[at-l] first questions

[mike <zenobia@pcisys.net> (mike)]

Hello felix,

Monday, November 11, 2002, 2:20:55 PM, you wrote:

fucue> hi guys,

fucue> im new to the list and have some questions:

fucue> 1. i need to start as early as possible without having to survive any
fucue> blizzards... im planning on mid march northbound, should i expect 4-season
fucue> weather? or is it too early to tell?

Welcome to the list... I hope that you'll get all the info you are
looking for.  There is a lot of garbage on the list, so be prepared to
wade through it all. Mid-march is good. I started my thru on March
17th of this year. If I did it again, I might go a week or so earlier.
Yeah, you are going to have to at least be prepared for some "4-season
weather", meaning, it's gonna get cold. But it really isn't that
bad... Every day will be closer to being warmer. When we started, we
had a 12 degree night but during the days it was 30's or low 40's.
When you are hiking, this is fine weather... makes you wanna keep
moving. Only thing that sucks is if it rains and it's right above
freezing. We didn't see any snow really, except on top of Katahdin,
but it is a definite possibility, especially through the Smokies.

fucue> 2. also, im a vegetarian and worried about my fat and protein intake on
fucue> the trail... any advice?

Well... it can be done, you just might be near death by the time you
are done =) I think walking the trail puts an extra strain on
vegetarians especially, and it challenges their beliefs. I saw quite a
few vegetarians mowing down on the hamburgers, but still, I saw some
vegetarians stay "clean." I carried Olive Oil the whole trip, which
was one of the few items that I kept. Oil went on most everything. If
you don't like Olive Oil, you could use vegetable oil. And of course,
I'm sure you've met our good friend Soy. There are a ton of products
with soy out there now. I'm sure you'll get a lot of input from others
on this.

fucue> 3. last thing, about mail drops: i have read that post offices along the
fucue> trail will hold packages for  a few days to a few months...is
fucue> there official post office policy on this?

I don't know... that's a good question. All my packages were at the
post offices, generally, a week in advance, sometimes as much as 2
weeks. I'd guess they'd hold it at least a month, possibly 90 days. Be
sure to write "hold for hiker, <real name>" and have an ETA written on
there. People will tell you NOT to use P.O.'s and to send them to
businesses or hostels. But they don't tell you that at some of those
places the people are freaks and they have your package. Yeah, you
have to contend with crappy hours at the P.O.'s, but at least they are
professional about it. I'd recommend not planning out too many
maildrops, just a few here and there and buy most of your stuff along
the way.

Scooby AT02
http://www.trailjournals.com/mikesteph