They say that the only way to train for hiking the AT is by doing it. The trail is notorious for its P.U.D's (pointless up and downs) and the rough terrain. Living as close as I do to the base of the trail at Springer Mountain, GA, I do hill climbs and walking every day. I'm active.
But yesterday was a surprise, both a good one and bad. I did a six mile hike with a 20 pound bag. Now, I've done this hike plenty of times. It involves climbing the fire road to the ridge top, hiking east along Big Tank and dropping back into the valley on the Pinhoti. The first third is a long hike up. The second is a nice gentle hike down. The third is a couple of miles back along the road to the house. But I've never done it in full pack.
I was expecting my feet to give out or blister and to experience a lot of pain from the pack. I got neither. It was amazing how quickly I got use to the feeling. That was the good part.
The bad? To get to Maine I'm going to do twice what I did yesterday... everyday. Lots of NSAIDS.
Hello, I'm Josh from blackswanstudios and I recently decided to take a long dive in cold water. What I mean is that, I woke up one morning, a week or so ago and found I had the time and temperament to do something I've wanted to do for a very long time.
Next spring, around March or April I'm going to leave my front doorstep, take a lazy left hand curve and get on the Pinhoti Trail section that is a mile down the road. Then I'm gonna keep going. For about two thousand miles.
This blog is a place for my friends and family to keep up on my musings and preparation, and to eventually be a record of my trail experience. It's gonna be one part travel book, and one part navel gazing, one part cat videos. Well, not so much cat videos... hehe.
