Hiking the AT20 miles down, 2,155 miles to go

Another exciting installment here from Lexington, KY. Now that cadaver lab is over, I have had to find other amusements for myself - because certainly telling you all statistics tidbits is not nearly as exciting. Although, I have learned the statistically best way to bet on horses. Seriously, the chair of the department of statistics is my bio stats professor and she imparted this wisdom during our last class session which was on probability. She said that you wait until about 2 minutes before the bets are closed for a race and then as soon as the Las Vegas odds come in you bet on the horse that had the largest odds change in favor of winning. She didn't explain how and why this is the best, but I take her word for it. Nothing like real-world examples on odds and probability stats to keep it relevant. ;-)

So what are the odds that if a person goes hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT for those in the know, whose entire length is "blazed" by white rectangles to keep backpackers on the right path) by themselves, that they will remain alone for a period of more than 30 minutes? I can tell you from experience - the odds are not good so don't bet on it. Solitude is not a word you use to describe the AT during Memorial Day weekend. Monday I realized I had a three day weekend coming up and no plans. On a whim I decided to go hike the AT since I live relatively close to it now (6.5 hour drive vs. Over 13 from Chicago). I went to my favorite friendly outdoors outfitter, got some first hand advice on where to go and what to see (they pulled out all these maps, sat on the floor, spread them out and went to town telling me about all the cool things to see). I ended up buying a topo map of the Jefferson National Forest in VA. I planned a 22 mile loop, 20 miles of it on the AT itself. I hadn't even left the trail head parking lot when I met a couple that was there to do an overnight backpacking trip to celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary. Half of their route overlapped mine and so off we went together. Tom, the husband, was a Boy Scout Master and knew the area like the back of his hand. Armed with his knowledge and combined with his gift of story telling and my love to hear stories, I was entertained and educated on backpacking in this area for the first 5 hours of the hike. Within 500 yards on the trail, we ran into more hikers heading north (the common direction for most thru-hikers who are those crazy breed of folks that decide to hike the entire AT - all 2,175 miles of it, from Georgia to Maine, non-stop, which usually takes 4-6 months). I learned that thru-hikers have trail names. During the course of the weekend I met Librarian, Hog Harley, Hammock, Tree Frog, and Show-Me.

Backpacking (hiking with a 20-40 lb. back pack that contains all your food and gear to camp for several days/weeks in the wilderness without returning to civilization for supplies) is a subculture within those who love to be outdoors. But within the backpacking subculture there lies even more subcultures: those who hike the AT, especially those who thru-hike; those who use alcohol stoves rather than the traditional lightweight backpacking stoves (the bottoms of two soda cans fit together with some holes in it, in which you pour rubbing alcohol and light it on fire - only good for boiling water very slowly at low altitudes); then the even stranger subcultures are those who make their own alcohol stoves and other miscellaneous gear; and those who do not use traditional tents but tarp tents (I have no idea what this is as I have not actually seen one yet). I have never met a group of people that can talk about things in terms of how many ounces they weigh for SO long. But, if you had to backpack 2,175 miles with all you could possibly need on your back, you would make sure every ounce was absolutely necessary, too.

Some other neat things I learned about hiking in general - or specifically about the AT:

At specific points (trail heads and wilderness entrances) there is a "sign-in" box. You write your name (real or trail), date entered the area, methods of travel, number in party, etc. This is how the park service tracks hikers in case there is someone missing. Hikers also use this to track progress of other hikers - to see if someone has passed through and when - tracking how far behind someone they are as they often get to know each other on the trail.

Every 8-9 miles on the AT is an adirondack, a three sided log shelter with a raised platform that generally sleeps 6 hikers. Some are "double deckers" and are lovingly referred to as the Hyatt. You sleep in these if you don't have a tent. They are usually the social hot spots on the trail where you share food, borrow supplies, swap stories, compare ounces on equipment, admire homemade alcohol stoves. They also attract mice because this is where food is made, dropped, and stored. Mice will eat through your expensive backpack to find your nibbles - including toothpaste or anything else that has a scent. SO, everything comes out of the pack, gets hung up on "mice ropes" that are hung from the ceiling with coffee can lids on them to keep the mice from climbing down the ropes. Also in these adirondacks are notebooks that hikers write tips/info/thoughts in. Good water sources, mice issues, etc. One entry that made me smile was from an Aussie the night before I was there: "the moon was full and the night sky cloudless - I woke up in the middle of the night wondering who left the lights on it was so bright." People leave all kinds of things they no longer need in the adirondacks such as they tear out whole chapters of books they have read with notes on what shelter the next chapter will be in for those reading it after them (remember, a chapter in a book might weight several precious ounces, that once read, is no longer needed and therefore left behind).

There are sections of the Jefferson National Park that have wild ponies wandering around that you frequently stumble upon. But don't be fooled by the term wild. They are as tame as could be and are used to "pictures for food." I met up with and hiked the second half of my first day out with Tree Frog (or Nate in the real world). We came into the Balds (areas that are at a high enough elevation that there are no trees, just low shrubs, and so the top of the "mountain" is "bald" and affords a 360 degree view of the area) and there were the ponies. Nate was taking a picture of one and it walked right toward him and then sniffed in his backpack pockets for food! The ponies are kept in certain areas by these zig-zag corrals that hikers have to walk through each time they enter or exit the designated "wilderness areas".

While I learned more than this, I am sure some of you are bored by now. It is a special breed of people who likhikingng/camping stories. But one last thing learned was that boy scouts are indeed always prepared. At mile 8, on day one, (12 miles and one day more to get back to where I left my car), I fell and sprained my ankle. The trail is hard work, many large rocks to navigate, etc. I hit a relatively easy part of the trail, got busy talking to Nate who also hiked at a much faster pace than I, and stopped watching where my feet where going. Boom. Down on all fours I went. I thought I broke my ankle but after a few adrenalin filled moments, I did a check and it was just very badly sprained. By the time I hiked the two miles to the shelter I was planning on staying in and got to the river to soak my foot in the cold water, it looked like I had a large lemon stuffed into my sock where my ankle should have been. I had never seen anything like it. With in an hour, I could no longer bear my weight on my ankle. I couldn't even walk to the bathroom (ok, tree). Obviously, this worried me as I had another day and 10 miles to go. There were no options but to hike out. But a boy scout came to my rescue. He had an ankle brace with him. Other boy scouts offered ace bandages too. In the morning, with brace on, right foot supported by a new found walking stick, and 1600 mg of ibuprofen in my system, off I went. All in all, it went much better than I could have expected (praise God). I got some bad blisters on my left foot due to the over compensation it had to do for the right foot being unable to carry weight and provide balance. But I made the ten miles in 5 hours. The icing on the cake? There were notes on my car from the various people I had hiked with in my two days on the AT (they had to pass my car to keep going north on the AT), all with e-mails addresses and contact info! So, I may not have gotten the solitude I went looking for, but I made some new great friends!

Oh, the AT in VA is beautiful - a true testimony to God's creative eye. So, I have 20 miles down and 2,155 miles to go. It may take years at this rate but I think I am hooked and am trying to figure out when I can get on the trail next - and trying to figure out how to make that darned alcohol stove for next time.

Paz,
Jess