How One Noob Preps for A 2014 Thru

[iamforest]

Just an FYI for the future. I spoke to Amicalola Falls yesterday and the $5 fee to leave a vehicule while you hike the trail ( I guess up to 6 months) will be changing soon. I was asking about parking for training hikes this fall. If anyone has more info please post it. I'm in Fl and will be starting some 2-4 day trips in Oct this year.

I am in the same boat, will be doing some day hikes in october and trying to find a place to leave vehicle for 3 or 4 days in that area. Keep me updated!

[Crusinsusan]

Lantern....what will the fee be changing to?

a-tip....will pm you...not for the gear list (because I really, REALLY have bought enough now!, and frankly I'm not reading anything else on this site about gear!!!....every time I do I think "Wow! kewl beans on that ....gotta have it!...so I've done enough shopping. lol), but I'm game for the nutrition & physical training stuff. Here in Fl, I walk the beach (sand does wonders for the muscles), and bridges, and mess around on my bike and with dumbbells (the weights, not the people). Always interested in what others are doing that way, and about nutrition. So thanks for that.

[Crusinsusan]

Erm...q-tip...first I have to figure out how to turn on private messaging...lol. Might take a bit of time.

[Crusinsusan]

And now for an update on this noobs plans: I'm still waffling on doing a thru, and I know that if you come to, afterall, THE AT thru-hiker site and speak of your concerns about disease (I'm here today to get news of norovirus/super-storm sandy tick-explosion), you're bound to get negative responses. And that's fine: lovers of a place/trek should be super enthusiastic about it.

I did attempt a kind of multi-sport trip (which *was* to have included biking the Katy Way Bike Trail, backpacking sections of the AT, and kayaking in the Adirondacks (hands down my favorite earthy place to be), but I lost my wallet the first day I was in Missouri and had to cancel the whole shebang (nightmare outlined on my blog; won't take up space here about that).

So now that I'm much more humble (ever pack for 3 different kinds of camping/vacations and be 800 miles from home with no credit cards/money/debit cards/driver's license? and nearly no gas...ya, me neither! thank heavens for money wires and a kid with cash to do so), I finally got my breath back and took off for some day hikes on the AT and man oh man, have learned a lot and have a lot to learn!

Like: I am NOT in shape and my flat-lander existence (I live in Florida), despite my beach hikes/bridge walking and biking/kayaking is no match for the AT. And I totally get how someone would do just 8-10 miles a day lugging a pack. 'Cuz I did 8 miles a day NOT lugging a pack on my day hikes last week. (Although I was lugging a stupid 8-liter water capacity day pack [yes, it can hold 8 liters of water...I was lugging 2 liters and other items] that was no where near what ANYONE would consider lightweight, that I had bought for my Florida 8-mile beach hikes because, let me tell you, summer hiking in Florida should be illegal, and I bought that day pack after I was 3 miles into what was suppose to have been a 9 mile hike, and my 2 liters of water were gone, and I had to hike back a mile to a water source.)

Anyway, I learned that one should not think that because they are raring to go and on the way to the hotel and passing *right by* Clingmans Dome, wherein there is a 1/2 mile "hike" to the top, that stopping to do said 1/2 mile "hike" is NOT just a simple thing, NOR is it a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the Appalachian Trail!

I don't think I've ever walked a more difficult half mile in my life, and from the looks of those walking it with me, I knew I wasn't alone.

That climb goes down on my "stupider-things-I-have-done" list, not because I did it, but because I did it *first*, and then, all full of myself, I did another couple of miles on the AT itself. Needless to say, when I woke the next morning, my calves were rock solid. If you've ever tried to make cement move, you'll understand why I nearly toppled over when I tried to get out of bed.

So. Start your AT day hikes somewhere else!

I also learned, via the pace I kept on my other 3 consecutive day section hikes, that should I indeed try to attempt an AT thru (and I'm leaning seriously towards sections instead), that my speed will be about 8 miles a day, walking for much longer each day than I did on the day hikes. And I expect that will be true until I am well into the AT and therefore, much stronger.

FWIW, each 3 day hike gained about 1600 in elevation. And when a happy group of hikers, coming from a hiking lodge, came upon me, I was less than friendly as I was taking my one and only rest stop (glorious sitting rock!) and stuffing my mouth with my cliff bar (I really, REALLY need to figure out hiking nutrition) and I feel a bit ashamed at how I acted....I'm sure it seemed rude, but I was totally tapped out, and not as congenial as I would have liked to be.

And I can't even begin to tell you how many items I have formerly ass-u-med I would pack, were being ticked off my list in my head as I trudged up and down.

My noob advice: get on the trail for day hikes (and overnighters, I should think) before you attempt a thru. I knew I would learn from doing so, but I feel so much more, well, intelligent, about it all now.

In no way am I trying to scare anyone away from it; as one noob to another, I'm just saying that reading here at WB is not going to be enough. At least for those of us who are planners and lovers of learning.

Seriously, it was great to get out there and test myself. And a very easy way to introduce myself to the rigors to come (well, Clingman's Dome is the exception to this).

If you feel you need to hear more about my stumblings on the trail, you know where to find me (see sig if you don't) - at least I'm hoping my dang pics from my dang phone will *finally* come through so I can post about it.

[Shrek & Fiona]

Are you going solo? I am in the same situation as you. Never backpacked and wanting to do a thru hike next year. I'm 42 and I'm a little worried about striking out on my own. At least in the beginning. Are you possibly up for some company in the beginning?

I will turn 44 on my thru in 2015, not worried about age. As far as being alone, even as I hike on the AT in the off seasons I have never been alone. I always meet other hikers on the trail.