Eric's Gear Guide 101

I used a JetBoil. I shared it with Boo Boo -- she sent her alcohol stove home in ME. It's only supposed to boil 2 cups, but if you're really careful you can fit nearly 4 cups in there. She carried a titanium pot and we pretty much always had ramen, lipton sides, or (she would carrry) mountain house dinners.

There is a jet-boil multi-person cooking system (a pot). It's not quite as slick as the JetBoil personal cooking system (not everything fits inside so neatly). You could consider one of the other canister stoves (since in the group system you loose the nifty integrated wind shield anyway). There are also alcohol stoves (the lightest, by far), the problem is just finding denatured alcohol.

Regarding a shared tent. I think you all would do better to carry two two person tents, rather than one 4. One 4 is probably lighter (but one person ends up carrying most of the weight -- yes, you can redistribute other things). I found that I don't sleep really well next to lots of people (most hikers have to get up to pee in the middle of the night due to our hyper-hydration), so my tent was a wonderful escape from that. It also may be possible some days/nights that you wont want to camp all together (for whatever reason). A two person tent is small enough that one person can carry it for themselves alone if need be.

One decision to make with tents is how much weight to commit to the problem. Ideally as little as possible. Tarptents are light, but all require you to stake them down (not really a problem, even in PA) which makes them harder to set up on tent platforms and on open rock faces. About 6 weeks into your journey the nights will get cold and the bugs will disappear, meaning after that you won't need a tent at all. One thing I never did was just bivvy out under the stars. It's one thing I would have liked to have done.

Ok, since you'll probably find this helpful, here is everything I carried (as best as I can remember... and well... after 1200 miles you know your gear pretty well):

Granite Gear Vapor Trail Pack (Men's M, with women's M hip belt)

Compactor trash bag (as a pack liner)

Henry Shire's Contrail Tarptent

Tyvek Sheet (as ground cloth)

Mountain Hardware Phantom 45 degree down bag

REI silk/jersey bag liner (great! protects the bag, washable! I might have preferred silk sans jersey though)

Sierra Designs stuffable "rain" coat (only occasionally useful, wouldn't probably carry it again)

Jetboil Personal Cooking system

Clothing:

1 pair rain-gloves from REI (rarely used, occasionally nice to have)

2 bandanas (one blaze orange) from REI

EMS "Techwick" thin tanktop

Mountain Hardware Mountain Kilt (sadly, these are discontinued I think)

REI long-pants, few pockets (too heavy! I'd use scrubs, or something lighter for camp instead)

REI long-sleeve shirt (also too heavy! button-up was useful though)

REI fleece vest (awesome)

2 pair Darn Tough Medium thickness coolmax socks (awesome, I can tell you more)

1 pair SmartWool thin socks (weren't useful for hiking, only camp)

Vasque Velocity trailrunners, w/ Orange SuperFeet insoles

Misc bag:

EPI Pen (heavy, 4oz, only one I know carrying one)

Petzl Tikka XL headlamp (I would go with a Zipka if I did it again)

Cheapest/smallest cingular pre-paid phone (I can comment on carriers if you like)

couple batteries, (tiny) sewing kit, super glue

Bennadryl, Tums, Pepto Bismal, Ibuprofen

Bandaids, etc. there was a good first-aid kit guide on white blaze

Duck Tape!

3 small REI stuff sacks (one for camp-food, one for misc bag, one for clothing)

1 medium REI stuff sack (snacks, never was full, could have been small)

1 pair Crocs (I would have gotten blaze orange ones if I had found them)

1 swiss army knife (all you really need is a small blade and scissors)

1 "Light My Fire" spork thing (useful, but they break, especially trying to eat icecream)

Aquamira treatment drops (filter might be better for a group)

(Travel) Toothbrush, floss, toothpaste

Hand Sanitizer

DEET (for ME)

1 Martin Backpacker Guitar ( and carrying case), "Eva" is her name, btw. :)

40ft of nylon rope (rarely used, only need one rope for the group)

Emergency Mylar Bivvy (never used, probably wouldn't carry)

1 2L+ Platypus water bladder

1 1L Platypus water bladder

1 Platypus Bite valve and drinking hose assembly

1 16oz Gatorade bottle (for mixing gatorade in camp)

I started out with the companion but sent it home, mostly I borrowed Boo Boo's maps, or looked at her Wingfoot.

I started out with poles, sent them home in NH.

A few things I learned:

1. Weight. Matters more than you'd ever believe. I tried to be under 30lbs when I started (was closer to 35 starting). My pack was about 15lbs base weight at the end. 26 with a couple days of food and water. 31 with Eva. I thought sooo many times about sending Eva home (and so many others I was incredibly happy to have her there). You can feel pretty much every oz. Don't overload your pack. The Vapor Trail is only rated to 30lbs. It feels great at 25, sucks (and falls apart) at 35.

2. I realized half way through this wasn't a 6 month hike. You're taking a lot of small hiking trips, the first one is about 8-10 days long (you can get to a real outfitter from Monson). If you can live with out it for 10 days, do. It's relatively easy to get stuff sent to you, or get it at towns (especially once you get out of ME). Also, the SOBO hike isn't as "forgiving" of poor starting decisions -- SOBOs can't drop 30lbs off their pack 30 miles in, they have to carry it for 120 miles before they can send stuff home for real, plan accordingly. With 4 of you to share things, you should be able to all start with less than 30 lbs (including food and water).

3. Ideally, solve the shoe problem before you go. I bought the wrong shoes initially (but didn't really know it, because the foot box just ripped out 50 miles in, leaving my feet room to expand). I have hard to fit feet and finding shoes on-trail is double-hard. Your feet will expand, but mostly the ball of your foot will get wider. If the balls of your feet hurt, your shoes are too narrow. Ideally, find shoes that fit before hand, and then just plan on ordering new ones (possibly a size larger) ahead of time from REI/EMS to be at the next PO for you. I wore SuperFeet, I'm not sure they entirely lived up to the hype. (That said, it is my opinion that noone has solved the shoe problem yet. When we did our biggest day -- 43 miles -- we all felt fine at the end of the day, except our feet were *killing* us. Your feet will probably always be your greatest weakness -- once your ankles and knees strengthen up, that is.) It seems everyone wore trail-runners eventually. I saw very few people hike the whole thing in boots. Your ankles and knees hurt the first few weeks, then stop.

on gear

yay for blogging!

um, basically i can't be counted on to contribute anything i already own to the shared gear pool. the only times i've backpacked at all have been with Midd mountain club gear or other peoples' stuff. i do agree that we should share as much as possible, though.

i'm a fan of two person tents. it seems bizarre to me for four people to all carry individual tents. if there's a good reason for that other than weight distribution and splitting up, i'd be interested to hear it. i assume that tents in general are a must-have?

someone else will have to answer the stove question...i know e-dawg had some thoughts on types. i'm clueless thus far in that department. filters? probably don't need 4, but maybe more than one. pots, yeah. i don't know if these are things you care about this early on, but toiletries? first aid?

that's all i can think of at the moment. whatever you do get, keep receipts, because we should evenly distribute our spending on group gear.

aight, gotta run. love you!

Gear sharing, etc

Hey Ladies!

This weekend is the marvelous and hectic event known as the REI garage sale, when people line up to buy things that other people returned for no good reason. I am planning on participating in this madness for the first time, and I have but one goal in mind: to get some good stuff for the AT dirt cheap.

In order to make the best use of this opportunity, I'd like to figure out basically what I'm going to need to acquire for this adventure. Which brings me to my point: how much gear are we planning on sharing? In my mind, we get two two-person tents, so we can break the weight up more easily and so we can do a little splitting up if necessary, but I'd like to hear your opinions on the matter. Also, do we just want one stove? Does someone have a good one already? Water filter? Pots? Are there other things that we might want to share? The ones I listed are the only ones I managed to come up with. I'm also planning on talking to my dad about what gear I might be able to borrow from him. So I'll let you know how that works out :)

So, please respond to let me know what you think of all this. I'm hoping to get some good stuff on Saturday, but there will be a couple more garage sales before we start hiking, so this isn't our last shot.

Check my math...

The ATC website also says about 20% of SOBO hikers on average over the last 6 years have made it to Springer Mt. Since there are 4 of us, that would work out to about 80% of one of us completing the trail, right? I'm seeing Lizzy hopping to the finish line having lost a leg, the rest of us having been eaten by bears...

...I have faith in us. Weeeee caaaannnn dooooo iiitttt!

SOBO grand finale?

So I was just reading over the ATC website for the first time (procrastinating of course) and they seem to really emphasize how awesome it is to end the hike with woo woo KATAHDIN! At this point I'm pretty much favoring the SOBO approach A) because I basically won't be able to start until July 1st-ish anyway, and B) because Eric Seidel made me believe it's possible. BUT...I feel like if we're going to do the hardest part of the trail first, we need something to strive for at the end there. Obviously, we might not make it, hike your own hike, etc, etc...but I want to start with a goal in mind. Can anybody think of something soooooo shweeet that we could reward ourselves with after we stumble our way down Springer Mountain?

Hambone is born

31 minutes

11:48 PM me: hey y'all never told me what you thought of my brilliant trail name: sistas of the square navel: on the quest for the whole a-trail

11:51 PM Elizabeth: ok, that was a funny moment

the first time i read it i totally didn't get the allusion and i was reading it and thinking, devon's imagination is waaay healthier than mine

11:52 PM i have this way of skim-reading things, it leads to some funny moments in my head

me: that will never, ever be the case

11:53 PM Elizabeth: i was trying to figure out why we had square navels and if somehow that was our quest (to find out why)

and that seemed pretty interesting, but didn't make much sense

but then i said it 10 times fast and went "ahhhhhhhhh"

11:54 PM me: okay. too much of a stretch. it was late

11:55 PM Elizabeth: but it certainly gets points for length and complexity

i haven't even come up w a name yet, so who am i to criticize!

i mean, mine might well be much stretchier

11:57 PM me: streeeetttcchhyyy

11:59 PM Elizabeth: to be honest the first idea i had was a vague sense that flippy and hambone had to play some role, but then i thought perhaps i'd just listened to your voicemail message too many times...

12:00 AM me: those would be excellent names if there were just two of us. actually, i might take hambone either way

5 minutes

12:06 AM Elizabeth: because you obviously like dolphins more

me: obviously

12:08 AM Elizabeth: we could have, say uncle cave man and baby duck hat- but that is getting a little out there and no longer superquadrafaragalistic and also uncle cave man turns out to be a bear and i don't think we want to encourage any one of us to identify with bears. it might get confusing if we actually met a bear.

12:12 AM me: um, girl, you are amazing

i didn't know you were such a jack handey connasseur

12:13 AM but i disagree that those are not superquadrafragilistic

the question is just who is whom

we can save uncle cave man for the bear we meet

5 minutes

12:19 AM me: aight, the devon must end these convos. josh wants to use the puter.

12:20 AM Elizabeth: oooooo

well, ok, i'll keep trying to come up w more handy handles for us

;0 ;) ;*

12:21 AM ok, the two on either end got in a fight and their heads are on sideways

anyway, i miss you!

me: yikes.

you make me smile

Elizabeth: and i'm (finally) getting into shane claiborne

me: love and stranglicious hugs

Elizabeth: NOSE EMBRACE***

12:22 AM me: haha. gnight and sweet dreams

Elizabeth: love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

me: FOREVER!!!!!!

Laura's Reply

Hey everyone!

Sorry that it's taken me so long to respond to this email. I have been struggling a little with email access, as I was down to a half hour lunch at work due to working part time, and I was still figuring out how to set up internet on my laptop. Fortunately, both of those problems are now resolved. I'm back up to full time, so I now have a full hour for lunch, which feels quite luxurious. The home computer solution was not quite what I hoped for, though. My house was broken into last Friday, and my laptop was one of the things that went missing. So, I will not be having internet access at home any time in the very near future. I'm looking into options for replacing it, or I might end up just relying on my housemate's computer (they are planning on jointly buying a new one).

Anyway, other than being burgled, things are pretty good. As Laura mentioned, I recently bought some new hiking shoes (very light-weight, flexible shoes, definitely not boots), and I tried them out last weekend and like them quite a lot. I'm excited about this whole AT thing, both the trail itself and hanging out with all of you. I think that we, as a group, have a better chance of making it to the end than most of the people who start out together, just because we have a strong foundation of love, trust, and honesty that we're working from. But, I also think it'll be important for us all to "hike our own hike." I want us all to make it, and I think we can. But I also think that it's possible that the trail won't be everyone's highest priority from now until next November/December, when we would be finishing if we hiked SOBO.

Loo's bro is going off trail soon, because he's decided that he just doesn't want it enough anymore (or at least, that's the understanding I have of why he's doing it). And I can understand that. I recently decided that running a marathon isn't worth it to me. I don't care enough about it to be in that much pain on a regular basis. I'll be running in the Denver Half Marathon instead. And I know that that decision is right for me, at least for now. I could see some or all of us deciding midtrail that there are other things that we need to be doing. If anyone's looking at grad school, that would need to start in the fall. While the thought of doing the whole trail in one go is really exciting, maybe it's not going to work for everyone right now. I'm reluctant to let go of the big, crazy dream, but maybe just doing half of the trail is something we should consider. I think I might want to continue past the halfway mark, but that's not necessarily something we need to decide now, or even before we leave. But let's not give up on our chances of staying together before we even leave. I know that I want us all to start together, and really, that's all we need to know right now. So that's what I'm committed to, and I'm committed to you all as well. I'm pretty comfortable with that, and I hope that you guys are too :)

Well, I thought I'd sent this email much earlier this week, and I need to get out of here, so I'm going to just send it off now. If it seems incomplete, I'm sorry, and just shoot me an email so I can clarify.

Love you all, and thinking good thoughts of the trail!

Laura

Possible Team Names

so...i had a migraine, so i drank some coffee and it actually went
away, but now i'm awake and i had what you might call an epiphany.
here's my latest and greatest idea for a team name:

The Sisters of the Square Fable (or alternatively, Square Navel)
on the Quest for the Whole A-Trail (or alternatively, Holy Trail)

see, we are a foursome (square), and we could have names of knights or ladies...

sorry, i should go to bed. hahahaha
dev

Lizzy's Reply

Helloooooooooo!

Loo was brilliant to get this email thing going again and I really enjoyed your choice excerpts from the book- especially the underwear thing. The first time I (quickly) read that sentance and the following one, I somehow thought you were saying that not wearing underwear would save you a dollar a mile. And I was thinking- that's really expensive underwear! Anyway, I am cool w not wearing underwear- one less thing to get wet. If there is anything I learned from 14 days kayaking this summer- you don't want wet stuff (and everything is perpetually wet!)

I just (finally) read A Walk in the Woods and In Beauty May She Walk. I think you've all read the first, the second is the trail memoir of a 60 year old woman solo flip-flop hiker. Although it's a long day-to-day account, I found it interesting. I can save you some time by condensing some of her epiphanies (or more like my epiphanies while reading).

1. Hiking w women is really very cool and different than hiking with men. Because she's alone she falls into step w some groups of men and sometimes also women. She concludes that men hikers think admiting pain is a sign of weakness. "In fact, men deal with being tired by bragging about how much they did that day, and how much more they will do tomorrow. For men, the contest is the essence of the effort, and their metaphors are either of war (the trail is the enemy to beat) , or of competitive sports (they will whip the ass of the mountain). For women, or, at least me as a woman, the trail is a physical challenge to experience and manage, using resources of intelligence rather than physical strength. Knowing when to admit fatiuge and how to deal with it seems not only prudent, but also necessary". "Again I noted the difference between men and women hikers: men competed with each other to conquer the trail, women cooperated and hiked in relationship to each other and the trail. I was much more comfortable hiking with women". So, while I have had fun times doing hiking with men in my family, I am pretty excited that for our long hike it will be just us women. We're lucky!

2. She starts with a 40 pound pack and over the first 1/4 of the trail is eternally repacking, agonizing over what to leave out until she gets the pack down to about 30 lbs. This seems like tortue to me- both carrying extra weight and every week wasting time and energy figuring out what to take out. I realize it's part of the beginner's experience, but one I want to minimize. I am by nature a light packer and I'm interested in doing this as light as possible just because it will be easier to carry and less repacking trying to get rid of stuff (or pitching stuff in the woods, ala Bill Bryson's crazy hiking buddy). Go-light packing, anyone?

3. The flip-flop hike isn't all that "easy". Either ff or NS, the upper northern section is the hardest part- the Whites, Maine and PA. The 100-mile wilderness (in which she somehow gets spirited away by canoe to a fishing camp with hot food and showers, must research this!), the hardest mile of the trail (Mahoosuc Notch) and all those freaking big mountains with freak thunderstorms. Hiking up from Shenendoah Nat'l Park, did give her a few weeks of easier going to get her stuff sorted out, but also means she reached the hard stuff already sore and unfortunately, emaciated. Also I think it's mentally tough to summit Katadin and then say, let's go like 900 more miles! That has so got to suck. I guess I'm still a little torn about which is better, and in fact I find myself prefering the SN route! But then I realize that would distort our superquadrafragilistic plans pretty much to smithereens, as the early start is out for Devo (and LB?). Also, another point my hikin' grandma makes is that the trail is hard and it never gets easier. I wonder if my worrying about making the trail "easier" is just a waste of time.

4. Hike your own hike. This is her song and dance and I'm sure it's not news to you all. I've been trying to think of what this means to me/us. I really do in my heart of hearts like the idea of us doing the trail together. It seems almost irresistible- the combination of adventure and hightened bonding with some of the coolest people I know. I don't like living alone and in many ways it would be easier to share costs and tasks along the way. However, I was reminded recently that most people who start the hike together do no finish it (and of course, no one thinks it will happen to them). While there are memorable duos, the idea of four people being able to mesh that well together for that long seems, well, miraculous. I'm not saying it can't happen, but I would be amazed if it did. I am at the moment open to committing to hiking as a 4some (fearsome or otherwise) if we can all say something like what LB said in her last email- even if you all decided not to go, I'd still go on my own. I think we all need to have our own independent drive and the ability to openly monitor what happens on the trail and say "this isn't working" if that's the case. The trail is a huge strain on people (duh) and it can hurt relationships, including committed ones. I guess you could say I'm the pessimist... But none of that has to happen as long as everyone feels free to be vocal and make a change if need be. I guess on one hand I want something of a pact that we'll remain together to give me added support, some sense of security and knowing that if I start dragging someone will help me along. On the other hand, I'm afraid that me (or someone else) will not be able to handle either the trail itself, some aspect of hiking in a group (pace, personality, preferences for on or off-trail sleeping/eating) and that she might that feel like a shmuck for disturbing the peace, keep silent, and then GO CRAZY. ;) Hikin' grandma does say that towards the end of her hike while there were a few hikers around her she felt intensely lonely, cut off from meaningful relationships. That makes me want to be optimistic about hiking together. How comfortable we are with committing to hiking together will probably have a big impact on gear- like do we bring 1, 2, 4 stoves? Tents? Also coordinating food and mail drops? When I think of the hassel of planning 4 individual hikes versus one big hike, I almost want to forget about my qualms- but again, if I am not willing to plot my own hike I'm probably not cut out for this in the first place.

5. Don't be in a hurry. She concludes that the best way to do the trail is in sections, not thru-hiking! :) Beyond not thru-hiking, I think it is key to not feel rushed. Not to feel like there has to be just more and more miles to make the trip "better". I think I have a tendency to think in terms of maximizing miles and wanting to "get the trail over with" in order to move on w graduate school, etc. While I think we do need (in theory) to think about life after the AT- if I start talking like I'm in a hurry, tell me to slow down!

I'm going out to stock up on more AT related books, please send titles for any must-reads. I am going to do some bear research (my aunt in a bear specialist/phobe, it turns out). I haven't gone nitty gritty on gear yet- but I will say the Esbit stove she uses seems way superior to the whisperlites that paranoid me much of my childhood.

To be perfectly honest, I'm still considering a solo-ish SN route, but it's by no means a preference. I am just trying to make sure I hike my own hike. But like I said above, I really find the idea of hiking with you all intoxicating and I will keep thinking and pass on any thoughts. I will leave it at this, there's more to say, but I've gotta run.

Keep talkin'!
Lizzy

Devo's Reply

a quickie:

Loo, you are hilarious. those stats are fantastic. i don't have time
to comment on them all now, but i just have to say that I agree we can
do it. I pride myself on trying to be an anomaly, so let's not fall
victim to the "10% who start finish" junk. I know it's already
becoming cliche, but i want to be an "ordinary radical" - finding a
balance of simplicity and safety, community and solitude, discipline
and fun, education and worship...all that stuff...plus just be a
ridiculous weirdo for attempting to do this beyond all sense of logic
and practicalism (not a word). what that says about wearing
underwear, i do not know. but we should start researching
trail-accessible water holes, because there will certainly be some
moonlit skinny dips if i'm involved.

as for the blog, i'm in favor. the "fearsome4some" was the name of my
junior high posse, so it brings with it some really hilarious and
occasionally disturbing memories. at the moment i don't have anything
better to offer, but i'll keep thinking. perhaps lame but cute would
be if our team name could be broken down into a matching set of four
individual trail names...this is important stuff :) also, loo, what's
your brother's blog again, because i can't seem to find it and i must
be typing something off by a letter or two?

peace all, and i love you oodles. i'd marry you too - it's a lot
easier than dealing with boys. oooh imagine the beauty - 6 months
with no boys. i will be so focused!

hugs,
devo

Getting the ball rolling...trail talk

Dear sistas,

Orange sherbet push pops are good. I dunno about you, but it has been too long (before right now) since I had a push pop. But that's not the purpose of this email. This email is supposed to be about talking trail. First, I shall eat my push pop.

So Laura called me before and after buying some hiking boots/shoes today and got me talking and thinking more about gear and planning. I pulled out the books my bro had given me/us and did some reading. The one book I've been reading a lot in is called "Long-Distance Hiking: Lessons from the Appalachian Trail" and it's this dude who thru-hiked with the intent to interview lots of people and did exactly that. He interviewed and surveyed a couple hundred thru-hikers about innumerable sorts of things. So here goes with information (random and of varying importance):

40% of women and 60% percent of men in one survey did not wear underwear on the trail (justification: shorts with one of those breathable liners.) question: Can/will we ever justify not wearing underwear?

Cost: About a dollar a mile. Meaning average around 2000 bucks in on-the-trail costs. He says plus about a 1000 bucks for the gear and preparations and travel. However, some people reported spending only 800 to 1000, whereas one dude spent 8,000. Let's not do that, shall we?? I think we will be lucky in that we can split costs, and really, his fancy chart that breaks down the average money spent shows that about 40% of it is total choice- restaurant food, hotels, hostels, "beer and fun." Let's drink some beer. But we can all be cheap dates :)

But the amazing part is that the whole trail is free. Amazing. As one woman put it (quoted in this book): "All these experiences and joys for so little money...God expects no rent."


On physical conditioning and such: Only found a correlation between previous fitness and how many miles hiked in the first month- after that, everybody averaged 16 miles a day basically no matter what their previous shape. Lots of talk about how while training is good, the trail will train us. Certainly, since we are going southbound, we will be hitting the hardest part first, so training will be especially helpful for us. He also didn't find any correlation between rate of injury and previous experience- people pay attention to their bodies, I guess.

Injuries: It is inevitable that at least one of us will become injured at some point. And we will all experience various aches and pains. But his conclusion in this section is: "It is toughness of mind, then, rather than toughness of body, that will lead to a successful thru-hike."

Change in shoe size: Devo, I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know that 80% of women report their feet growing between a half size and a full size while on the trail. Bring on those elevens!!

Hiking Dynamics: While 75% of the American population are Meyers-Briggs extroverts, the opposite was true of thru-hikers according to this psychologist who has extensively studied personality in thru-hikers. Following this stat, 75% of our foursome are introverts, with me being the weird mildy-extroverted one.

"Trail relationships present a strenuous intimacy. As noted by many hikers, not even in a marriage are partners expected to spend 24 hours a day with each other for months at a time. Sharing your life with another person--eating, sleeping, and walking all day long, six or seven days a week, through two or three season--is a togetherness experience unmatched in most lives....the long traverse can be stressful...in this survey, the hike brought a stormy end to several close relationships and planned marriages. On the other hand, for some staying together was more than a trail experience. Within the first years after their hike, four trail couples in my sample got married. The most successful partnerships are those of the long married couple, who have achieved an ability to compromise and have forged a bond of tolerance strong enough to survive the hundreds of daily interactions of a long hike."

In his study, there were only two threesomes and no bigger groups, but he talks about groups of twenty going together successfully with the director of the Appalachian Trail Institute.

My take on all this is that we can do it. Your friendships are to me on a sacramental, covenant level like a marriage would be. While I don't have any intentions to marry any of you, I do have every intention to love you and be your friends for the rest of our lives.

I am an optimist, but I also feel like I know us really well and I know we can handle this. We have all had intense and sustained community life this past year and previously together and I know we know how to do this. It's a matter of commitment, as well as the requisite patience, openness, honesty, and willingness to compromise. However, I think we also know the perils and pitfalls of community life and will recognize certain things that we will need to do to stay sane and loving. One of them will occur naturally I think, namely, having alone time.

This dude's statistics are revealing: "When hiking with friends, were you close enough to converse?" Usually 27%
Sometimes 53%
Rarely/Never 20%

And "How often did you meet with friends for the night?"
Usually 50%
Sometimes 32%
Rarely/Never 18%

My brother and the girl he started the trail with have stuck together the whole way thus far, and the way it has worked for them is that they are often not hiking together but always stop together for lunch and for the night. This makes sense to me. I think we will have days when we stay tight, and days when we don't. We will have solitude and community...you really need both to truly have either as I think we have all figured out. And we will have plenty of new and ever-changing company every night in the shelters to keep us from getting bored.

For longevity, I think what will matter is the commitment to stay together. Hopefully we will avoid any serious injuries and we can commit to bearing one another's burdens in the times when we're having individual struggles with a nasty blister, a sprained ankle, or sore knees.

Allrighty, well I got mucho mas here...plenty of stuff to say on gear, etc. But this is probably enough to get the ball rolling...go ahead, reply all :)

Oh yeah...blogging. I think it's not a bad idea to get ourselves one now even if we don't use it for much of anything just so we can have the name we want when we go. I checked and we could still get http://fearsome4some.wordpress.com Thoughts? I'm sure there exists a more creative name, but that one was the first to come to mind. Lizzie?
We also could use one of our old blog urls, which we still have and are as follows: middsuitehearts, middkids, and suitehearts.

love you girls,

Loo

Laura's Reply

Yeah, thanks for getting things going, Lizzy. I agree that it's time for us to start talking about the logistics of this trip :)

I am pretty flexible in the start date. The two options for next year that I'm thinking about right now are being a server, and working as a paraprofessional in the Denver Public Schools. The para thing will only work out if we're leaving later, it's something that became an option for me when I heard that Devon might be doing this grad program. If it looks like we're looking at leaving before the school year here is done, I would happily just look at jobs that don't have any specified ending date.

As for how we hike the trail; I'm pretty much open to anything. I agree with Loo that there is a certain amount of beauty in hiking the trail from end to end. But I know, too, that it is a harder way to do it, and that it would probably require a little more training beforehand. We could also, of course, start with low-mileage days, but I think you plunge almost immediately into the Hundred Mile Wilderness (almost 100 mi where the trail doesn't cross a paved road), and that's something that we probably want to be pretty prepared to tackle when we do take it on. So maybe a flip flop would make the most sense. I could pretty much be talked into anything; right now I just want to hike the trail with you all :) And I want to get a lot of hiking and backpacking in before we leave, which I know will be easier for me, in CO, than for the rest of you (depending somewhat, of course, on where you end up, Lizzy). Then, too, I'll be interested to hear Eric's impressions of the trail SOBO. His impressions might change our minds about hiking SOBO, one way or another.

For knowledge of the trail, I've checked out books from the library and done a fair amount of reading online. There's a website for hikers' journals at http://www.trailjournals.com that I've been checking out; you can read about people's experiences, and many people update regularly, even while they're on the trail. I've heard that the Thru-Hiker's Companion (that Loo has) is a must, but I haven't looked at it. My mom also gave me A Walk in the Woods recently, and I must say, I enjoyed it immensely, though it certainly paints an ambiguous picture of the trail.

My motivations are probably a little mixed. A lot of it is wanting to get to be with you all really intensely again. But I think that even if you all decided not to do it (which I know you won't), I would still go alone. I am really drawn to the idea of going on a crazy adventure, of doing something different. I've been working a desk job, really, for going on 10 months, and I want to break away from that. I'm learning about the things that I do because I want to and the things that I do because they're what everyone does, and I'm trying to really make that distinction, and I know that getting away from the working world entirely is, for me, a part of that process. I can very easily find myself sucked into this idea of a career path, even as I wonder if I'm ever going to have a "career" in the normal sense of the word. Plus, we were made to be in nature, using our bodies every day. Getting the chance to do that, even if only for 5 or 6 months, really excites me.

As far as if we could be using our time better by "helping people", going on a mission trip or whatever...I think that this year God has really been teaching me that I need to take care of myself and my corner of the world, as well as trying to make a difference on a larger scale. My tendency is to think too big, rather than too small. It's easy for me to overlook the fact that the way I treat the people around me makes a difference in the world, because there are these huge issues out there that seem so much more pressing. And many of those issues are really pressing. But until I learn to really love the people I'm with, I think that my efforts towards justice in the world are more about abstract ideas and feeling good about myself than they are about love and hope and joy. Right now, I need to learn to love, and that's not going to happen by focusing on the large scale. I'm hoping that, by taking the time to be with you guys really closely, closely enough for us to really get on each other's nerves, and disagree, and even fight, but to be doing that in a group of people who are really committed to loving each other with all our faults, and who already love each other, that I'll learn more about how I am in the world, and how that effects those around me. Living in community has started that process for me, this year. But if I'm going to become the person I want to be, someone who is really, truly loving in their interactions with people, I'm going to need to keep working on it. I'd say that, at this point, that process has barely begun.

So, there's my two cents. I'm sorry that there are so many long, convoluted sentences in this email. Hopefully you could follow it, more or less. I love you all dearly!

Grace and peace,
Laura

Loo's Reply

hello my dears,

thanks for getting the ball rolling, Lizzie. I intended to do so, and then things got crazy here and it really hasn't stopped yet. Plenty of drama to go around between stresses with Casa, my family, and Jesse.

My schedule should not be a factor. I expect that I will be at Casa until shortly before we start. While right now part of me would like to peace out on Casa/current life in general and run away, I think that is more a reflection of me feeling stretched, hurt, and uncomfortable in the ways that God is choosing to challenge me right now and not really an indication that I'm supposed to peace out. If you guys could pray for me, that would be great. I need it- for peace, strength, maturity, and wisdom.

In terms of the trail, I am definitely open to many options. It seems like the original south to north plan is probably not the best for scheduling. I'd be up for the flip-flop, though I think it would be cool to have the continuity of doing in a particular direction. In terms of north to south, I think the rigor of it would definitely be a factor. The website strongly recommends that you have to start slow if you do it that way, which makes a lot of sense and I think it would be fun (in addition to necessary) to ease ourselves into it mileage-wise as we tackle big hard-core mountains. There are no mountains anywhere near me, and there's only so much that walking around your neighborhood with a 40 pound pack can do to train you.

The Bug Factor: The website says there are "swarms of black flies in Maine in June" as well as mud but then tells you that the parks suggest a start date of no earlier than July 1st, which sounds like it would work perfectly for Dev's schedule. I doubt the bugs all disappear come July 1st, but maybe it would be significantly better. That said, I think it is worth considering doing North to South continuously. My brother is doing it starting on Saturday or Sunday, so we will have a very good resource to tell us what it's like and if he gets eaten alive starting in late June. I also like the idea of being in New England for the summer. Hard hiking, yes, but plenty of gorgeousness and just general loving vibes for me.

Knowledge of the trail: I have purchased a couple of books from the AT Conservancy and read their website: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.786999/k.548/ThruHiking.htm

The books I have are good- they are the "Thru-Hiker's Companion Guide" and the Data Book for 2007.

I have also read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and loved it dearly- it's where this whole crazy idea started for me 6 or so years ago curled up in my sleeping bag by my parent's fireplace during a 7 day ice storm power outage my senior year of high school.

Motivations: I was captivated by the idea back then, and it has ever since been on my "life to-do" list in my head. I think originally it came back to me several months ago amidst stress and frustrations with Casa which made me feel the deep desire to escape bureaucracy, politics, big city life, no connection with nature, and a lack of deep community. Now (until recently I think) I have been in a better place in terms of my satisfaction with current life, but my desire to hike the trail remains. Mostly, I love you guys and I miss you deeply and think Dev is right that this is probably the only opportunity in our lives that we'll ever have to all do this. To be honest, just the idea of seeing the 3 of you all together gives me a rush. And then when I think about seeing you with 40 pound packs and bandannas and Nalgenes, the rush gets bigger. And I deeply miss the mountains and being outside for most or all of my day. Now that it is summer in Houston, I barely make it out.

When I think about what it will actually be like, there's the obvious thrill of just being with you guys, combined with the thrill of being in nature. I originally questioned whether this was really selfish and thought that we should all go do missions for 6 months instead, but somehow I think that this will have deep purpose and growth for us. I think it will be tremendously fun, but I also think that we will have the time and the space to really go deep with one another and God and the world. We can read, pray, share our thoughts and our stories. We can sit around and talk and not be thinking "gotta go- got a paper to do...gotta go to bed." We can truly be present with God and one another. We can read out loud together, pray together, cook together :) I think we have a lot to learn and share. And I think it will be really cool to get the chance to meet people we'd never meet any other way and live in a rare form of community with them.

"cool as in amazingly challenging, fun, beautiful, and
spiritually eye-opening." Amen.

So yeah, that's where I'm at. LB?

I love you all dearly, now it's time for me to go take Ryan to the ear nose and throat surgeon...woo woo :)

peace and a big long abrazo,
Loo

Hambones' Reply

yo peeps,

as usual, life is crazy and i don't have much time to write, but
here's my status on things for next year and the AT:

I like the idea of the flip-flop if everybody's cool with starting
later. Exactly how late will depend on several factors. I'm now
taking steps to actually apply to this Eastern MA program and ask a
bunch of questions about it. It's the maiden year, so I have a
feeling things are VERY rough and there might be a lot of logistical
nightmares in front of me. At the same time, I love everyone I know
who's involved with Mission Year and Eastern, so there are sure to be
some kind spirits to ease the pain of the process.

The website says that the last class officially ends June 25th. But
from May 14-June 25, it only has one full time class listed and one
2.5 day class with "follow up September-December." Whatever that
means! So I'm in the process of getting answers on what all that
means. Maybe it will be so involved that I can't do both it and the
trail at all (in which case I'll choose the trail). Maybe it will be
so lax that I can find a way to take the one class early and the other
correspondence or something and I'll be done the first week of May. I
don't really have any way of knowing until people get back to me.

Other than the whole Eastern possibility, hopefully paired with some
work with Build-a-Bridge, Intl, an arts education organization in
Philly that works with at-risk youth where apparently Trista McGetrick
works now...I don't really have any concrete job opps for next year.
Unless I fall back on working for Urban Promise again. I'm really not
feeling the call to this at the moment, but there's nothing I dislike
strong enough about it to give it a definite "no" before I have
something else lined up. As for going back to Chicago, I also have
been unable to find any good connections there yet. I'd love to be by
the fam and a few other peeps scattered about, but there haven't been
any really attractive living or working opportunities that I've found
so far.

In terms of the trail itself, I really know almost nothing. I haven't
been able to get my hands on a book and my internet time is very busy
and limited. I'm going to have to get my info from you guys until I
can get my hands on a book, etc - probably not until I get home in
August. I did meet this lady at one of the places where I work who
told me she had some great videos about it that she would send me, but
I haven't gotten them yet. If I do, I'll be sure to pass them on to
y'all after I've had my share.

Motivations-wise...at first I was really concerned about the need to
"help people" during that time and a fear that 6 months of not working
was a really selfish thing to do. The more I've let the idea simmer,
though, the less I've been concerned with those factors. It just
feels like a cool thing to do. Not cool as in "I'm more hard core
than you", but cool as in amazingly challenging, fun, beautiful, and
spiritually eye-opening. Renee Marshall told me she loved the
community she ran into on the trail, and sometimes she wishes the
Church would be more like the people she met there. I think
interacting with God's children will be a big part of this journey.
I'm not sure if I'll need the trail as release from the city or
not...I'm not 100% burned out yet, but who's telling where I'll be in
a year. If I can spend a year or two in the city, though, I can
certainly spend 6 months in the wilderness. Sounds like a necessary
balance.

There's also the fabulous factor of you guys. I feel like this era of
life is exasperating, especially in the realms of careers and boys and
marriage, children...a lot of crazy crap going down, even within our
little quaddie. A couple of the only solids amidst all this are God
and friends, and I can't imagine anything more healthy and clarifying
that a lot of quality time with both. After that, who knows what'll
happen. We may never have a chance to do something like this - just
us - ever again. Maybe we will, but I don't want to let the
opportunity pass. Especially based on my converation with Loo
yesterday, I've been appreciating how unconditional the love of
friends really is, and how beautiful an institution it is. SO much
less perverted by the world than romantic love, I think. Amen to
that. And Amen to you!

On that note, I gotta sign off. If I forgot to add anything, I'll try
to let you know tomorrow...I'm leaving early Friday morning for
Atlanta for the weekend, so tomorrow is the end of email contact with
Lizzy I guess. I'll let you know when I get any answers from the
Eastern people, too.

I love you all SO much! miss you mucho! you are beautiful!

mwah,
Devo

The AT Email We've All Been Waiting For

Hello dear friends!
I have been wanting someone to write a group email for a few months now and finally realized I might as well do it myself as I have a few free days and have finally started reading various websites and feeling like I know something about this whole AT business. I know we have all been having discussions with each other seperately mostly about when and what direction/s our hike will take. I think it's important that we start having these discussions as a group as well, so as to cut down on reiteration and expensive/inconvenient phone calls (for me at least). I would also like to see how you are all talking about this here adventure and make sure we are all actually thinking the same thing. To be honest, I think we will need to convince each other at different times that this is something we all want to do and can do and having some positive feedback even this early in the game will be very helpful to me. Also I am now applying for jobs and I need to give an end-date in most cases.

SO- from what I can tell the four of us (thanks to the impulse of Loo) are reasonably committed to completing the entire AT together (as possible) next year. It seems that we are all fairly open to what route we use (north-south, south-north, flip-flop). I, at least, had visions of thru-hiking going south-to-north, but with Devo's plans to get her Masters (very excellent) I think we are currently looking at either a north-to-south or flip-flip hike (flip-flop is starting at the middle, hiking to one end and then returning to the middle (or other end) and hiking the remaining section) so as to start after the academic year (I assume end of May, can you get dates on this Devo?). From what I am reading, north-to-south hikes are the most difficult- you start at the hardest part of the trail in very buggy conditions. It seems to me a pretty bad idea- as we will be adjusting our gear, learning how to hike together while coming from different types of prep. I have little desire to train in the mountains for a 6 month hike (the hike is long enough already) and I think without this it would be really hard to just jump in and figure everything out while climbing the hardest peaks with lots of buggies. It has a plus of being continuous if we survive the first bit, but I for one am not too excited about this version. The flip-flop version that I am coming across the most is to start mid-way and go north then transport ourselves not by foot to the place we started and go south. This sounded really lame to me the first time I heard about it, mostly because of the non-continuity and big jump in the middle. However, on reading more, it turns out to be the easiest hike as you can start at the easiest part of the trail to work out the kinks and can aim for ideal weather conditions and don't have the pressure to move butt to Kahtadin before it closes. You also don't have the crowds but you do overlap with some of the thru-hikers for companionship. I hadn't really considered the crowd factor- but on reading more it seems like it would be a bit of a drawback to the south-to-north hike but we aren't considering that anyway, at least at the moment. I also like the flip-flop hike because we get to actively design our own route meaning we will have to know more about the trail and conditions then someone just going from one end to the other. I also decided that anyone contempating backpacking 2,175 miles need not be worried about how hardcore she might be and that there is actually nothing less hardcore about flip-flopping, it just seems the more intelligent hike. What do you guys think? Of course big question remaining is, what is our start date or window of start date?
Here is an outline of the route I was thinking of, which sounds the most ideal and starts first half of May. Read more at: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.848729/k.6FA1/Alternative_Itineraries.htm
Harpers Ferry, W.Va., north to Katahdin; Harpers Ferry, W.Va., south to Springer Mountain.
Sample itinerary: Start in Harpers Ferry first half of May, reach Katahdin second half of August; return to Harpers Ferry after Labor Day; finish at Springer Mountain the second half of November.

I wonder how you are faring in telling people about your trail plans. Most people I tell are Russian and have never heard of it and are utterly baffled as to why I would do it (probably just too polite to tell me I'm crazy). Luckily my family seems pretty excited about it. I also want to hear why you decided to do it, what is your overall "idea" if one exists. For me, I think of it as a de-toxification after Moscow, (although it will come a good 9 months after I return). This is a polluted city of 15 million and I feel like living here and breathing the air has taken some years off my life that a good jaunt in the woods should counteract. It's of course not just a physical tension either- but also the insanity of life here- the hurry, the competition, the calculatedness of everything. Aside from the Moscow-factor, I've actually wanted to do the trail since I saw a slideshow at the Rochester Public Library when I was 15 and now seems like a good time before I get into graduate school or a longterm job.

Speaking of jobs, what are you doing until we start? I began my job search yesterday- ideally I want to get a research tech. job in biology (reproductive or developmental) while applying to graduate school (taking the GREs and such). I was able to locate several job postings which gives me hope that I might be able to find something and I pray they will work with me and the trail schedule. I want to go to graduate school in biology, still working on which flavor exactly. I don't have a location yet for next year although Midd, Boston and Rochester have the plus of free/cheap housing and old friends- but I am not sure I'll have too much choice and the job will probably trump location. At first I thought my ideal job was back at Midd working with Catherine. I haven't heard back from her if this is possible, but the more I think about it and look into other programs, the more I think it might be better for me to be in a new location where this is a bigger research program- I have never been super keen on Midd bio except for a few professors. I think it would be hard to be at Midd without all of you, hard to be there without a car and maybe just better for me to move on to something else, although I it does have some good hiking opportunities! Anwyay, I will let you know how it works out.

Well, that's all I have to say. I will have good internet access until Saturday when I leave for a tour of more remote parts of Russia. I'll be in Ufa in the Ural mountains for one month (American embassy run English language summer camp through Fulbright) and then coming through Moscow to go to northern Karelia, above the Artic circle, near Finland. I will be doing some Russian style canoing/camping for 2 weeks and I think it will be very intense, buggy and in all likelihood, hilarious. I will probably be able to check my email a few times this summer and then I return to the US August 14th and probably undergo intense culture shock! Oh boy.

Do please respond with your trail (or other) thoughts.
With love from
Lizzy