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
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
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