My journey begins now

I write to you from the 12:40 Amtrak train out of metropark, nj. My goodbyes have been said and there is not much left to do other than hike. I arrive in Adam's hometown at 4:39 where I have been promised "a canoe full of beer". I have much to look forward to!

Here is a picture of mommy and me right before my train arrived. :)



Next stop, Virginia!

More preparing

I haven't taken my tent out since I was in Great Sand Dunes National Park last fall. Considering it's about to be my home for the next 5 or so months I thought it prudent to take out, assemble, spray down with water repellent and gain a sense of comfort with it. But I guess that won't really come till we hit the trail.

Also sprayed down my pack with water repellent. Not sure how much that will actually help during 5 straight days of rain we are likely to hit here or there, but can't hurt nonetheless. Here is a pic of my pack and tent. I'll try and get a gear list up later on too.

Packing on a Friday night

It's Friday night and I'm packing and re-packing my mail drops for the trail. I have one of the talking head news channels on in the background as a reminder to stay efficient in my packing (as our govt shutdown looms). I have 10 boxes so far and think this is one of those "don't think too much into it" type deals. I'm going to back off and enjoy this scotch instead. :)


Getting closer to Tuesday!

I am a walking observatory

Tiffany is awesome!  She gifted me a new watch for my AT journey.  But, this watch is not your ordinary watch - it is solar-powered, has a compass, and informs me of my current altitude, temperature, barometric pressure (I can even set an alarm if the pressure suddenly drops thus indicating an incoming storm), moon phases, tides, ascent/descent totals, alarm, stop watch, etc.  I think it also has a coffee-making function that I have yet to figure out.

Glimpse my gear

This is my house, bed, kitchen, wardrobe, and tools for the next half-year:

Lots of mountains

I just read that an entire thru-hike of the AT covers some 250 mountains. When I told this to Sarah, my girlfriend, she replied:

"Wow. That's a lot of mountains."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Start day is one week away!

It's the Final Countdown!

Exactly one week from now Frank and I will be deep in the woods of northern Georgia probably thinking about dinner and looking for a nice patch of ground to call home for the night.  It's surreal to think that I've had the AT on my mind for over a year now and the launch-date is right around the corner.  Given that our journey is about to officially begin I would like to share with you all the gear that I will lug around on my back for over two thousand miles:

• Backpack (Gregory Z55: the 55 denotes size in liters)
• Pack cover
• One-person tent & footprint (Big Agnes Copper Spur Ultra Light 1: this took a while to decide)
• Sleeping bag & compression-sack (The North Face Cat's Meow: Rated at 20 Degree F.)
• Sleeping pad (Thermarest Prolite 3/4 length)
• Water bladder (3 liters)
• Water purifier (Steripen Explorer: it purifies water using ultra-violet light)
• Titanium mess kit (two bowls, one lid/skillet, one spork)
• Flint & steel
• Knife x 2 (one single blade to keep in my pocket at all times and one Swiss Army)
• Rain pants (REI brand: completely water proof but lacks breathability) 
• Rain jacket (Arc'teryx Beta AR: 3-layered Gore-tex)
• Gloves (EMS: lightweight)
• First aid kit (Band aids, Ibuprofen, nail clipper, mole skin, needle and thread, gauze, & tick-remover)
• Hat
• Hiking poles 
• Cord (30 feet)
• Socks x 2 (Smart Wool)
• Underwear x 2 (Synthetic and quick-drying)
• Thermal leggings (Nike Element Thermal Running Tights)
• Pants (REI: synthetic convertible pants/shorts)
• Pack-towel (synthetic, quick-drying)
• Toilet paper
• Money
• Credit card
• Phone & charger (to update blog and stay in touch with civilization)
• Boots (Asolo TPS 520 GV: Leather & Gore-Tex - heavy support and very dry, not lightweight) 
• FOOD (ideally ~2.5 pounds per day @ 100 calories per ounce.)
• Nalgene bottle (for purifying water b/c the Steripen won't be used directly with water bladder)
• Camera
• Long sleeve base layer (Smart Wool)
• Shirt x 2 (Synthetic, quick-drying)
• Down jacket (The North Face Diez: 800 fill down, ultra-light, and very compressible)
• Bandana
• Eye glasses 
• Stove (Trangia alcohol stove)
• Fuel (any kind of combustible alcohol)
• Lighter
• Headlamp
• Whistle
• Ziplock bags
• Soap (biodegradable)
• Toothbrush, toothpaste, & floss (floss taken out of plastic container)
• Driver's license
• Pen 
• Garbage bag (as a pack-liner)
• Guidebook (No cover & ripped in 1/2; I will take one-half at a time to save weight)
• Crocs (lightweight - for wearing around tent site to let feet breath and rest)
• "Brain Book" (Small mole-skin journal containing important addresses, dates, phone numbers, etc.)

So this is what I have so far.  With food and water (water is heavy - 2.2 lbs. per liter!) my entire pack-weight, last time I checked, is hovering around 32 pounds.  Granted, I need to pack everything right now and reassess the situation but the pack is about 17% of my bodyweight so I am feeling pretty good about it all.  

Feel free to let me know if I'm forgetting anything!  (I will definitely double-check with other lists and triple-check after that.)

-Adam