Common Questions

Post date: Mar 05, 2016 12:54:45 PM

Thanks for the very nice send off yesterday at the Old Crow. At the gathering I mentioned questions and comments of people over the last few months, including patients:

1. Are you going alone? Yes but only part of the time because several friends and family members have decided to do 1-2 week sections with me.

2. How many miles per day? Hope to average about 15, but that's a wild guess. A better question would be, how many hours do you plan to walk per day. My guess, 8-10, with breaks.

3. How heavy will your pack be? 25-35 lbs, heavier during the colder parts and at times when I need to carry more food. I purposely got a smaller pack at 48 liters to force me to pack light.

4. How will you get food? Will resupply along the way and carry up to a week at a time.

5. Water? Will carry a filter and chemical treatment pills.

6. Boots or shoes? I decided to go with trail shoes and have 4 pairs of Merrill Moab Ventilators already broken in.

7. Are you bringing a gun? No. Bear spray? No.

Now some amusing comments:

1. One 70 some year old lady hummed the song from Deliverance as I opened the door and walked into the exam room!! No, no I said, don't do that!

2. One guy said he grew up down there in the South and said his grandpappy told him that if he ever came upon a camp in a valley in the hills of northern Georgia and saw a jug of moonshine sitting on a stump to just take a swig of that thar moonshine and then just keep on walking, cause if you passed by the jug without taking a swig those moonshiners would think you might be a law man and pop you one from behind some tree! I assured him I'd take the swig!

3. And then there was Herbert. A long time patient in his 80's, he asked me what I was up to over the coming months. I told him about the AT hike. He seemed to disappear in deep thought for a few moments, then looked back at me out of the corner of his eye and said, "You're not going to like that." This was of course unexpected since almost everyone else had ended by saying what a great thing it was to do and what a life adventure it would be. Not Herbert. He went on to say it wouldn't be any fun and that I'd be more or less cold and miserable much of the time. He ended by saying, "Be safe, and make sure you come on back!" I'm sure that there will be many times on the hike that Herbert's words will echo through my mind as I'm enduring a cold rain or dealing with blisters...."you're not going to like that....you're not going to like that."