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  1. #21
    Registered User hammock engineer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike! View Post
    hah im freaking out, still gut to buy my backpack (damn you ULA AMP for making such a nice looking pack) still gotta make stuff sacks, a bivy sack, a new stove, and either make or buy a poncho tarp. i think about the AT all the time, going back and forth in my mind if ill make it. ill see a Chuck Norris movie and be extremely pumped and ready to take on anything, then at night when i look outside my window in my comfy bed with the TV on, i begin to wounder. and i think about that damn low 20% rate of success, i really dont think im stronger/luckier then 80% of the other hikers. i certainly dont have a super strong reason, more of a "i like to hike and love adventure" and "it will make for such good memories and a killer tattoo" but to be honest, i dont even know how i did the LT, i just picked up my things and did it on a whim.
    mike!

    I was thinking about why so many people fail. I think the other thread going on right now started by the guy that did not finish give me a good idea why. I think a lot of them don't fully plan out the trip, test their gear, or know what to expect. I know no one truely know what it is like until you do it, but I think I have a really good idea from reading WB and TJ. I also feel really comfident in all my gear and I know how to use that. I think knowing all this puts us in a good starting place. Now all I have to worry about is the mental side of things.

    My answer to that is one day at a time. I am not going to try to think about hiking the whole trail each day. I am just going to think about that days hike. Just what works for me.

  2. #22
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    +8F

    Slept out in my drafty spruce teepee last night in a 0F down sleeping bag.Feet and head and torso stayed warm but my butt was cold some of the time.

    Forty eight (48) more days before my flight to Atlanta.

  3. #23
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    Any of You hiker trash have time for some chit chat right now?

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by maxNcathy View Post
    Any of You hiker trash have time for some chit chat right now?
    What's on your mind? ???

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by terrapin_too View Post
    What's on your mind? ???

    Nothing1 ..now that could be the problem. haha

    I just finished painting my wife's hobby room pink as she requested.
    She is at work while I am at home mostly loafing and reading trail journals and checking out a new tent and sleeping bag for a young couple we know who are going to Europe camping thois summer.

    How about You, T.Too?

  6. #26
    AT 4000+, LT, FHT, ALT Blissful's Avatar
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    Wow, can't believe it - I start the Approach Trail FOUR weeks from today!!!! No wonder I was up this AM thinking about what I had to do. Dry more veggies and stuff today. And I heard yesterday my editor wants me to edit a book before I leave (ugh). And EVERYONE is coming to visit in two weeks to see what we are up to. This is gonna be one hectic month.

    But after that - freedom....







    Hiking Blog
    AT NOBO and SOBO, LT, FHT, ALT
    Shenandoah NP Ridgerunner, Author, Speaker


  7. #27
    Registered User Michele's Avatar
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    I feel the normal...overwhelmed. 39 days till I put my feet on Springer. Seems surreal actually. Thinking it had better be warmer in Georgia in March than it is right now in Michigan (8 degrees is our high on Sunday). Just moved so everything is everywhere. Sometimes feel like a little kid on Christmas morning and sometimes feel like I'm gonna puke. You know...the normal.
    The Most Important Things In Life Are Not Things....

  8. #28
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    [quote=hammock engineer;311447]I think I have a really good idea from reading WB and TJ. [quote]

    I think that sometimes your expectations can work against you. The happiest guy I met going SOBO this year was the one who had spent the least time doing online or other "research"--but had spent several hundred nights camping out, starting when he was quite young. (He was only 25 when he thru-hiked.) He didn't have the snazziest gear (and it was damned heavy), he has never run a marathon, and doesn't work out in a gym. But he ran into very little that bothered him, and nothing that scared him.

    By contrast I had done a reasonable amount of hiking and camping (including 500 AT miles as section hikes) but had read way too much, and overanalyzed things. Not to mention obsessing over gear, food, and other logistical issues. My expectations were much too heavily influenced by stuff I had read, or been told. In reality, stuff I feared because I'd been told how horrible or hard it was turned out to be manageable, while other things totally took me by surprise.

    What I'm clumsily trying to say is that your own direct experience is all that matters. It's the only thing that can really help you prepare, and it's what you will take away from the experience.

    As you said..."Take it one day at a time."

    How stubborn are you, and how bad do you want it?
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  9. #29
    Registered User dadecker's Avatar
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    Marta - Reading too much about the AT is something I've found myself doing in the last few months. I've been interested in an AT thru hike for three years, since my first conversations about it i've saught more and more information about it. I've done a number of multiple night hiking trips, with the longest being 13 days - also lived in a tent for four months during my last semester in college to save money for the A.T. The start for me is a little more than a month away and after i get my sleeping bag in the mail i'm looking forward to not organizing gear and thoughts regarding the trail. See you out there - Darrel
    Got a question? Look to nature. No answer? Reconsider your question!

  10. #30
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    Have a great hike, Darrel! It sounds as if you won't have to ask for help when you go to set up your tent or light your stove... ;-)))

    Cheers!
    Marta/Five-Leaf
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  11. #31
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    Hi Marta and Darrel and Blissful and Michelle....

    Wow, we are having another blizzard today. In the last day 12 inches of snow has fallen. My little BA Seedhouse Sl1 tent is still set up in the yard but handling the winds and heavy snows really well. No snow got inside. That is what I wanted to test. Tonight i will sleep out in the tent to see how it does with condensation in cold weather.

    Take good care, Sandalwood
    March 19th starter

  12. #32
    Registered User dadecker's Avatar
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    Sandalwood - I slept outside last night for the first time since last semester. Currently i'm staying at my sister's house in orlando, so i had to imagine the snow and wind. - Darrel
    Got a question? Look to nature. No answer? Reconsider your question!

  13. #33
    Llama Punch VictoriaM's Avatar
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    Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I don't feel excited, scared, overwhelmed, or anything like that. It still just feels unreal to me. I think my life is so busy that it hasn't had time to sink in. I'm flying out of here on March 3rd, so it's not far away for me.

  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by dadecker View Post
    Sandalwood - I slept outside last night for the first time since last semester. Currently i'm staying at my sister's house in orlando, so i had to imagine the snow and wind. - Darrel
    Darrel, What day do you begin hiking? Are you happy with your tent and sleeping bag etc.?
    I am considering not bring my Pocket Rocket stove to save about a pound with fuel.And i am wondering if I should carry my 20F or 10F sleeping bag. The 10F weighs 9 ozs more.

    Sandalwood

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by VictoriaM View Post
    Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I don't feel excited, scared, overwhelmed, or anything like that. It still just feels unreal to me. I think my life is so busy that it hasn't had time to sink in. I'm flying out of here on March 3rd, so it's not far away for me.
    Hi Victoria,

    Being very busy will do that. But since you love the out-of-doors you will no doubt be very happy when you spot all those white blazes ahead of you on the AT.
    I would feel different and more concerned if I planned to hike the whole way this year. My plan is to go 6 weeks or about 1/4 the distance. The farthest I have ever hiked before is 42 miles ( on the AT north of Damascus last April)

    Sandalwood/Max

  16. #36

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    I'm starting to panic. I feel like I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. I got my companion today and I started marking little things in it, then I realized I was being silly..how the heck do I know what shelter I'm going to end up at?
    I'm worrying over piddling things and once again trying to overanalyze. I thought I was over that but it keeps sneaking up on me and before I know it I'm trying to plan every last detail again. Aaack!
    "Too much civilization around here! Remember when the woods used to be woods, Harry?"

  17. #37
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    Don't panic - that is just the third wave - there will be another coming along any time now!

  18. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by mindi View Post
    I'm starting to panic. I feel like I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. I got my companion today and I started marking little things in it, then I realized I was being silly..how the heck do I know what shelter I'm going to end up at?
    I'm worrying over piddling things and once again trying to overanalyze. I thought I was over that but it keeps sneaking up on me and before I know it I'm trying to plan every last detail again. Aaack!
    Hi Mindi, One thing I am am glad of is the that at the 30 mile point there is a great Outfitter with expert hikers there to help me figure out all the goofs I may have made with gear.
    By then we all should have figured out alot and get any help needed and lots of free advice too. And pizza!! haha

    So don't panic, Mindi.

    Sandalwood

  19. #39
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mindi View Post
    I'm starting to panic... I got my companion today ...
    One thing I thought about doing last year, but didn't, was to fix the cover of my guidebook like the cover of the Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe--with large friendly letter that say "Don't Panic"

    I should have.

    Marta/Five-Leaf
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  20. #40
    Registered User mambo_tango's Avatar
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    The only thing I am panicking about is telling my boss I am quitting and why. Ugh.

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