Brooklyn hiking with a little Nashville Skyline
So on Saturday I came to the harsh realization that it was a mere 8 weeks to the day from our planned Appalachian Trail departure. Though I had the best intentions to ease myself into the physical rigors of this venture, I have instead spent much of this winter indoors with good company, good food, good wine and good movies. High time for some backpacking boot camp! So I stepped into my boots, strapped on my pack, loaded it with 15 pounds of gear and took off onto the snowy streets of Brooklyn. Most of my neighbors are used to me carrying bicycles and triathlon gear up and down the stairs, but now they must think I’ve completely lost it! When I hit the park, I took out my new hiking poles, put some Dylan on the ipod and ventured out onto the snow-filled footpaths, contemplating what the 2,175 miles of the AT will bring me. 7 miles later I was back in the warmth of my apartment, feeling accomplished and ready for adventure. 7 hours after that I woke up in the night with some serious lower back pain. Yeah, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy…
Hello, Mel! I can’t wait to see more of you and your dad’s prep for this undertaking. I am also curious and have lots of questions: will you be bringing a lot of water to rehydrate all that food? Won’t that also be heavy? Also, how “plugged in” will you be: will you be bringing cell phones/laptops/ipods? Will you be trying to blog while on the AT? OK, enough questions for now. 😉
Hey Dilara! Glad you like the blog so far! Some answers: We can get water en route as there are lots of streams and such along the way. We have a water pump that filters out all of the bacteria and bad stuff, so at most we’ll just carry a couple of liters at a time and fill up as we go. Yes, water is heavy, but necessary. We’ll be coming to towns with libraries and staying at hostels with internet access often enough to be able to post to the blog along the way. I’m working on the technical specs, but in order to save weight on my back, I’ll likely be mailing myself batteries, chargers, etc. in a “bounce-box” that will go from town to town. Keep the questions coming! 🙂
Hey cuz and 2nd cuz, this is really cool what you are about to partake in. Are you that bored with the retirement already, LOL. Keep us all up to date. Mark
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