacket, and Physch) and I’m wondering whether or not if you guys are all hiking and camping together now or are you still more or less a solo act with simply the occasional run-ins with the others? If you guys have become more or less a group hiking together perhaps some photos with the others in it as well as some tidbits of info on them, so that we readers can better get to know the people you’re now experiencing this adventure with.
5. What decision did you go with in regards to food? Did you decide on pre-planning a lot of food drops with resupplies and of course the so-called healthier foods or did you decide to pack a mass quantity of dehydrated foods and nutrition bars along with relying on perhaps gas station foods?