[at-l] A few thoughts..

[datto_atl@yahoo.com (Datto)]

One of the very best things an upcoming 2002
thru-hiker can do to prepare for a thru-hike (well,
prepare as much as can be done anyhow -- whatever you
do it's still going to be a shock to your system and
psyche) is to deliberately hike in a downpour over a
known upcoming wet weekend this winter while wearing
your loaded backpack and the boots you plan to wear on
your thru-hike. 

Teaches you something about what you are likely to
face and experience during inclement weather. If you
haven't done that for hours -- hike in the rain for
hours, it'll be an eye-opener. Wait until the sides of
those shiny new boots of yours swell up from all the
rain pouring down into them off your pantlegs and the
boot lining starts cutting at the sides of your feet.
The plus side? It makes you stop worrying about the
pain in your knees. Ha.

In August 2002 I faced my twelth day of rain and the
temps dropped down to 39* -- yes, in August. Ahh...I'd
done a dumb thing and had sent my sleeping bag back to
Karen in Atlanta weeks earlier. That was certainly one
of the dumbest things I'd done on my thru-hike. Whew
doggies did it get so freezing cold that night! I'd
missed the shelter too when hiking on the Trail
(someone had removed the sidetrail sign) and I had to
set up my tent in the dark. Ended up waking at 2:00am
with teeth chattering, soaking wet...stayed up all
night eating (well of course!) and started hiking at
dawn the next morning so I could get warm again. As I
remember I stopped into some fancy smancy place quite
a ways off the Trail and had beaucoup cups of coffee
while my body and gear flooded the place with water
dripping.

But...the one thing about the further north you get
(for northbounders) is you accept what it is you can
change...and adapt to the rest. That's one of the
parts a thru-hiker doesn't know much about in the
beginning of a thru-hike. The adapting part. Most
thru-hikers I saw in the beginning of my thru-hike
(including myself) argued and yelled about many things
that just weren't going to change (weather, steepness
of the Trail, how far off-trail water sources were,
why the shelters weren't bigger and closer to the
Trail, why the Trail didn't go up that hillside over
there instead of this one where all the rocks were
collected).

And that's just part of doing a thru-hike. The
weather, the acceptance, the period of yelling about
things you can't change, the realization of not being
able to change them, finding something enjoyable about
your condition no matter what it is...

You know, once I accepted the weather, the steepness,
the rocks, things got a whole lot easier and a lot
more fun.

It seemed to me that a thru-hiker, the more time spent
on the Trail, became so confident that surprises or
weather changes or obsticles just didn't seem to sway
thinking much. You'd wake up with the attitude of
truly, just another day in paradise...and look forward
to every day ahead. For me that's the way it was...

Datto


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