Around the Corner, A New Year

In just a few days there'll be one more year into the past. For better or worse whatever hasn't been done isn't and it is time to look ahead. This isn't some rosy post about resolutions. I have one goal for 2018. There are mileposts along the way but just one goal.

I haven't exactly kept it a secret that I've been at least thinking about a long hike over the last couple years. There's been experimental hikes, planning, and now training. Miles and miles of walking at a brisk pace while under thirty or more pounds of gear. 2018 contains quite the adventure; some would view it as a frivolous, selfish, grueling ordeal of privation. They're probably the same people that have worked the same underappreciated position at the same job for twenty years out of apathy and terror.

By the same token, the same "traditional career" jobs will be forever closed to someone like me. Ageist managers don't want someone who isn't young and impressionable. Managers who have attained their position by Peter Principle would be in fear for their jobs based on my life experiences alone. Add in a successful thru-hike, the perceived tenacity, and the rest would know it's just a matter of time before I shoulder past them up the ranks. Further, I would be miserable trading in the fresh air, trees, and mountains for a cubicle, substandard computer and petty coworkers. Physical labor jobs might be temporarily satisfying, but only for busywork. Abuse, anxiety, and depression have all taken their toll, any of those jobs would just be a disaster waiting to happen. If society had a use for people like me, I haven't found it yet.

But all that will be something to remember in a fistful of months. In a few days, it will be a new year and the opportunities have just to be revealed. I have projects on hold until after the trail unless I want to work on them from the wilderness. I think I'll be busy walking, eating, being tired, hangry, wet, cold, hot, astonished, awestruck, inspired, motivated and present.

A long hike is a valuable reboot. It becomes a chance to ground, have a simple goal with simple tools and get back to taking each day as it comes. To meet a challenge and surmount it with the resources you either had the foresight to bring or the fortitude to carry.

Another week closer to the Trail

So there's been a move out of our comfort zone and into a motel room not unlike some lodgings I'm likely to find along the AT next year. It's surprisingly roomy and if I had been on the trail for a week, practically palatial. Even though this is in a fairly urban area, and our room has a solid signal for WiFi, the bandwidth per device is throttled. So, just like being out in the wild with random WiFi and trying to get vlogs uploaded, it does take some planning. An eight-minute vlog produced at 720p instead of 1080p does save time, but I am finding even that, in these conditions still needs about two hours to upload. It's something other trail vloggers have run into and is another reason I'm packing a tablet. I can plug it in, open Youtube in a Chrome tab, start the upload and it happily chips way at the gigabytes with no further attention. That still leaves my cellphone in my pocket for running around town to gather supplies.

Video uploads are still a sticky problem as there are long sections with no WiFi to be found. I'm not going to pony up for a wildly expensive unlimited data plan and second smartphone on a second network with another expensive unlimited data plan. What will add to the challenge is my idea of doing neros instead of zeros. I want to pick a place near a resupply, before and after. I want to get into town early, find WiFi, a place to charge my brick and leave my tablet while I get groceries. I would like to think I will find those sorts of places easily enough. When done, just head out for the nearest camp spot and binge on town food there.

I have now repeatedly hiked a nearby preserve. It is typical Florida, generally pancake flat. There are some sections of trail torn up by feral pigs, crisscrossed with roots or other features which make sections of the loop trail I've been using slightly more interesting. I'm still waiting for a good cold forecast to reserve the (one) campsite there so I can make sure my clothing and sleeping options are good ideas. I'm also dealing with some plantar fasciitis, so it's good to get that figured out and a pattern established to maintain it. There's no ice machine at this motel, but I have a steel water bottle that I took a little water out of and put in the freezer. I'm rolling my foot on it as I type.

60 Days From The Appalachian Trail

Surprisingly, the easiest part of prepping to start my first thru-hike was working on the gear. My selections have already been finalized and most of it has been tested. The section hike I did on the Appalachian Trail this year back in the summer wasn't all that informative. However, it was a classroom wherein I had the opportunity to hone some skills and learn a few things that really bugged me. For example, while my pack was one of the best on the market, it made too much noise for me and I had to constantly adjust straps. I was also wearing a front pack and in the summer it blocked too much air flow around my torso and I was extra hot as a result. It also added extra stress to my shoulders. Instead of adding functionality it enabled me to just carry too much stuff which just added to the weight. So I would say the experience was more one of fine-tuning than anything else.

Now I am doing semi-daily training hikes which have landed me in the camp of plantar fasciitis, so I am doing exercises to correct that. My feet have also expanded a full size already. Really the only things left are to keep putting in miles, try to get out for a cold overnight or three and get a bus ticket.

I've already looked into what used to be an economical shuttle/bunk/shuttle package to get me to the trailhead on time. It no longer exists as of this season just passed. So I'll be DIYing my own. I made a call to the first on trail outfitter and worked out something with them. I get a shuttle from Atlanta to them, get a bunk overnight then shuttle back down to Amicalola first thing in the morning. So long as Greyhound doesn't wreck my pack or put it on the wrong bus I'll be good.

I'm still Vlogging and intend to continue that habit as best as I can on this adventure. I have screen recording software on my tablet so I can discuss on trail plans while displaying the guidebook. I have streaming apps so I could even live stream parts of the journey. There are multiple sketching and art apps to make the downtime productive plus I want to Blog. A little less video per day than when I did the section hike and a few more pictures. Text to Twitter worked well, and hopefully, I'll be able to post on Instagram once a day as well.

Long range weather forecasting is showing another La Nina winter so I feel fairly confident about my clothing choices and sleep system. However, I do have some misgivings about pushing some of that gear. To that end, confidence is more important so I jumped on board with a new quilt which was literally just ordered moments ago. I have a 40 degree down quilt and a 30 degree hybrid sleeping bag which I was going to layer to deal with possible 10 degree weather. The combined weight was 43 ounces but I was going to ditch the bag as soon as the weather broke. The space it took up and the weight and knowing I really needed just one 20 degree quilt was a hard pill to swallow. The confidence will be worth it.

That brings me to the mental aspect of doing a long trail. The Appalachian Trail is a 2200 mile, four to six month marathon hike. I have my reasons for embarking on this journey. Depression is a big monkey to carry along, and there is a lot I am doing wrong. There is a lot I'm doing right too, but I'm still using language like "if I succeed" which needs to stop. I also have no post trail plans. Other than knowing I need to lose about ninety pounds and that weight loss is easily achievable on a long hike. Which will make a lot of post trail plans easier. So I am still doing short hikes, planning multi-day excursions once the temperature drops a little more.

Currently I am about to change lodgings, I and my family have been living with a cousin in central Florida. We took shelter here to dodge hurricane Irma and never moved on. That time has come for better or worse. There are some unexplored parks and preserves in our potential new stomping grounds.

This is the version of my Packlist I am working from.