A Quote for the Trekkers from a Fictional Hiking Hero

"I’ve always loved being outside, on the ground. The ground has been my salvation. Sitting here under the stars makes me feel as if I have a place, as if I’m doing right, as if this is where I’m intended to be."

-Alessandro as an old man in A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin.

Joe - You da man

Joe - this is exciting - my only concern is you won't be able to keep up with your niece :0)
Have a great time and keep us posted - take lots of cool pictures too!

Trail Route

I get many questions concerning the trail. The trail is 2,175 miles long, and goes through 14 states. I will be starting at Springer Mountain north of Atlanta around April 8th, and I hope to finish at Mount Katahdin sometime before the end of August. I will have almost 20 weeks to finish the trail. I need to average about 110 miles per week, which is about 15.5 miles per day if I take no zero days.

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I hiked about 55 miles of the trail through the Shannadoah Valley in Virginia the summer before last. My best day was about 16.5 miles. I finished that day at about 3:30 PM, and was fairly tired. My legs were quite sore the next day.

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With a lighter pack and being in much better physical condition, I think that 20 miles a day would not be too unreasonable. However, I also realize that I will have to do this day after day. Even after a really good day (or week), Mount Katahdin will not be preceptably closer.

Folk Tale Selections

I told Baby Bear that she should find a collection of folk tales to tell around the campfire at night. Does anyone have any good recommendations? I think the Coyote stories might be good. I also found my copy of the Rootabaga Stories, which I think is now out of print.
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Boomer's suggestion of Pipi Longstockings also sounds interesting.

Moving along

Joe, I wish you all the best with this adventure. I think it is very cool that your young friend will be joining you, and is working so hard to get in shape. I'm glad you are blogging the thing, and look forward to reading all about it.

Momma Bear's Thoughts

Well, I have to admit that I am excited and a bit worried at the same time. My 12-year-old daughter, Baby Bear, will be hitting the AT with my brother, Rabbit. This will be quite a challenge and an adventure at the same time. She is hoping to complete the first 100 miles of the trail with her uncle who is planning a thru trek this year.

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I am not really worried about her keeping up with Rabbit's quick pace because we are a family of fast movers and I know she will push herself to keep up. But, Rabbit does have the advantage over Baby Bear with a leg ratio of about 3:2. So she will have to train on the treadmill according to his pace to compensate for the difference. She is currently working out at a pace of 4.1 miles per hour with an incline. Are there any veteran AT hikers who can offer some other suggestions? I want to make sure that Baby Bear is physically ready for the hike ahead.

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Taking this hike will pose other challenges for Baby Bear. Although she enjoys wildlife, she really does not like snakes. It seems from the reading that I have done that snakes are not very active along the Georgia trail in early April. I pray that what I have read is true. Is there anyone who can give us some personal insight on the matter? I do not what to scare my Baby Bear out of taking this trip, but I feel that I have a responsibility to tell her the truth about what to expect.

Baby Bear

I have finally decided on a trail name. My trail name will be "Baby Bear". My mom likes that name because she said she hopes that people on the trail will look out for me with a name like that. I guess she is a little worried about me going on the AT.

Polish Folk Tale

I'm looking for a story I read in one of my folk tale collections about a young man whose name was Twardowski or something like that. I found lots of stuff on Pan Twardowski online so I think that was his name except Pan was a character in literature. I see no reference to folk tales. Twardowski in the story was a trickster like Jack.

The story I'm looking for was about Twardowski falling into hell and being forced to work for the devil. The devil put iron shoes on Twardowski so he could not escape. Judas was in a special place in hell, and Twardowski was ordered to beat Judas with an iron rod. If he failed to beat Judas, the devil was going to beat Twardowski. The story ended when Twardowski showed mercy to Judas, and Judas used his long finger nails to rip through the iron shoes that held Twardowski in hell.

I would love to read this story again, but I can not find it in any of my folk tale books. Has anyone ever heard of this story or know where I can find it?

Rabbit

I've been trying to think of a good trail name. Heather suggested Ribbit, which I misread as Rabbit. Rabbit kind of stuck. I'm usually a very fast walker so it seemed somewhat appropreate. It's also simple. I like that too.

I found the picture from mad river canoe's website. I've seen the picture before. Also from mad river canoe's website..."Native American legend tells of the rabbit, pipe in hand, sitting secure and confident within the ferns, as his mortal enemy the lynx prowls nearby. The rabbit is confident of his own ability. He knows he has strength, agility, and intelligence to deal with whatever challenges await him."

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It may be time to read Watership Down again.

Mobile Phone Nightmare

I've been trying to upgrade my turn of the century cell phone to something that has internet capability. Wow! This is incredibly confusing. I checked phone coverage of the major mobile phone companies, and it seems like Altel and Verision have the best national coverage.

I've been looking at phones, and I'm completely confused. Do I want a windows compatiable phone, a blackberry, or a palm? I have no idea. I also want to make sure that I can cancel internet coverage at any time. Internet on my phone is not something I would ever need off the trail.

I also need to find out which phone company most of the people I call have. I like Altel's circle thing because I can pick phone numbers I call most, and those numbers don't count against my minutes. I also need to find out how I know how many minutes I've used in a month because with the high price per minute overage cost, you simply can not go over. If you do go over, you may pay $0.40 to $0.45 per minute.

This all seems like it's designed to trick you into making a mistake. Then, the phone company can charge you a very high fee for very little service.

Stove

As many of you already know, I'll be taking my alcohol stove on the trail. I made the stove out of two Heiniken beer cans and one pop can. It weighs about two ounces, and takes about the same amount of fuel as a white gas stove. It also fits into my cooking pot along with my fuel bottle.

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I've tested the stove in all kinds of weather looking for potential flaws. So far, I can find nothing wrong with it. I just tested it in snow, and as you can see, it works fine.

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It burns denatured alcohol, which can be found in any hardware store, Wal-Mart, or Home Depot. I think it will be easier to find denatured alcohol along the trail than white gas.

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The only problem is alcohol burns clear. You can only see the flame at night. You have to be very careful during the day. Spilled alcohol will burn without any sign of a flame.

Squiggly Snake

My 13 year old niece is going to walk the first 12 days or so with me on the trail. Actually, Summer is not going to be 13 until couple days after she gets home.

Summer has a snake phobia so I thought that Squiggly Snake would be a good trail name for her. She seems to like her name, and also seems to be really looking forward to our trip. I told her that she needs to be able to run 5 miles at a time before we start our trip, and she's been working out very hard at the gym to get ready. She told me on Thursday that she can run 4 miles now. I want to make sure she is in good enough shape so that she will enjoy the trail without suffering too much. Being out of shape will take the fun out of the trail faster than anything else.

I also told Summer that she should try to learn a couple stories that she could tell around the campfire at night. I told her she should look for a good book of folk tales at the bookstore. I have a book of Coyote stories that she might like if she doesn't find anything else.

We need to get her a backpack, sleeping bag, and shoes this week. I really like Granite Gear's Vapor Trail pack. I see they make a similar one for women that I would like to have Summer try. We will also need to get her a down sleeping bag and ground pad. I don't think her pack should weigh more than about 15 pounds fully loaded, but that is just a guess on my part. We can see how her pack feels once she has everything, and I can carry some of her stuff if needed. Or she can carry some of my stuff if she is able and I am clever enough to trick her.

Why

The question I get more than any other concerning my upcoming walk is "why?". I suppose the short answer to this question is if you have to ask, you will not understand. However, there really is much more to my desire to walk the trail than that.

I'm looking forward to meeting people as much as I am to seeing the country. The trail goes through some of the most beautiful areas of the Appalachians, and it will definately be nice to see the scenery along the trail. However, I'm looking forward to meeting people along the trail as much as I am to seeing the scenery.

I met some really interesting people when I did a short walk on the trail the summer before last in the Shanandoah Valley. People tend to be friendlier and more willing to talk when you meet them on the trail or in hostiles and places like that. I really like that. I've rarely met or talked to many people when traveling to national parks and places like that in a car.

I also want to have the time to live more in the moment. Some of the best times I've had in the Boundary Waters was just sitting and watching the squirls play in the morning sunlight or watching the waves on the water. Too often, I feel too rushed to appreciate the beauty around me. It's the beauty around us every day that makes life worth living.

I decided that now was the time to do the trail. This is something I've thought about for years. It might have been nice to do the trail while in college when I had few commitments. However, everything was so much heavier then than is now. A typical backpack would weight up to 50 or 60 pounds for a week then, and that was normal. Everyone else's pack weighed a lot too. It just did not seem practical to walk so far with a pack so heavy so I never seriously considered walking the trail then.

There's been an ultra light backpacking movement in recent years. I'm anticipating a pack weight without food or water to be about 15 to 17 pounds for this trip. My pack might top out at 30 to 35 pounds with food and water. I've yet to put everything in my pack so I don't know how close I'm going to get to this goal.

I have more commitments with work, relationships, and a house now, but I also still have my health. I decided that if I am ever going to walk the trail, I need to do it while I still have my health. I don't want to wake up 10 or 20 years from now, and regret not having tried.

Joe