[at-l] We were all Newbies once

[ackenglass@hotmail.com (Alexis Lee Acken)]

Here's my brief bio.  I'm about a month shy of being 25.  I live in Western
Ma. with my boyfriend and two dogs.  I went to college in OH and got a
double major in Creative Writing and Ceramics.  Currently, I'm doing stained
glass windows and censorship and trying to save up money to hike the AT in
2003.
How I got into hiking....   When I was a kid, my  dad told me about how
"when he was my age" he'd spent every night for a year sleeping outside.
His grandmother was native american and when he spent the summer at her
farm, he slept outside.  When he went back home, he wanted to keep sleeping
outside, so every night, he'd climb out his bedroom window onto an adjoining
roof and sleep there.  Well, I wanted to try it, so I set up my hammock
about a half mile from the house and slept there all summer and most of the
fall.  We had a bitter winter so I came back inside.  My mother also thought
it was a terrible idea in the first place.  My most terrifying experience
while "camping" was when a sheep accidentally became entangled in my hammock
while I was sleeping.  I woke up sure that a bear was trying to eat me.
So, in college, carless, there weren't many places to hike and no $. On
weekends, I'd take my Army surplus bag, some sandwiches and an old beat up
sleeping bag and hike a day's worth out the railroad tracks, sleep in a
cornfield and hike back the next day.  The Portage OH volunteer fireman put
on a great AYCE pancake breakfast on Sundays.  Then, it was $3.  And I spent
a couple of summers living out of my pack.  It got me used to a minimalist
life-style and carrying everything I owned although it wasn't really hiking
since a lot of it was in Toledo and Detroit.
After college, I got caught up in other things, so I didn't do much more
than take my dogs for walks.  About a year ago, I started getting into
hiking again and learned how great proper equipment can be.  Goodbye ALICE.
Shortly thereafter, a friend leant me Bill Bryson.  Yes, another
AT-thru-hiker-wanna-be inspired by _A Walk in the Woods_.  I'd never heard
of the AT but started dreaming about hiking it.  So, now I'm working my ass
off trying to save money and buy gear and plan everything out in this next
year so that I can go out and do it.  And trying to take every spare hour I
have to at least get out as far as the Wendel State Forest for hikes.  I'm
doing the 117mi. Metacomet-Monadnock trail on my vacation this summer.

Alexis

> > Listers,
> >
> > I have spent the day reading emails from "newbies," and I realized that
I
> > know more about them than I do all of you that have been here for a
> hundred
> > years.  So, I think that everyone that has been on the list for more
than
> six
> > months or so should write a brief
> SNIP
>
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