Planning

I've been reading other hikers' journals. It feels like everybody takes a year or more to plan their hike. I decided at the end of February to do this and am leaving mid-May. I'm planning my hike in the amount of time that most people are finalizing everything and finishing up their drop boxes.

So far everything has gone very smoothly. I have a few different to-do lists and am crossing things off regularly. I'm trying to get as many of the quick things done soon...they are easy to put off, but it seems to make more sense to do them now and then only have to worry about the bigger things.

I did start planning my itinerary. Who knows how well I will follow it, but I wanted some sort of plan to start with. It took me 2 hours to figure out 200 miles of trail! I've got to start figuring out food soon too...I have ideas but nothing actually planned yet.

I'm mailing off my the order for my pack today...a Moonbow Gearskin. I've got most of my "big" gear items and need to start filling in all of the smaller things that I will need! I should go buy a scale and start a gear inventory so I can keep track of it all better. I do have a spreadsheet with two tabs dedicated to gear, but I'm not 100% happy with either method yet.

State-by-State

I am anxiously awaiting delivery of my maps. I need to see where I am going, need to start planning it all out. To that effect, here is a consolidation of info found on the AT site. It at least gives an overview of the hike and lets me see what new states I get to go to!

I'll be starting in Harpers Ferry, WV both directions.

NOBO

State	Miles	Elevation	Difficulty
WV	<4	265-1200	2-3
MD	41	230-1880	2-3
PA	229	320-2080	2-4
NJ	72	350-1685	2-5
NY	88	124-1433	2-5
CT	52	260-2316	4-5
MA	90	650-3491	3-6
VT	150	400-4010	5-6
NH	161	400-6288	6-10
ME	281	490-5267	3-10

SOBO

State	Miles	Elevation	Difficulty
WV	<4	265-1200	2-3
VA	550	265-1200	2-6
TN	293	265-5500	5-6
NC	88	1725-5498	3-6
GA	75	2510-4461	6

Here are the states that I have been to pre-hike (I'm not sure about Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin, or Michigan and I've had lots of layovers in Texas but have never left the airport)


create your own personalized map of the USA


Post-hike the map will look like this. I'll have to find a reason to visit Delaware, it looks all lonely and grey up there! Just so you don't have to count, that only leaves 15 states that I haven't (or don't remember having) visited.


create your own personalized map of the USA

I'm going to hike!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my blog.  I'm planning on doing a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, from now on I'm probably call it the AT.

For those not in the know, the AT is a trail from Georgia (Springer Mountain) to Maine (Katahdin) that is 2175 miles long.  It passes through 14 states.  It takes from 5-7 months on average to hike the whole thing.

My plan is to start in mid-May in Harpers Ferry, WV and hike north to Katahdin, then return to Harpers Ferry and hike south to Springer Mt.  I'm doing a flip-flop hike because of start dates.  I can't start soon enough to do NOBO (north bound) and I don't want to wait an extra month to do SOBO (south bound).  I know there are others doing the same hike I am at around the same time, so I'll have them for company on the trail.

I'll be posting lists of gear and pictures of gear and probably some more about gear.  I'm shooting for a total pack weight of 20-25 pounds including food and 2L of water, so gear is an important part of it.

Food might also be a topic.  I'm been vegan for over 3 years and vegetarian for over 7 years before that.  It hasn't been a problem, and I don't anticipate it being much of a challenge on the trail.  I'll have to eat a little different than everyone else, but I do that anyway!  Now that I've got a lot of my gear planned out I'm going to start looking at food and deciding how heavily to rely on mail drops.

I'll post about other things that come up as I'm planning.  Once I actually get on the trail, this is where updates will occur, but I won't promise them often.

And for family and such reading this.  Remember that this is the internet.  I'm not using my full name for a reason.  Anybody and everybody can read any comments that you make.  I can delete them but the internet caches stuff and there is the possibility of it being pulled up in a search.  So don't write anything that I wouldn't want a future employer reading.