Geocaching

Wikipedia describes geocaching as:

an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

I think geocaching is pretty neat and if I owned a GPS I would definitely try it out. That said I am not going to go buy a GPS to start geocaching. I have a long list of gear I want to get before a handheld GPS.

My hardcore side doesn`t like the GPS. It somehow feels like it would take the edge off of being in the woods. Like carrying a cell phone instead of a survival kit - you haven`t really left civilization behind at all if you have a phone.

But again geocaching has some advantages. You get to work on your map reading skills without all the running of orienteering and you get to hike with a purpose in mind which is good for motivation. Who doesn`t like to find stuff? Hidden stuff!

Sunday morning I`m going to hike the Pine Grove trail on the Greenbelt. It should be a flat 13 kms. I figure to bring my stove and boil a cup of tea somewhere along the way just for S&Gs. I plan to leave Parking lot 18 (which is on Davidson just off Hawthorne) by 9AM and if I do the full loop I will treat myself to a hot coffee in some establishment that shows football on the TV when I`m done (any suggestions?). This is part one of my scouting the East end greenbelt trails for some convenient afterwerk trail running/snowshoeing locations.

Sectonistas

Some people have mused about joining me for a portion of the AT odyssey which sounds great to me as long as they bear in mind a few things. The first 30 miles is supposedly the most difficult terrain. So either you join me in February to hike the most difficult miles or you join me when I'm up to speed. Well I suppose there is that narrow period after those first 30 miles and before I really get my legs under me.

I'm not planning to be fastpacking unless I have to but I will have time constraints so anyone thinking about joining me for a section should figure on an absolute minimum of 20 km per day with their pack on rough terrain day after day or I will have no choice but to leave them behind. I figure I will need to average 28 km per day to complete the trip in five months (what I would like to do), 24 km per day to complete the trip in 6 months (what I expect to do) or 20 km per day to complete the trip in seven months (last resort).

Of course these are averages and some parts of the trail are easier than others and different parts offer different hiking experiences. Some parts shadow a highway, others are untamed wilderness and in places the trail goes through downtown. Supposedly the 70 miles through Pennsylvania will destroy a set of boots and the Smoky Mountains, while beautiful, are full of curious bears.

Then there is the time of year and the incumbent weather conditions - cold, hot, rain, bugs, snow? I hope to mitigate the cold/hot thing by leaving the deep south in the dead of winter, but really, how cold can it get in Georgia? (in February about -4 Celsius) .

I see this in four general sections:
February-March in the Southern Appalachians lots of up and down to keep me warm.
March-April in the Virginias supposedly the easy section where a thru hiker should plan on doing at least 30 km per day.
May-June in the mid-Atlantic states not so bad but rocky and difficult in places. (see Pennsylvania comment above)
June-July in New England pretty good through the Green Mountains, pretty tough through the white Mountains and then the 100 mile wilderness sprint to the finish!

OK enough about the AT. From now on I`ll try to stick to more generic hiking or the Adirondack trail which will be the pre-AT practice/second thoughts?/gear testing hike in fall `09.

Gimpy

So I've been gimped up of late. A hip has been bothering me since I did the big rake job on my yard. Usually I use the mower one last time in the fall to scoop up the leaves and pine needles but my mower is in sore need of some TLC. The hip is much better now so I expect to get in couple of short runs this week and another hike on the weekend. I'll probably take my camera out on the bird watching loop to play it safe.

In the meantime I picked up a Backpacker magazine so I could check up on all the recent innovations in walking. It had a really weak article about "how to do anything in the woods" with helpful suggestions on how to find water anywhere like - climb to the top of a hill and look for water or find water on the ground. Luckily I salvaged some of my dollar value in a surprise article about the AT. I don't really want to focus on At specific research until I've completed the Adirondak trail and I am sure I`m willing to spend seven months of my life walking but it was full of fun facts.

The trail has many shelters some that are maintained and run like wilderness retreats with stores and everything. The article talked about not bothering with too much advance planning. Mailing stuff to postal stations in advance is considered unnecessary as there seems to be a trail industry to sell whatever the hiker may want along the way. Itineraries with "this shelter by this date" are considered counterproductive. It also mentioned that one shouldn't plan to do the whole trip with one set of gear. One sleeping bag will not suffice for the cool spring and the hot summer and the author suggested a new pair of boots every 4-500 miles! That seems ridiculous to me although he did suggest light synthetic (pathetic) boots. I figure leather boots and a can of Saddle soap.

Oldest person to thru-hike the AT: 81

Youngest person to thru-hike the AT: 6
Fastest thru-hike (unofficial): 47 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes. Thats an average of about 72 km per day!

The Gats

I went on a day hike yesterday in Gatineau park with some of the boys. We went from Old Chelsea up to the King Mountain Loop. It was all climb to the Mountain but pretty easy going. Most of the trail was shared hiking-biking trail which means hard base and easy walking. Light packs and perfect weather also help make for a pleasant day. According to the string we did a total of about 14kms including wrong turns. We were out for about 4 hours so we were probably moving along at an average of about 4km hour if you factor in the stop on the escarpment for tea.

The park was beautiful with the fall colours and clear skies but that also means it was maggoty with people. Lots of people taking their little kids out to see the leaves, trail runners in singles and packs and a few mountain bikers. Fewer bikers than I expected actually. Here are a few pics:






It was a good day but I will need to find some more challenging terrain or pick longer routes. I would like to get in some long days of walking. And I probably should carry more stuff. Or maybe I`ll wait until next summer to do all that. For now I`ll focus on my trail following and map reading skills :)

16 months

The current plan is to head out on the trail just after the Vikings` 2010 Superbowl victory (even on the off chance they do not win) and get back to the concrete jungle in time to start the fall semester at college. That gives me about 16 months to prepare.

I plan to do what is called thru-hiking the trail which is to do the entire 3500 km in one season. According to Wikipedia this takes 5- 7 months and ain`t easy. In recent years the completion rate of registered thru-hikers has gone up to almost 30%. So less than 1 in 3 people who set out finish the journey and less than 10,000 people have done it since the trail was built in the 1930`s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail