Virginia Is Not Flat!

I had two goals for this summer. To complete my hike of the Appalachian Trail in one, long-assed section. From where I got off last summer, to where I got off in Vt back in 2012. And to do it without injury.

Slackdown at Jim and Molly's!

"Blue Jay 5" and I had been hiking together for several days through Shenandoah. Well … we’d been camping together. He’d leave camp early and stop early. I’d leave late and get to camp right about at sunset. I was on my annual section hike towards completion of the trail. He was on his annual section hike with no particular goal, having previously completed a thru hike.

From the moment we met, we were in near constant competition as to who was the most Slack - While being fully aware of, and not struggling at all with the inherent contradictions therein.

How cold could it get?

My next Appalachian Trail section hike is from the James River Footbridge, to Manchester Center, VT in early June. Hoping to keep my weight down, my summer-weight equipment plan sports a 50 deg top-quilt, a 40 deg under-quilt, a lightweight merino base layer, a goretex rain jacket, light merino glove liners, a merino buff, and a windshirt.

Thought I better make sure that's gonna be sufficient. After all, it's still gonna be spring in the mountains...

Backpacking Pot Cozy V3.0

I got a new pot that would provide more food in my belly, and take less room in my pack. So it was back to the drawing board to design a new cozy for it.

As the title suggests this is my third cozy. The first was designed to fit my MSR Titan Kettle. It was made of the same light cotton duck you see on this one. After hiking the Georgia section of the AT, I felt I needed to cut down on weight. I adopted my Snow Peak 600ml cup as a pot, and used some lighter cotton material. After 1300 more trail miles, I felt the pot was a little small to feed my hiker hunger, the fuel canister didn't fit inside, and that cotton started to wear through.

Design and materials after the break ...

My Trail Photos

I've been slowly wading through all the photos I took during my 2013 hike, and have uploaded them to Tumblr along with the rest of my AT pictures. You can see them at bit.ly/LDTmblr.

This spring, I'll be getting back on the trail at the other end of this bridge, and heading north.

My Evolving Cook Kit

Been using my old 600ml Snow Peak cup as my solo cookpot on my AT sections. I found it a little small as my hunger got bigger. I like to boil enough water in the morning to fill my coffee cup and make oatmeal and 600 ml just didn't cut it. I couldn't squeeze a fuel cannister in it either, which adding to pack volume. I was also wishing it had some volume measurements in it to facilitating cooking stuff like rice, oatmeal, etc.

Well, my birthday came around, and Mary got me a brand new Snow Peak's Titanium Trek 700 Cookpot!

I had researched it. I knew it was big enough to fit a canister, and that it had volume markings on the inside, but would my stove fit inside too? And what's up with that lid?

The Season of Rebirth

Two years ago today, I woke up early at Black Gap Shelter on Springer Mountain's approach trail, packed my gear, and climbed the last mile and a half to Springer's summit to start my Appalachian journey. I made the first entry in the mountain-top journal that morning:

3/20  We Walk With Spring

Today at 1:14 the Sun was at the point on our celestial sphere where its ecliptic intersected our equator within the constellation of Pisces. Hence, today is the first day of spring. At this point in time, night and day stand in balance, but the days of long nights are behind us. Our days are becoming longer, and the earth warmer. As we begin our journey north along the spine of the Appalachians, we'll bear intimate witness to the earth's renewal, and to our own!

LDog GA=>ME

Today is the spring equinox. Good luck to all those starting their Appalachian journey. I'll see you on the trail!

What's a Lasher?

In the last couple of years, the term "Lasher" has wormed its way into the long-distance hiker's vernacular. It's an acronym for Long-Ass-Section-Hiker, meaning one who hikes a long trail in, uh, really long sections. While that seems lacking in clearly defined parameters, distances hiked are apparently greater than yer run-of-the-mill section hiker, which is not, in itself, defined by any distance parameters.

But, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart "I know it when I see it."

Tweakin' My Hydration System

(Sigh ...) I was pretty happy with my transition from Aquamira to Sawyer's Squeeze system last year. I rationalized that the weight was practically, almost nearly the same. And besides, I would be not be adding chemicals to pure mountain spring water, but would be filtering out that nasty tasting leaf mulch. Besides, the filter was simple, with no moving parts. Their 0.10 micron Hollow Fiber Membrane filters out most every bad guy, and is capable of processing more water than I'd likely need in all the days I have left on this rock. Most importantly, it was a rock solid system for me.

Great! The last filter I'll ever buy. Right?

Hiking The AT Thru The Smokies - The Logistics

For Appalachian Trail hikers, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, or GSMNP, offers wonderful experiences, with a few logistical challenges. Following are my lessons learned from hiking through the park during mid-late April last year.

Basically, there’s the new requirement to purchase a permit. There’s a time limit on that permit. There’s only one significant road crossing in 71 miles from which one can resupply. You can’t camp just anywhere you want, you have to stay in shelters unless they’re full, and they ain’t spaced as well as most long-distance hikers would like.
 Nothing insurmountable, just stuff to consider.

Besides that, the hiking is beautiful. Details after the break …



On Becoming A Hanger

When I was getting serious about Hiking the Appalachian Trail, I got familiar with the cottage industry supporting long-distance hikers with ultra-light gear. I chose a Lightheart Gear Solo tent, which is light, pitches using my hiking poles, and is pretty palatial for a 1-person tent. Once I started hiking, I soon realized that there is not one, single, flat, rock-free, root-free tent site on the AT. Waking up bunched into one corner or the other became a norm. Meanwhile, there were those folks hanging anywhere they damned-well pleased ...

This last spring, I was hiking north from Rock Gap, and took a detour to Trail Days. I knew that if there was a hammock maker selling their products there, I was gonna be hard-pressed not to buy a rig...