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!)
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!)