The stress has been high the last week as I wrapped up my jobs, finished packing my backpack, and packed for a week traveling in Arizona to visit mom and Colorado to visit friends and Lisa’s family before setting off to Atlanta to begin my adventure. I also had to move out of the guest bedroom (also my working-from-home office) which may be used by a house sitter while I’m away. All of this is on top of the emotions…
After what seems like weeks of buying bulk food, dehydrating fresh food, and accumulating pre-packaged food that can be readily eaten on the trail, I’ve finally finished boxing up all my supply drops. A large flat rate USPS Priority Mail box can hold about 10 lbs of food and costs about $20 to ship. I tried to plan for 5 solid meals of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks (about 2+ lbs per day). I accumulated enough to put together about…
I’m just going to talk for a minute about the tech I plan to bring with me on the trail. My friends who hiked the AT over a decade ago didn’t have cell phone technology as ubiquitously as we do today. I’ve read that about 85% of the trail has coverage (Verizon). I think most people carry at least a cheap Walmart phone for safety in case they need to call for help or let someone know where they are….
I feel like I’ve been remiss lately in posting about all of the pre-trip planning I’ve been doing. There’s a lot of anxiety around planning that goes with being a green-horn on the trail. People who have done it know what to expect, what they like, and they all have a system. I’m making some guesses, which will certainly not always be right. But if there’s one piece of advice I’ve gotten consistently from my friends who have hiked the…