Flip Flop Class of 2015 Unite!

[bsteinberg]

Dusted off my hiking gear. The clothes are a little tight, but I'm not getting new ones. I'll hike into them.

I'm making an inventory. So far I know I need socks, sock liners, spandex underwear, a belt.

I swear I bought boot inserts, but can't find them. They are probably next to the library books I can't find.

I'm debating my stove. I saw folks with jetboils on my last hike. I've been using a alcohol stove. It's light weight, but I'm not sure about consistently getting fuel.

There is my 20% off coupon from REI. I've been thinking about using it on an item that wold maximize my savings like a jetboil, but I don't have an big ticket items I need unless I get the stove.

[Charliehorse]

bsteinberg,
I went with JetBoil's new MightyMo. It boils a liter of water before you know it, and it does a great simmer. I've been very pleased with it.

Charliehorse

[kushtakaa]

bsteinberg...JetBoil's sound righteous...especially if you are on your own and just need to heat up water fast.

I'm starting out (cooking for 2) with my primary being a titanium wood-stove (QiWiz's Firefly XL):

http://qiwiz.net/stoves.html

...as my primary. We'll see how that goes. I like the idea of NOT carrying liquid fuel...or having to replenish it periodically. If it works...is incredibly light and all I have to do is gather twigs and keep them dry. I also got the grill (really light built by QuWiz's friend) to go on top, so nights coming out of towns, if you smell the stank of med/rare steaks & portabella 'shrooms...it will be us.

Since I'm "cooking for 2"...I'll also have an emergency/secondary with me (for boiling water on the side or in case we want to make fajitas and need a 2nd going ;-)). For that I'm going to carry an Esbit titanium:

http://www.esbit.de/en/products/67/s...tove-st11-5-ti

...pretty light and compactable for a secondary...

[squeezebox]

Kashtakaa ; Don't feel like the Lone Ranger too quickly. Also consider my idea of a grilling fork. Take the plastic swatter part of a flyswatter off, bend the tongs out perpindicular, and straight ahead, perfect for hot dogs, brats some veggies. wt. 1oz

[kushtakaa]

Kashtakaa ; Don't feel like the Lone Ranger too quickly. Also consider my idea of a grilling fork. Take the plastic swatter part of a flyswatter off, bend the tongs out perpindicular, and straight ahead, perfect for hot dogs, brats some veggies. wt. 1oz

lols True...I get ye. Cool thing about this adventure for my wife & I...not expectations & no time limit. If we find something that doesn't work, next town we will amend it and try something different. I like the flyswatter idea! :-)

[CleveHip]

Hi Laurie,

I plan to start my thru-hike in early May from Harpers Ferry NOBO, then mid-August SOBO. Do you have a time set for the May 2 event? Would love to learn more about how shelters work, and about what tent camping is permissible and where.

TJL

[kushtakaa]

CleveHip - Welcome & maybe see you out there! This should get you started:

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/who-...-flop-kick-off

[semicolon]

Hello fellow flip-floppers! I've been lurking on this thread for a long time now. And it's been a long while since I've posted. I have just booked my flight from Austin and will be hitting the trail from HF on April 28. This adventure suddenly got real!

I am doing a final shakedown hike next week to finalize my gear list. Perhaps I will post a photo of my gear bomb from the trail here in Texas. I enjoyed seeing what other folks are bringing.

I am looking forward to meeting each of you.
Safe travels,
Tejas

[Treehugger]

Hello fellow flip-floppers! I've been lurking on this thread for a long time now. And it's been a long while since I've posted. I have just booked my flight from Austin and will be hitting the trail from HF on April 28. This adventure suddenly got real!

I am doing a final shakedown hike next week to finalize my gear list. Perhaps I will post a photo of my gear bomb from the trail here in Texas. I enjoyed seeing what other folks are bringing.

I am looking forward to meeting each of you.
Safe travels,
Tejas

Semicolon! Hello! I may be right on yer tail coming up from about 250 miles south of HF. Hope to be there right around then. Good luck to you and if we do meet and you want to I will, via my husband Trail Angel Beerdid1, give you a ride back to the FFKO so you can partake of the festivities. Woot! This is happening!!

[bsteinberg]

Drove down to Hartford CT today to REI (50 Miles). Got pretty much most of my stuff now. It's shake down time. I'm going to do three variations.

1) super lite with no tent, and a lighter sleeping bag, but bring a light weight down jacket in cast of cold

2) no tent, but bigger bag with a fleece instead of jacket

3) tent and bigger bag, and jacket

I was hoping to go digital with my maps this time, but the APP and a PDF of the guide book both didn't work. The APP had scant town info for some reason like way less than the book. The PDF didn't show pictures and was kind of clunky turning pages. Looks like the physical book wins out.

I figure I can use my google maps and the internet just as well if I have service.

[jimmyjam]

Bsteinburg you will need a tent. What if the shelter is full? What
if you need to stop short of a shelter? Besides shelters suck.

[squeezebox]

What rating bag or quilt are you bringing? I expect some mid 30's nights and 50* days. Heh! it won't be summer yet, but it's not an early March start either. How have you adjusted your gear list. Being a newbie I'm heading towards a late Mar. setup. Knowing I'll soon start figuring stuff out what I need and send some colder weather stuff home for warmer weather stuff. Better safe than hypothermia sorry.

[Humminbard]

I'm with Squeezebox on this one, but maybe it's because I'm also a newbie, and I hate to be cold! I've managed to get the base weight pretty low even with cold weather precautions, but the bulk is going to be a challenge. Where's that magician's hat when you need it?

[brancher]

Some instinctive sense of who you are cold-wise will come in handy. But in general, you can do a 30F bag and layer up when necessary, or do a 10F bag and cook in warm weather. I use a quilt and layer up when needed. The quilt takes me to about 28-30F comfortably, but below 25F I need to pay attention.

For sure, we all have some sacred spots on our bodies that sort of dictate comfort - for me it's head, ears, and feet/toes.

YMMV.

(...."cold-wise"? I need coffee...)

[brancher]

BTW -- I am thinking of driving to HF and parking my car there 'til I get to BSP. Figuring about 3 months. Anyone know of any long-term parking available up in HF? I wrote to ATC but got a robo-response.....

[bsteinberg]

Off to buy 5 days of hiking food to do my shake down. I thought about what folks said about my lite weight v. warmth security idea. I figure most hikers go heavy and shed at the first town. I'm going lite and perhaps will add if needed.

I remember being cold in the Smokeys in May and hiking into Helen, GA for a fleece sleeping bag liner and a heated hotel room. I made a classic lite weight flub. In an attempt to lower pack weight, I ditched my thermal at the top of Springer. The cold lasted for a day or two.

I'm noting that mishap, so I'm bring a full set of thermals, winter gloves and a down jacket to help warm my core if need be. As for tent, no tent, I'm kind of a shelter guy. It's a risk of getting shut out, but I've never been shut out of a shelter. I've been SNORED OUT and set up my tent.

I'll have my tent for select parts.

[jimmyjam]

BTW -- I am thinking of driving to HF and parking my car there 'til I get to BSP. Figuring about 3 months. Anyone know of any long-term parking available up in HF? I wrote to ATC but got a robo-response.....

I would leave my car at home and have someone drive it every week or two or put fuel stabilizer in it, take the battery out and put it on a trickle charger. Take the amtrak to DC to HF.

[Treehugger]

BTW -- I am thinking of driving to HF and parking my car there 'til I get to BSP. Figuring about 3 months. Anyone know of any long-term parking available up in HF? I wrote to ATC but got a robo-response.....

As far as i know you can park your car at the ATC headquarters. To confirm how long you are allowed to leave it call the Visitor Center 304.535.6331. Or email Laurie P. at [email protected].

[dangerdave]

I'm going with summer gear from the start. The cold never bothered me anyway. My 30F bag, and some light layers---if needed---will do me fine. Keeping my head covered always makes me warm. Hot water bottles work great if it gets too chilly.

[Lauriep]

Schedule for the Flip Flop Kick Off
We are still finalizing the schedule, but hope to have most things nailed down sometime next week. On Saturday, May 2, activities and workshops will take place from 10 am to 5 pm. Music will be 1pm to 5pm. In addition to hiking workshops by flip-floppers, we'll also have Leave No Trace activities (bear bagging and cat-holing, if we can figure out how to do that not in the backcountry), a session or panel on trail magic by Heather "Brave," food, raffles and games. And hopefully temporary tattoos!

We're hoping to have a special session for the 2015 flip-floppers and their families with Ron Tipton, ATC's executive director. We're thinking that would be Saturday morning but haven't confirmed the time yet.

On Sunday, May 3, we'll have a community breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30, and a send-off from ATC at 9:00am. Then we'll walk down the A.T. to lower town and take some photos at a few of the scenic spots, like "The Point" at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, the A.T. sign that has the mileage to Georgia and Maine, and maybe the interpretive sign at the base of the stone steps that is titled "A Journey of A Thousand Miles begins with a Single Step."

Journalist and photographer Mike Johnson will come from California to be at ATC for a week in advance and during the kick off to document the event. He'll stay behind for a few days to write an article for A.T. Journeys, and then will become a flip-flopper himself. He wrote the article Alternative Thru-Hikes in the A.T. Journeys last May, and has written about the PCT Kick Off.

Lauralee "Blissful" Bliss, two-time 2,000-miler (one thru-hike, one complete section hike), Blissful Hiking blogger, and multi-year ridgerunner, will be joining us in her capacity as Maryland ridgerunner for the weekend. This lady knows her stuff!

Details will be updated periodically at www.appalachiantrail.org/flipflop.

Passport Stamp for the Flip Floppers
Jeff Taussig, creator of the A.T. Passport, is going to create a special stamp for flip-flopper thru-hikers for us to have at ATC that we'll be unveiling at the kick off.

Parking in Harpers Ferry
Hikers can park vehicles for up to 2 weeks at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park visitors center, located on the south side of US 340 at the Washington St. stoplight. Pay $10 entrance fee and register your vehicle during business hours. The lot is gated at dusk. A shuttle bus runs between lower town and the visitors center. An overnight parking form is available at www.nps.gov/hafe/planyourvisit/index.htm. For more information, call (304) 535-6298. There's no easy solution for hikers who need to leave a vehicle more than 2 weeks. But we do have Amtrak train service from DC 7 days a week, and 3 or 4 commuter trains from DC weekdays, so you can get here from just about anywhere. (Sorry, parking at ATC HQ is very limited, and is intended for those visiting ATC HQ, staff, interns, and volunteers.)

This information and other information about shuttles and parking is on our shuttle list, which is linked at www.appalachiantrail.org/transportation.

Treehugger Presentation(s)!
Treehugger gave an awesome presentation last Saturday explaining all her gear, why she made her choices, and why she chose a flip-flop. She's a really engaging and interesting speaker and will do an awesome job sharing whatever she's learned and experienced a month into her flip-flop at the kick-off. Chuck Izzo at Appalachian Outdoor Readiness and Essentials was an integral part of that program, supporting Treehugger as a flip-flopper, and promoting the flip-flop thru-hike. He or someone from his staff will hopefully will be joining us again in Harpers Ferry at the FFKO.

Anything Else?
Are there any lingering questions I haven't addressed, or something I promised to do that I haven't (other than compiling a comprehensive list of flip-floppers attending the kick-off, which I have not been able to keep up with.)? Don't hesitate to remind me!