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View Full Version : Hello to everyone - newbie poster here...



ToeJam
01-10-2005, 08:07
.. but I've been lurking for years. :)

I'm from Central NY and together the man and I are the parents of 8 kids ages 5 to 17, 6 of whom live with us full-time and two of whom are autistic lol! Life is never boring, and needless to say, we are Section HIkers for now until they grow up. We are also in the midst of a 1500 s.f. addition that doubled out house size that we are doing ourself, so getting away really WILL be a vacation for us even more than past years!

He started backpacking around 2000, and got me interested when we got together in 2002. I am totally HOOKED! :jump Each year we get away for a week or two depending on life at the moment, and do a section hike. We started Springer in March 2003, only made it about 40-some miles to Neels Gap (we were both sporting close to 50 pound packs lol!) in 5 days. We made it about 45 last year to Deep Gap NC, last April, had to get off a couple days earlier than planned due to tent failure in a "monsoon" at Muscrat Creek Shelter. Our packs were down to like 40 and 30 with full waters I think.

THIS year our plan is Deep Gap to Fontana in 7 days or so, but we are driving and not flying so we are luckily more on our own schedule this year, a lil. We made some major weight-saving upgrades last year with some deals I found, and traded in our 18 oz. awful stove kit with huge propane tanks for a 3 oz. Brunton Optimus Crux one, our leaky 4 lb tent for a 3 lb Missing Link one, and a few other upgrades... I have also learned alot in the past year from reading readnig reading, here and links I have gotten from here.

We do alot of local hiking and camping over the summer to tide us over.

Looking forward to getting to know you guys - its always so fun to run into ppl on the trail you have talked to and gotten to know online - ultimate case of small world! We will be starting at Deep Gap on April 16th in the afternoon after we arrive in town and can get a shuttle, hopefully we might just catch some of the thru's in that period! I plan to have my Whiteblaze patch on my pack.

It was the utmost compliment to us last year when ppl told us that we seemed more like thru's than sections. Not that there's anything wrong with being a section, but we'd both LOVE to be planning our THRU for this year and not just another section, but that time will come.

I keep telling him by that time, EVERYTHING will be unbelievably light and affordable too, and our packs will weigh in at 10 lbs or so and have lots of extras lol! Not sure if he buys it tho! :cool:

Anyhoo, maybe I should mention that I tend to be a little long-winded? Nah, maybe I'll keep that to myself, no one will ever know... :p

(P.S. Toejam comes from the fact that each year I manage to avoid blisters somehow, but always lose my left front toenail at least by hike's end by jamming it on the downhills. Now I paint it up all special-like with the year and all before we leave so I can keep it as a momento lol! Plus of course the more obvious reason to be called toejam lol!)

SGT Rock
01-10-2005, 09:10
Well welcome to the WhiteBlaze, but now as an active poster.

baseballswthrt
01-10-2005, 09:11
Welcome to WB! We're glad to have you here!

We have 4 kids 12-20, one of whom is leaving tomorrow to join her husband in Las Vegas (he is in the Air Force) and she has never been away from home!

We married 3 years ago and he got me interested in backpacking and we do it every chance we get. We also section and weekend hike until we get the last one out. We are planning a thru in 2011 when she goes to college!

I know you will find a lot of good info on this site! We're glad you are here!

Hammock Hanger
01-10-2005, 09:11
well it is good to de-lurk every once in awhile. have fun raisin' the kids, the AT will be there when your ready... In the mean time just have fun on your section hikes, that is how my husband and I started. (With 4 kids it took me 15 years before the whole thru hiker was an opportunity, and then I still ended up finishing in sections.) Hope you get a lot of good ideas and advice from this site, lighter packs will definately make a difference. Sue/HH

MOWGLI
01-10-2005, 09:13
Where in Central New York are you from? I'm from Orange County (originally).

ToeJam
01-10-2005, 09:22
Thanks, guys. :)

I'm in Ontario County (didn't even know we HAD an Orange County lol!), between ROchester and Syracuse kinda in the middle of nowhere. Good thing is lots of trails for hiking, bad news is it's all pretty flat, oh yeah, and the SNOW which makes it near impossible for me to get in as good pre-hike shape as I'd like to. DON'T care for super cold hiking, really bothers my asthma.

And yeah, backpacking IS a great couples activity, it'll either make ya or break ya lol! When we went out for our first week-long section hike after being together only about 5 months, ppl said we were CRAZY. I took the philosophy that'd it'd speed up however our relationship was already gonna go - all that togetherness. Like that Seinfeld episode where you compress 6 months of intimacy into 5 days lol! Good thing we LIKE-like each other, I reckon!

Lone Wolf
01-10-2005, 09:24
You mean you don't know the Tuttles from Orange County Choppers? :)

ToeJam
01-10-2005, 09:32
LOL! Doh! I forgot about them! Biker, tattooed, and/or pierced ppl are our kinda folks, hehe.

Plan to get some new ink to commemorate this year's hike - I have been planning but have lollygagged, I want a tat that I can add a lil to each section that sums up the year for me (or some special occurance we both especially remember). I am thinkng maybe like an anklet that I can add a "charm" to each year... will have a salamander for 2002 and a bunny that came to us on Easter on the trail for last year, and who knows what for this year!

Anyone else heard of others who have done this - I know I can't be the first to have thought of it! I love my peircings and ink but gotta pace myself hehe!

The Hog
01-10-2005, 09:36
Welcome, ToeJam! I can totally (well, partially, I guess) relate to your situation. I was a section hiker before I thru hiked, then my wife and I took on a 1700 square foot renovation of an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere in northern Vermont. Oh, add a couple of kids to that equation, too, and the fact that we're doing the renovation ourselves rather than contracting it out. We hike when we can, just like you. I want to wish you the best of luck on this year's section hike, it's a beautiful but strenuous piece of trail. Happy Trails!