Too Ambitious?

[NewHeart]

My daughter, who loves me very much and is helping get my website setup, said to me tonight;"Dad don't you think you're being overly ambitious in trying to put this all together in 4 months". Now I love my daughter immensely, so I am given to pause. So, I'm asking you for your opinions and more of your sage advice.

[Feral Bill]

How much experience do you have?

[hikehunter]

If you have the gear and have hiked and/or camped multi nights in the woods....then logistics will be the next big hurtle.
You do need to be in moderate to good shape to start, or the chances of qitting go up very fast.
Start trainning at least 8 weeks before you go....put 20 to 30 lbs in a pack and walk at least 3 miles a day with it, every day.

I train for my section hikes with 20 lbs in a pack and do 3.5 miles every morning before going to work and then another 3.5 in the evening after dinner before bedtime.
I do it daily for 4 weeks before the section. My sections are 100 pluss miles. I also teach karate 3 nights a week.

[Lone Wolf]

My daughter, who loves me very much and is helping get my website setup, said to me tonight;"Dad don't you think you're being overly ambitious in trying to put this all together in 4 months". Now I love my daughter immensely, so I am given to pause. So, I'm asking you for your opinions and more of your sage advice.

you beginning the trail in 4 months or you're going to take 4 months to hike it?

[CedarKeyHiker]

"Tin Man", Yesterday I hiked with my 22 year old son. We went to a 125' deep sinkhole and walked up and down 200+ steps. He quickly realized that I wasn't going to be going as fast as he was and took off. When I reached the bottom he was doing push ups. I was wearing my 25# backpack and he was wearing an old military ALICE pack frame with a 45# weight attached. Slowly and steadily I trudge up and down. I stopped when I was winded but I kept a good pace.

When it was all said and done he out paced me by one round trip down and up. There's a .5 mile nature trail that goes around the sinkhole and I asked him if he wanted to take a lap around before we left. He told me, "Pop I'm done, no more for me!" I walked on without him. When we got in the car to leave he told me he was proud of me. He told me if I keep doing what I'm doing I won't have any trouble hiking the Trail. I was glad to have impressed my son almost 20 years my junior, but I knew all along I was going to make it. My life experience was such that I knew it was a challenge I could handle. Heck, I raised kids, went to work every day, paid tons of bills, and with very few exceptions, "got it done."

Now, that brings me to my point. Your daughter, like my son, only see the world through their limited life experience. They have no idea what we have gone through to get us where we are today. But we do because "this ain't our first rodeo." She' just looking out for you. She saw you before and after your surgery when things were bleak. Don't forget, "Oz didn't give nothing to the tin man that didn't already have." You've got this!!!

[CedarKeyHiker]

"Tin Man", Yesterday I hiked with my 22 year old son. We went to a 125' deep sinkhole and walked up and down 200+ steps. He quickly realized that I wasn't going to be going as fast as he was and took off. When I reached the bottom he was doing push ups. I was wearing my 25# backpack and he was wearing an old military ALICE pack frame with a 45# weight attached. Slowly and steadily I trudge up and down. I stopped when I was winded but I kept a good pace.

When it was all said and done he out paced me by one round trip down and up. There's a .5 mile nature trail that goes around the sinkhole and I asked him if he wanted to take a lap around before we left. He told me, "Pop I'm done, no more for me!" I walked on without him. When we got in the car to leave he told me he was proud of me. He told me if I keep doing what I'm doing I won't have any trouble hiking the Trail. I was glad to have impressed my son almost 40 years my junior, but I knew all along I was going to make it. My life experience was such that I knew it was a challenge I could handle. Heck, I raised kids, went to work every day, paid tons of bills, and with very few exceptions, "got it done."

Now, that brings me to my point. Your daughter, like my son, only see the world through their limited life experience. They have no idea what we have gone through to get us where we are today. But we do because "this ain't our first rodeo." She' just looking out for you. She saw you before and after your surgery when things were bleak. Don't forget, "Oz didn't give nothing to the tin man that didn't already have." You've got this!!!

[CedarKeyHiker]

Tin man, I had to revise our age difference in my post. I'm almost 40 years older than my son.

[Studlintsean]

Just an FYI, my brother decided to thru hike this year sometime in Feb and left March 6. He has a good amount of backpacking experience but no experience with long distance hikes. He finished in September. You will catch on when you get out there. Good luck.

[garlic08]

I you're a strong experienced hiker, all you have to do is buy a guidebook, throw a few pounds of supplies in your pack, and start hiking. You have a resupply opportunity on the shelf of a roadside business in less than 30 miles, and more opportunities a short hitch away roughly every thirty miles or so after that. If you feel like it, you can stop somewhere with a grocery and a PO for half a day, make up a few boxes, and mail them to yourself up the trail, but you don't have to do that. After a few weeks, you can re-evaluate your equipment and change things out in outfitters along the way or drop-ship them to yourself from internet retailers.

It can be as simple as that, or you can spend the next four months laboriously planning every day on a spreadsheet. And then throw the spreadsheet away on the second day.

And if you're not a strong hiker, your time would be better spent getting that way.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Well, you've got a lot more on your plate than most prospective thru-hikers given your medical situation, limitations, and logistics. But, we aren't getting any younger. Your daughter is likely concerned that you are trying too much, too soon, and perhaps doesn't fully understand your sense of urgency due to the age difference. You could put the hike off for a year if that is what she is getting at. But in some ways, that just leaves more time for life to find a way to interfere with your plans. Perhaps you need to expand your dialogue with your daughter? Good luck whatever you decide.

[Water Rat]

Given the amount of thought you have already put into this trip... No. I don't think it's too ambitious to try. Anyone starting out is on a thru-hike attempt... They don't actually become thru-hikers until they complete the trail. With that, you are at the same point as everyone else starting out this year. You just have a slightly larger hurdle in front of you, but everyone has "something" (physical ailment, injury, gear issue, didn't plan enough, etc) they have to deal with on a hike.

Your awesome daughter is clearly worried about you, at some point (only you can decide when) you will need to decide when to start resuming your life. Everyone who has undergone any sort of surgery has that point where they have to tell themselves to "go for it" and resume their activities. It's understandable that your daughter is worried about you crossing that threshold.

Only you can decide if you are ready for this endeavor. Ask yourself why you want to do this trek, what you hope to gain from the journey, and decide what it all means to you. Only you can decide if you want it bad enough to reach Katahdin.

I have a feeling that if you don't try, you will always wonder about the "what ifs" and regret not trying. All you can do is give it your best shot. If you make it to Katahdin, think of what that will mean to you and your daughter. If you don't make it, you will still learn a lot about yourself on your journey. The way I look at it is it is not an all-or-nothing situation. If you get to Katahdin that is awesome. If you try, but do not make it, you will still have an amazing adventure and learn a lot. Either way seems like a win-win to me.

Just be sure you make a decision based on what you want, not what others want for you. Their hearts are in good places (pun intended), but the desire to protect their loved one might cloud the bigger picture for them.

Wishing you the best of luck!

[lonehiker]

Four months is more than enough time to plan a thru-hike.

[NewHeart]

I thank you for all your insights and encouragement, I would say I'm much like you CedarKeyHiker. I'll 62 three years older then I thought I'd be. I know that I am not going to be doing this fast and will need to stop when I get winded, but I long as I putting one foot in front of the other I know I'll be fine.

As some of you know from my first thread, I am a 2 years heart transplant survivor and mt daughter worries I'm taking on too much, too soon. She is concerned about me being on my own, but I've spent a lot of time in the woods when I was younger and again in my later years. I have been hiking with my #9 ILBE with #40 load on a 3 mile loop. I burned out my treadmill with me and my pack! And I have been consulting with you folks on best practices.

I am gathering my equipment a little at a time. My cook set is complete and come in a bit under 12 oz without fuel. I just finished my hammock and will be starting on the fly, bug net, TQ and UQ when those materials arrive. I've done some rough calculations, and think the entire sleep system will come in around 8 lbs.

I must thank RSBTR and WolfPaw for the help they are giving me.

My many thanks to all of you!

Oh and by the way I am working on getting a new website up and running, I'll post more about that this evening I hope!

[Jake2c]

Depends on you and your desire to pursue this goal but as a general answer from my point of view, No.

[squeezebox]

You've got a lot more going on than the rest of us, being a heart transplant recipient. My understanding is the nerve that controls heart rate is severed. So if I'm correct, your heart rate does not increase upon exersion, Am I right or wrong? Does your insurance cover physical therapy? Maybe you could switch to a sports therapist. I think you said your doc is for the trip. Maybe you could get a grant from the heart association, or a major transplant center. I would think that you'll need a lot more shake down hikes than normal. Mostly to find your capabilities. I'm in St. Louis we could do the Ozarks. For sure put together a good exercise program. And Hell!! go ahead and start! However far you get it's a success!! Go home for some more planning and adjustment and try again, and again, and again.
Wishing you the best !!

[squeezebox]

The medial alert and the flash drive is a great idea.

[Slo-go'en]

The pertinent question is how prepared are you physically? Have you been at the gym everyday giving that borrowed heart a serious work out? Are you at all overweight or have other medical issues? Have you had a stress test done recently? What does your doctor say? In the end, it's the doctor's option which counts the most.

The shear volume of drugs you have to take and how to deal with that is still a big issue to be figured out. Personally, I would suggest just planning some shorter section hikes, see how that goes and work the kinks out of the system before jumping into a major hike.

[NewHeart]

I do have a quick question. right now I am making a TQ & UQ with APEX 7.5 for the colder parts of the trip. I am planning on using my Coleman Fleece bag and a Grabber blanket for the warmer months. Should I plan on making a summer weight TQ & UQ out of let's say 2.5 APEX?

[Bronk]

If you've done a weekend trip in cold weather and feel both you and your equipment were up to the challenge then you don't need any more preparation than that. A thru hike is nothing more than many 3 to 4 day trips done back to back. Buy a guidebook and hit the trail.

[MuddyWaters]

My daughter, who loves me very much and is helping get my website setup, said to me tonight;"Dad don't you think you're being overly ambitious in trying to put this all together in 4 months". Now I love my daughter immensely, so I am given to pause. So, I'm asking you for your opinions and more of your sage advice.

Lost me at "website"

Your only special worries are your meds and possibly communication needs.

You easily have enough time.