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  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by FreeGoldRush View Post
    The gear they describe in the article shows a multi tool. Did you really take a multi tool with you? I've not done my thru hike yet but hear that those are some of the first items to be dropped of at mile 31.
    I didn't take any of that stuff. They wanted me to pose with a stainless steel water jug that weighed 4 pounds empty and I said no- I would be laughed out of the hiking community! But I think some of that stuff they showed is nice for shorter hikes.

  2. #22

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    Pretty cool 'ere Bon Bon!

  3. #23
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    http://www.stevefriedman.net/stories/
    He is pretty great- he wrote Scott Jureks story and a few other books and writes often for outdoor magazines. Ill pass on your compliment!
    It was embarrassing at first because he sort of figured me out- and the weight, the binge watching netflix etc- and all that stuff. Telling your own story sounds very different than somebody telling your story. So initially I reacted to it. i like it now-especially since you guys like it.This is a tough room....
    Last edited by BonBon; 08-25-2016 at 22:26.

  4. #24
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    Wonderful story, thank you for sharing. I appreciated the human elements of it. The stress, fear , self-doubt and worry that plague most of us. I applause you for letting go and doing the trail for yourself...congratulations.

  5. #25
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    Great story, thanks for sharing. Your story discusses more of the mental aspect of thru-hiking than most.
    Congratulations on finishing.
    "Chainsaw" GA-ME 2011

  6. #26
    Registered User John B's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BonBon View Post
    Prevention reached out to me to do an article because of my age and weight I guess when I started the trail. Here it is. It is mostly accurate, some stuff I didn't really like. I thought the hike itself was the cool thing, but that has been written so many times. Their focus was on weight, mid life crisis, stress in my life etc. Still- here it is.
    Good grief, am I the only one who can access the link? This is what I get when I click:

    This site can’t be reached

    media.wix.com’s server DNS address could not be found.
    DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

  7. #27
    Registered User Diamondlil's Avatar
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    BonBon
    Thank you so much for sharing.
    Great article. You really captured the daily, everything, that is experienced on the trail. I too felt all these things, thanks for the refresher.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #28

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    Thanks for the link, good read!
    For a couple of bucks, get a weird haircut and waste your life away Bryan Adams....
    Hammock hangs are where you go into the woods to meet men you've only known on the internet so you can sit around a campfire to swap sewing tips and recipes. - sargevining on HF

  9. #29
    Registered User hobbs's Avatar
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    I read it last night..It was good..Congrat's on the thru hike...
    My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant

  10. #30
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John B View Post
    media.wix.com’s server DNS address could not be found.
    DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
    Try these steps. Sounds like you have a cache issue.

    https://www.wiknix.com/how-to-fix-dn...ain-in-chrome/

    Step 2 (the ipconfig commands) in particular is my guess.
    If you run OS X, use these steps https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202516

    Finally, a good site to narrow down if it is your connection or the website itself is this one...

    http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/
    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
    http://pmags.com
    Twitter: @pmagsco
    Facebook: pmagsblog

    The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau

  11. #31
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    BonBon, loved following your journal while you hiked and thoroughly enjoyed this article. You convey so well the mystical parts of the trail that are hard to describe, while never leaving out the mud, rocks and sweat. Only thing I missed in the article was mention of your lightening strike!

  12. #32

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    I've lost weight on the AT too, sure, most all of us have.

    But I'd rather not see it portrayed as a place where obese people should start hiking to lose weight. It is wiser and safer to lose the weight first, and THEN exercise. We are at high risk for foot, leg, and hip problems when we hit the trail heavy, adding a heavy pack. And if you do this later in life, like in your 50's-60's, it can take a long time to heal.

    For every one story like this one there are perhaps hundreds of miserable, painful failures often at or before Neels Gap.

    So I'm happy for you, but I think the article does a disservice to readers.

  13. #33
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    BonBon, what a great story! Really a joy to read. I wish you continued success in all of your endeavors!

  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by RockDoc View Post
    But I'd rather not see it portrayed as a place where obese people should start hiking to lose weight. It is wiser and safer to lose the weight first, and THEN exercise. We are at high risk for foot, leg, and hip problems when we hit the trail heavy, adding a heavy pack. And if you do this later in life, like in your 50's-60's, it can take a long time to heal.
    I know you're a doctor, but you're not my doctor, so I'm going to feel free to disregard your advice.

    I have a weight problem - when life keeps me off the trail (as it has for about a year now).

    I never have a weight problem when I'm hiking regularly. When I took up hiking again in my fifties after too many years away from it, I lost about forty pounds in a couple of years, without any other lifestyle modifications. Some people (at least me!) need to be active to keep the pork under control. If you tell me not to hike until I've lost weight, the weight ain't never going to come off. Hiking is about the only strenuous exercise that I can stand.

    I know that I'm risking injury by going back to the trail from the couch. I'd be risking worse by not going back at all.

    I'm starting slow again. I've done a couple of 6-8 mile day trips in the last couple of weeks with no ill effects. (The "three miles with a backpack" mentioned in the article is something that I do every day.) Next will be to try to do either another short miler but on an actual mountain, or else a short backpack. It'll actually be hard to hold myself back, but I know that if I don't, it'll be asking for trouble. It'll probably take me another year to get to the condition I was in a year ago when I started a 137-mile, two-week hike in the Adirondacks. I started carefully on that one, too, planning 8-10 mile days. In the field, I found myself doing the odd 15 or two... because by the end of the trip, I was hiking stronger than I had imagined I could.

    When I asked my doctor about that trip while it was in the planning stage, he told me ... that he was envious.

    BonBon started slow, too - the article tells about 3-mile trips, then 3-mile trips with a pack, then .... up to 13 miles per day on flat ground. (A pity she didn't have mountains available, but we have to play the hand we're dealt.) She might have still been heavy, but she was conditioned for her weight.

    I think she did just fine. (Congratulations, BonBon!) Was she prudent? If everyone were prudent, nobody would thru-hike, ever.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by RockDoc View Post
    I've lost weight on the AT too, sure, most all of us have.

    But I'd rather not see it portrayed as a place where obese people should start hiking to lose weight. It is wiser and safer to lose the weight first, and THEN exercise. We are at high risk for foot, leg, and hip problems when we hit the trail heavy, adding a heavy pack. And if you do this later in life, like in your 50's-60's, it can take a long time to heal.

    For every one story like this one there are perhaps hundreds of miserable, painful failures often at or before Neels Gap.

    So I'm happy for you, but I think the article does a disservice to readers.
    I saw lots of thin and fit people leave the trail miserable and in pain at or before Neel Gap. The challenge of the AT is much more than a physical challenge. I could not disagree with you more about losing weight first-THEN exercise. Exercise helps you lose weight and is healthy. Just dieting without exercise is not healthy. While being in terrific shape at the beginning is preferable, that is not the reality I witnessed along the trail. There were many people who could (and did) lose a few pounds hiking- as well as a woman hiking with only one leg, and people in their 70s and women alone etc. and lots of other folks who were probably strongly advised NOT to hike the trail. Barriers are broken and people find out what they can and can't do because they TRY. And if a fat person quits, they join the ranks of thousands of thin people who did also. You can disagree with what I did, but to say it is a disservice seems a little harsh. People can decide for themselves and try for themselves.

  16. #36
    Registered User doodlebug's Avatar
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    very nice im only a sec hiker but i dream of a 2017 attempt and i do know about thinking about the trail and all the hikers i have meet it changes you and i think about the trail every day happy trails

  17. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Another Kevin View Post
    I know you're a doctor, but you're not my doctor, so I'm going to feel free to disregard your advice.
    Well said!

    That Rockdoc negative-nilly is a doc? Well, if he's a doc, then I'm a rocket scientist. In any case, he (she?) sure needs some math education; saying only 3% of overweight people are successful in starting the AT is ridiculous (one in hundreds - approx. 3%, right?). Having seen tons and tons (no pun intended) of overweight people start the trail, a good friend included, and be very successful on the trail means to me that the odds are pretty decent, maybe only slightly worse than those starting "in shape" (which I didn't really se many of). Perhaps the injury rate is higher for very overweight/out-of-shape people, but so what? Hike on.

    Well done, bonbon! I can see elements in the story, however, that are a tad annoying, but that's media for you.

    PCT next?

  18. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by John B View Post
    Good grief, am I the only one who can access the link? This is what I get when I click:

    This site can’t be reached

    media.wix.com’s server DNS address could not be found.
    DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
    You can try www.bigbigwalk.com- then click directly on the homepage

  19. #39
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    It is wiser and safer to lose the weight first, and THEN exercise.
    LOL

    May the Space Fairies save us from internet 'doctors'.

  20. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by RockDoc View Post
    I've lost weight on the AT too, sure, most all of us have.

    But I'd rather not see it portrayed as a place where obese people should start hiking to lose weight. It is wiser and safer to lose the weight first, and THEN exercise. We are at high risk for foot, leg, and hip problems when we hit the trail heavy, adding a heavy pack. And if you do this later in life, like in your 50's-60's, it can take a long time to heal.

    For every one story like this one there are perhaps hundreds of miserable, painful failures often at or before Neels Gap.

    So I'm happy for you, but I think the article does a disservice to readers.
    but for your ending summation, I think your points are fair, but that's what makes this story that much more exceptional...she not only beat the odds, she kicked it's ass and sent it on its way!

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