[at-l] Early Start

[pmags@yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

      I started my AT trek on Feb 28th, 1998. This was
an El Nino year and the first month and a half was
wet, wet, wet, cold, wet, wet, wet, cold and snowy.
You get the idea. :-)  Being a New England boy, had a
rude awakening when the snow hit the southern
mountains (it is Georgia..why is it snowing?!?!).
Luckily, I was prepared. Had a 20F bag, fleece jacket,
polypro top and bottoms, a fleece hat. Yeah, it got
cold a few times, but I survived.

The key is to eat constantly, drink plenty of fluids,
don't take long rest breaks, don't exert yourself so
much that you are drenched in sweat  (i.e. keep a
steady pace all day as opposed to hiking hard and fast
then taking long breaks)  and to have a sugary snack
handy for the middle of the night if you should wake
up cold. In short, the same strategies you would use
for winter camping is used for an early/cold year AT
start. In truth, an early AT start *IS* winter
camping. The days may be in the low thirties with
nights in the tens to teens. But, keep this in mind,
the weather will get warmer and when the bulk of
hikers are sweltering in PA and NJ, you will be in New
England.


  El Nino is supposed to hit in 2003. May very well be
similar to what I saw almost five years ago.  (Egads!
Time flies...)

Mags
(who now plays in the snow in Colorado. Snow shoeing
today..yee ha!)


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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau

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