Prologue
Prologue
I guess the story starts around 10 years ago when I first summited Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. True to its reputation it was a grueling hike to the summit. The summit was beautiful and I saw the sign that said Springer Mountain Georgia 2000 or so miles away, and that got me thinking on how someone hikes that far.
At that point in my life I had never hiked a 4k or done any backpacking. Sure I’ve been camping and several friends were Boy Scouts . Thinking of the packs they brought and gear they brought it hardly seemed possible, but seeing that sign started the fire burning. I didn’t know when or how, only I was going to do it.
Over the years the desire was on a slow simmer with casual research on the trail from time to time. The biggest thing I learned over that time was there is different gear for hiking, backpacking, and ‘car’ camping(glamping).
The next obstacle in my path was time and money. Via the power of the internet and some forums I had determined that the cost of the trek was going to be about $1000 a month while on trail and the trek will take between 100 - 180 days.
Fast forward 9 years to 2018. I started my second contract in Hawaii and was on my second year of my associates degree when I decided that I was going to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2019 as long as my contract didn’t get extended.
Now that I set a year for my thru hike, next was to start ordering gear. I started with the big ticket items first, the pack and sleeping bag. After those two items everything else seemed inexpensive by comparison such as my titanium cup, spoon, stove, etcetera.
Taking all that in and the timeframe I had available going SoBo(south bound) was the route I was going to take. That in itself added another list of small hurdles. My contract ended in April but the NoBos(north bounders) started in March and April, and I couldn’t get all my gear ready for that date. My fate had been decided.
So mid April I fly home to Maine from Hawaii, and start seriously looking at my gear I had purchased and what I would need. Once I got everything I thought I needed I did a few day hikes just to get used to carrying a 30 pound pack then I settled on a June 1st starting date heading south from Mt. Katahdin.
As a little side note. This is less a mile by mile recap and more of an informational guide on the trail with my thoughts feelings and really anything else that seems important.
