What did you do this week to prepare?

[kestral]

Best of luck to you all! I am soooooo jealous.

I am recouperating from a pretty major back surgery and know I will have to go ultra light or stay home for my future sections, Lashers. So, again I wish everyone best health, physical and mental, a fun and successful trip that hits your goals! But..... if for whatever reason you decide to shorten your trip and need to recoup the costs of your UL equipment, I would be very interested. You can message me for better privacy if you wish.

Again, not wanting to throw a jinx, but I hear many folks decide to cut short after Georgia, and I know how pricy that good gear is. Never quit on a bad day! Best to you all, I will be following you on you tube, and on this sight, wishing I was there, and yeah, snickers bars are the best, but I love my once a year fix of Cadbury dark chocolate mini eggs that only come out at Easter!

[LazyLightning]

making sure I got everything I need and prepping at home but also out hiking with all my AT gear, doing my usual weekend hikes and some weekdays when having the chance. Nice outing this weekend with a bit of rain and a lot of wet trail... I made the mistake of wearing to much with my rain gear so not only was I burning up and having to stop to cool down (didn't feel like changing in the rain) but when I got to camp I had more layers wet then I wanted that could have stayed dry (was a low of 35 that night). They were just damp not soaked cause the frogg toggs isn't 100% water proof in rain all day but I still think that's what I want. I was good, no use trying to stay totally dry. I actually have this piece of Tyvek material that I put up my back under the rain coat and it hangs over my rain pants above the back of my knees - I'm sure it looks ridiculous but it's a wonderful thing keeping your backside dry where your pack sits against and stuff.

was about 13 mile days 3 days 2 nights, I hammered through a little over 13 in under 7 hours sunday in the rain all day. Couldn't believe it when I got to camp and saw it was only 1pm... of course this is just the Metacomet ridge in CT with elevations under 1000 and usually quite a bit under but still some nice trails and good hiking

[KnightErrant]

Hiked up to Angel's Rest from Pearisburg and back with my pack half-loaded yesterday. Feeling cautiously optimistic about my bum knee on my upcoming thru-hike because after 2000 feet elevation gain in 2.5 miles (and then harder, the same trip back down) no pain! My conditioning program seems to be working.

Going to triple white blaze by adding uploading a photo of white blaze beer on a white blazed trail to white blaze forum...
Cheers!
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[El JP]

Picked up three pairs of Smartwool socks and a pair of Wigwam liners.

[fastfoxengineering]

Ordered my AWOLS nobo guide... Loose leaf

Bought my plane ticket to GA

Time to start packing up and organizing for real. The to do list is long.

I have floating holidays at work. Took three days off in two weeks to really get my at home stuff squared away.

I'll have the 5 days prior to my flight off as well. Plan on spending it with family and friends.

Having a hard time sleeping lately with the pre hike jitters. It always happens. I've never been on a 2000 mile hike though

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[JC13]

Ordered my AWOLS nobo guide... Loose leaf
Bought my plane ticket to GA
Time to start packing up and organizing for real. The to do list is long.
I have floating holidays at work. Took three days off in two weeks to really get my at home stuff squared away.
I'll have the 5 days prior to my flight off as well. Plan on spending it with family and friends.
Having a hard time sleeping lately with the pre hike jitters. It always happens. I've never been on a 2000 mile hike though
Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I understand the sleep thing. Last hike, I got zero sleep the night before and still managed to knock out 21.5 trail miles day 1. My mind was racing through all of my equipment, food, etc.

[El JP]

Finally picked up a proper rain jacket and two pairs of pants for the trail. A colder and hotter weather set which i'll switch out.. Got a first aid kit from Walmart and various odds and ends.

[JC13]

This week... Made some videos, scoured over my lighterpack lists for the next 3-4 hikes, ordered a couple of pieces of gear to replace heavier alternatives, and watched other hikers videos.

[Slo-go'en]

Went snowshoeing. Deciding to try and cross this stream turned into a really bad idea. I promptly crashed thru the snow and into to water.
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[RangerZ]

Doing my local 7/10/13 mile hikes with AT load.

Parcelling out food into maildrop boxes. Gram weenieing that chicken packet at 7 oz is heavier than tuna at 2.6 oz - so chicken should go into shorter (lighter) resupply box. Which dehydrated meals are lighter?

REI pilgrimage tomorrow to get DWP and permethrin and to just smell the air. Dividend burning hole in my pocket.

Watching some vblogs to get some idea of trail conditions.

[MtDoraDave]

Riding a mountain bike to stay in shape for my next section is a great way to stay in cardio fitness... until it isn't.
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I'm under Dr's orders to NOT put a backpack on until after my next visit to see him. He screwed this mess together with titanium bits and pieces about 7 weeks ago. Hopefully the plate/screws don't prevent me from wearing a backpack. He told me if the hardware is problematic, they can remove it after a year. I really didn't like the recovery time from the one surgery, so I hope the hardware can stay where it is forever so I don't have to recover from a second... but if the hardware IS problematic, I guess a couple months of recovery is better than a lifetime of limitations.

For those who don't know, that's a collar bone - in three pieces. Mountain bike fail.

[kestral]

Big ouch!

Feel better soon.

[BuckeyeBill]

bet that hurt big time.

[ZiggySours]

amen to that

[Slo-go'en]

I broke my collar bone once - only in one place though - but right where my pack shoulder strap rides. Have a big bump there where it welded it's self back together. Took a year before I could carry a pack again. Good luck!

Meanwhile, I continue to snowshoe, mostly breaking trail around the neighborhood. The snow is deep and soft so it's one heck of a work out.

[Reverse]

To prepare: Finished my inner for my tarp, repaired some gear. walked. Shopped for missing items.

[JohnThe Snail]

To get ready to hike this year, a little over two weeks ago had a total replacement of my left knee. Today managed to twice walk a half mile (flat, paved, but a start). Hoping to be ready for at least day hikes by June.

[KnightErrant]

Went on a shakedown hike from Trent's to Pearisburg recently. Huge, huge thank you to any volunteers of the RATC who contributed to the gorgeous deck added to Docs Knob Shelter!! That was the first shelter I ever slept in, on a section hike in 2016, and I only did so because the uneven, muddy ground made it impossible to tent. The mice were bad and the mud was worse, so I was not looking forward to sleeping there again. But wow! With that deck and the picnic table and the large stock of firewood already chopped up to use in the fire pit, it is so nice now. I really enjoyed my evening there.
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[Stone1984]

A little late but I took a nice little Day hike with my new load out from Woody Gap to Neels Gap. Was a beautiful day to hike compared to the weather that has been going on in that area.

[Dogwood]

Riding a mountain bike to stay in shape for my next section is a great way to stay in cardio fitness... until it isn't.
.
I'm under Dr's orders to NOT put a backpack on until after my next visit to see him. He screwed this mess together with titanium bits and pieces about 7 weeks ago. Hopefully the plate/screws don't prevent me from wearing a backpack. He told me if the hardware is problematic, they can remove it after a year. I really didn't like the recovery time from the one surgery, so I hope the hardware can stay where it is forever so I don't have to recover from a second... but if the hardware IS problematic, I guess a couple months of recovery is better than a lifetime of limitations.

For those who don't know, that's a collar bone - in three pieces. Mountain bike fail.

I wish I didn't see that. It made me run a hand over my collar bone to feel my own Clingmans Bone. Knew what I had done the instant I tried to stand up while wearing a day pack after the bike crash. It's taken a yr to compensate when backpacking or playing tennis. Serve and overhead went beginner rec level. You'll too get less tender. Keep up the rehab.