Trail Logistics

A thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail is an exercise in logistics. Many have asked us about different aspects of the hike, like; how do you get food, how to you cook, where do you sleep? Boy am I glad they made me think these thing through.
We are going to be like the turtle family. Our home is on our backs. Our back packed kitchen includes 2 pots and a one burner stove. The pantry is dried foods with a few treats. The most important thing about food is the weight. Water is available all along the way so we can rehydrate foods easier than we can carry the extra weight. We will have to carry 4-5 days worth of food at a time. At 2 pounds per person per day that comes to 16-20 pounds of food between the two of us.
We plan to resupply our food stuffs every 4-5 days. There are towns on or close by the trail for that purpose. We will buy some foods at the store and we are preparing some of things at home now and Amy will mail it to us at Post Offices in the towns along the trail. Jen is experimenting with possible menus now. Last night we had burritos with red chile sauce. The whole meal weighed less that 1 pound using dehydrated beans, hamburger, and chile powder. It tasted just like home made and will taste even better after a long day of hiking. When we get to a town, I plan to feast on burgers and fries.
We will be carrying our bedroom on our back as well. I am carrying a two person tent that weighs 6 pounds. We both have self inflating sleeping pads and down filled sleeping bags. Jen’s bag is good down to 0 degrees, mine to 15 degrees. Hopefully we won’t experience weather any worse than that. If the bags are too warm when we walk into summer we plan to buy lighter bags and mail these home. They will have to be mailed back to us in New Hampshire.
All along the trail there are shelters that are available on first come first serve basis. They sleep from 8 to 20 people, but you still need a sleeping pad and bag. Our plan is to not stay in them. On town days there are campgrounds, hostels, and of course hotels. We will spend some nights in those as well.
We will have a cell phone for outside contact when we make towns. Their use is frowned upon while on the trail. Last summer Jen and I took a hike in the Wasatch. After several hours of climbing we reached the summit of Mt. Aire. There was a lady at the summit on her cell phone. She was having an argument with her daughter. I have to say, it was a wilderness experience spoiler. On the trail we will only use the cell phone in emergency.
Along the trail, at hostels, hotels, campgrounds, outfitters, and other places, you can borrow or buy internet access. It is there I will post updates on our progress to this blog and send an email to Amy. Amy will send an email to any who are interested telling them there is a new posting at the blog.
“How will you get to the trail?” is another question we are often asked. “Where will you leave your car?” is another. We will leave our car in the garage in Salt Lake and catch a Delta flight to Atlanta. We will arrive about midnight on the 14th of March. After a night at the red roof inn at the airport our plan is to take MARTA, the Atlanta subway, to the northern most depot. There we will be met by a friend who will take us to the trail. Our hope is to hike 8.8 miles that day to Springer Mountain and the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. After that it is only 2174 miles to Katahdin Mountain, Maine.
One last question we are asked. “And you are doing this because?” If that is your question, read the previous blog.
48 days til we leave. 49 days til we hike.

Under Two Months

Things for the hike are beginning to fall into place. We have all our equipment saving a few odds and ends and Jen hasn't decided on a sleeping pad yet. She is still weighing (and that is a good way to put it) the benefits of a thicker pad vs the weight of a thinner one.

We have our plane tickets to Georgia. It is really strange buying a one way ticket. But, who knows when the return flight will be? If everything goes according to plan we will return around October 20 from Baltimore. But for seven months we will be one injury from having to return home with the trail unfinished.

We will be leaving March 14 and hopefully on the trail March 15. I know, I know, that is the ides of March, but as I told my friend Barbara, I am not Julius Caesar so I don't think we need to "beware." (Hopefully most of you recognize the reference. If you don't check here. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0311_040311_idesmarch.html

My plan for documenting the hike is to post to this site each time a computer is available which I am told is quite often. Then I will let someone (I don't know who yet) know that a post has been made and they will send the notice out to an email list. If you want to be on that list, let me know.

For Holladay Church

This post is for the members of Holladay Baptist Church who want to know more about why Jen and I have decided to hike the trail. Sorry for its length, but it is necessary to adequately explain our seeming foolishness.

OK, friends and family. So when did I go off my rocker? What is the Appalachian Trail silliness all about? What in the world would cause two seemingly sane persons to decide to drop everything and play like a cow pattie, you know, hit the trail?

It was twenty years ago, February, 1987 when Jen and I first became aware of the Appalachian Trail (AT) when we read about it in National Geographic. “A Tunnel Through Time; The Appalachian Trail.” We discussed the article and talked about how much fun that would be, but our baby was 6 and our oldest was 13 with a 10 year old in between. The AT was a pipe dream.

Using cheap, heavy equipment we had taken several backpack trips in the days before children. They were primarily camping trips that involved hiking rather than hiking trips where you had to camp.

The next step was in 2002. Bill Bryson’s book on the AT came across our path. We read “A Walk in the Woods” and laughed and began to talk again about how much fun it would be. But it was still pretty much a far out there, maybe someday kind of thing. Jen was in a waiting room and saw a magazine article about the White Mountain Huts in New Hampshire on the AT. In 2003 we took our vacation and with son Nathan and his wife Amy we hiked through the presidential range of the AT staying in the huts. It was an exhilarating time except for one afternoon when my knee gave out on me.

After that experience we kept talking about hiking more of the trail, first in North Carolina where Josh was living, then in Virginia close to Baltimore where Josh moved to. In 2006 while visiting our new grand baby two things happened. We drove to the Shenandoah National Park and hiked on a side trail and we went to Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry is the official midpoint of the AT and the location of the AT offices.

In addition to a short hike on the trail across the Potomac river we went into a bookstore where we purchased, “Long Distance Hiking on the AT for the Older Adventurer.” After reading the book we became serious about taking the hike.

Then there was a Baptist Press article about a ministry that works with the AT community. As I looked into their website I read every day of the journal for a couple of hikers. We began to make plans to hike.

Here is our list of reasons, excuses, alibis, whatever.

1. Dream. You only go around once in life. When you have thought about something off and on as often as we have the AT, you either try it when you still can, or you get to the age when you can’t and wish you could. We don’t want to get to the place where we regret not giving it a try. If we don’t like it, we can quit. If we can’t be retired we can go back to work for another 10 years. But if we wait 10 years we will be too old to attempt it.

2. Jubilee. Thirty years is a long time. Since August 1976 we have been responsible for a church with no break. That is 1560 Sundays. Every week for over 1500 weeks I have had the next sermon and/or series of sermons on my mind. There has always been the list of people I need to see. There is always one more prospect that could be contacted. It never ends and you never get it all done. It has been thirty years of having one more thing to do than could possibly be done. Until today. I have no idea when I will preach my next sermon. However I will still be doing the Wednesday night Bible Study at Holladay until we leave in March.

3. Simplify. One of the real attractions for me is the opportunity to live a simple life for 7 months. What are you going to do today? Walk. What decisions do you have to make? Where do I stop and spend the night. What will you do tomorrow? Walk. How do you introduce yourself? “Hello, my name is Flint. I walk.” Flint is the trail name I have chosen for myself. Jennifer will be Jubilee.

4. Weight and health. After 200 miles of hiking a person gets into trail shape. I am looking forward to being in trail shape. The average male loses around 30 pounds on the trail. I have a little more than average to lose, I am hoping for 40. The combination, better shape, less weight, less work stress, will work together to lower blood pressure. I am counting on it.

5. Time together. Not unlike most couples, Jen and I have spent a lot of time meeting the needs of others rather than spending the time together. We are as much in love, more really, than we were 37 years ago when we decided to get married. But we have spent much of the last 30 years raising kids and working. We are both looking forward to spending seven months involved in meeting a joint goal. I don’t think this can do anything but strengthen our marriage.

6. Spiritual growth. In the same vein, we will be spending a lot of time immersed in our own thoughts while walking. I hope to spend a lot of those walking hours in communion with the Lord. I have a copy of the NIV Bible on my Ipod. I plan to listen to the whole Bible, at least once while walking. We will be meeting a lot of people outside the Pastor/lay person roles we have met people in for the last 30 years. I hope to be able to share the grace of the Lord Jesus with other hikers.

So if you have made it this far on the post you may be interested in knowing that this is where I plan to document our progress. If you want to follow along, send me your email with a request to receive posts as they arrive. Send your request to rodger.russell@gmail.com or you can just check on the page now and then.

God bless you all.

First Book of the Year

Happy New Years. I spent my first day of 2007 reading my first book of 2007. My favorite mystery writer, Tony Hillerman has released a new Navajo mystery. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn chases the Shape Shifter in "The Shape Shifters." For you Hillerman fans, tell me, does the famous Leaphorn live in Window Rock or Shiprock? I am confused.

I have finished my list of books read in 2006. There were 45 of them. If you would like a copy of the list, I would be glad to send it to you. Reply to this blog and leave me an email address.