Category Archives: Appalachian Trail

Start: Blue Mountain Shelter Finish: Unicoi Gap Miles: 2.4        Total Miles: 52.9 When I woke this morning and got moving, my right knee was just barking. I was concerned that continuing on with the knee as it … Continue reading →

Start: Poor Mountain Finish: Blue Mountain Shelter Miles: 10.0 Total Miles: 50.5 This was not my best day. Yesterday, I noticed my right knee was starting to bother me a bit. Today, it really began to become a problem. I … Continue reading →

Start: Neels Gap Finish: Poor Mountain Miles: 8.8.      Total miles: 40.5 My first day on my own. Mary dropped me off at Neels Gap at mid-morning, and the weather was promising a nice day, albeit mostly overcast. After … Continue reading →

Start: Woody Gap Finish: Neels Gap Miles: 10.9       Total Miles: 31.7 Well, it didn’t rain today, that is if you don’t count the drizzle that started up about a mile before the end of the hike, which … Continue reading →

Start: Hightower Gap Finish: Woody Gap Miles: 12.2       Total Miles: 20.8 Much groaning and moaning was heard this morning when someone, a certain thru-hiker wannabe, tried to get out of bed. Everything hurts today. And it’s raining. … Continue reading →

Start: Springer Mountain Finish: Hightower Gap Miles: 8.6      Total Miles: 8.6 Mary drove me to the parking lot a mile below the summit of Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, to start off my thru … Continue reading →

As the clock winds down to the two week mark, I’ve started obsessively (I do seem to use obsessively and obsess a lot) going over the contents of my pack. Take the stuff out of the pack, look at it, ponder whether or not I need this item or that item? Or do I need some more stuff?Wouldn’t that piece of equipment give me peace of mind in the case of a statistically very unlikely event? Or hey, look over there, something really shiny and high tech, and I must have it, even though I don’t really know what it is, but it’s sooo cooool! I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m actively considering getting the mini-espresso maker yet, but I’m getting perilously close.

Submitted for your consideration (in my mind, that’s intoned by Rod Serling), I present the optional, yet seemingly semi-obligatory, equipment display photo. Look at it, in all its glory! Everything is there, well, mostly. In the picture, I am missing the electronics, because they won’t be in the pack till the day I step foot on the trial. So add an iPhone and an iPad, plus charger, and a supplemental battery back-up. And the A.T. Guide. Of which I will carry only the first half, at the beginning of the trail. But otherwise, the photo shows all the gear that will be in my pack when I set off on the next great adventure.

There are some minor items that I’ll be carrying in my pockets, that are not shown. Like a bandanna, sunglasses, wallet, lighter, Swiss Army Knife and so on. I suppose I should have included them in the gear photo, but by the time I thought about them, I’d already packed it all up again. So instead, here’s a picture of the backpack all packed up. Note, in an earlier post, I did say I was striving to keep all my gear inside the pack with nothing hanging off. Well, I forgot a last minute addition, and that is the foam sitting pad. I cut it down from an old sleeping pad, but it’s still too bulky to fit inside the pack. I may still do some trimming on it, because it’s still a little bigger than I need, and it’s something else I can fret over for a while. Continue reading →

Around about now, it seems it is obligatory to post a gear list. Because that’s what everyone else who writes up a trail journal does, and I like being part of the herd. Harder for the wolves to get you … Continue reading →

I’ve been able to get back on the trails this last week. Usually here in the Front Range, February is a bit of a dry month, and the temperatures are often in the 40’s and 50’s. So it’s prime hiking … Continue reading →