Blogs, Twitter, and Books

[Waitin 4 my trl name]

Hello Hikers,

I am brand new to WhiteBlaze (though I have spent time lurking around the past four weeks or so) and I have to say I am very impressed with the content and camaraderie that I am finding in this community.

I am also (semi) brand new to the hiking scene. I've not done anything other than long day hikes or had a serious pack on my back since my early teens, which is too many years ago to talk about.

Thru-hiking the AT has been a dream of mine since I was 8 years old, and now that I am living within a couple of hours of the southern terminus, that dream is being rekindled. (I've even started up a blog to write about the journey to, hopefully, fulfill that dream in the coming years: http://stephenchristianson.com/ - and you can find a bit out more about me here: http://stephenchristianson.com/about/ -it is new so not much posted yet.)

As I jump into the fray here, I wanted to start out asking about three things as I begin to research this journey:



Are there any recommended blogs/sites (outside of WhiteBlaze) that I should visit/follow?
I have also started playing with twitter and would love to follow any of you that are regular "tweeters"
If I could only read three books in regards to hiking the AT (either section or thru) what would they be?


My apologies if I was a bit long winded, just a bit excited to throw myself out there with everyone.

[Uncle Walkie]

"average people, extraordinary trail" by Mark Allen. Excellent read, combines advice on planning, prepartation with a great narrative of his journey. If I had to recommend one book that would be it

[Waitin 4 my trl name]

"average people, extraordinary trail" by Mark Allen

Thanks for the recommendation. Will check it out.

[Turk6177]

"AWOL On The Appalachian Trail" by David Miller. He seems to really grasp a lot of the mental part of the trip. Also, if you got to www.trailjournals.com, you can read tons of people's journals of their thru hikes.

[SunnyWalker]

Postholer.com This would also be a good site to explore. Has a lot to offer.

[Paul the Brit]

Appalachian Trials by Zach Davis.....it's worth subscribing to his email newsletter also.
AWOL as suggested above and his AT guide also.

My blog/Twitter is below if you would like to follow along as I prep for AT thru next year.

Paul

[Coffee]

Lots of good reviews on UL gear including many videos allowing a closeup look at gear: http://sticksblog.com/ Also some interesting trip reports of AT section hikes.

[Waitin 4 my trl name]

Thanks for the great responses! I look forward to learning a lot!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Second Hand]

Sectionhiker.com is an excellent blog. Philip writes on all topics related to backpacking and has a lot of experience to back it up. He post new articles daily and has hundreds of trip reports.

[Theosus]

I don't have any AT experience yet... But I started a blog for family and friends where I detailed learning to backpack from zero experience. It's all there. Dec 2012 is about where it starts I think.

Theosus1.wordpress.com

Wordpress puts up ads but I don't make any money from anything, so don't click the ads!

[Astro]

Books: AWOL by David Miller
Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis
Hiking Through by Paul Stutzman

[Waitin 4 my trl name]

Wow - thanks for all the book and site recommendations. I can see that I will be expanding my library once again (much to my wife's chagrin - anyone else have that problem?).

[Waitin 4 my trl name]

BTW - on another note - I've posted a profile picture and can't for the life of me figure out why it's not showing when I post? Any thoughts?

[redseal]

Well, I guess I will be biased and mention my blog that is linked below. But I also like http://pmags.com