Sunday, February 14, 2016

Appalachian Time

Goodness how is it already the middle of February? I've become quite the negligent blogger. I guess its time to shake out the dust and start again. So what's in store? No big surprise here but in about two months I'll be hitting the Appalachian Trail. 
Ages ago I heard the saying, you either hike one or you hike them all. Who am I to break the mold? There's no question I love thru hiking and while there are plenty of other trails I still have my eye on I've actually been getting awfully excited about the AT. In case you didn't know here's the briefest of rundowns from the Appalachian trail conservancy's website:

The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is almost 2,​190 miles long, passes through 14 states, eight different national forests, six national park units and numerous state parks, forests, and game lands. 

Georgia to Maine!

I've been hearing about this trail for ages, I remember back at the beginning of my PCT hike how much I actually hated all the reminiscing the former AT hikers did. I honestly didn't care one thing about that other trail, I was all about the west coast. And lots of hikers can be pretty darn negative about the AT, I've heard griping about the crowding, the bugs, the humidity, lack of views and rough rocky pointlessly steep trail. But some of my favorite people beg to differ. Each trail is its own experience and I'm looking forward to a whole different trail. I'd be lying if I didn't say the bugs and the humidity make me nervous, its going to be a whole new ballgame for me. But I also remember being lost countless times on the CDT and dreaming about all the amazing well marked trail, white blazes marking trail as far as the eye can see and shelters every 6-10 miles what luxury! I'm starring away from all the negative hype and am just itching to get back on the trail.

This time around my plans are a bit more vague. My job ends the second week of April and I'll head over to Georgia a week or two later. I have only two resupply boxes planned and have done zero research about the actual trail. This thing is a whole different beast than the CDT and with the proximity of towns and services I'm looking forward to resupplying as I go with only a few things stashed back at home to be mailed as needed. Woohoo less logistics!