melannen | (no subject)

And OMG, it was *amazing*. We got back Monday night but I want to go right back and finish! Now that I can finally move my legs again!

That was the first time in my life I have ever been somewhere where there was no sign of human technology other than me, and what I carried, and the existence of the trail - no trash, no airplane noises, no distant highways (and wow, highways are *loud* when you've gotten used to not hearing them), no human voices (also so strange to hear voices in the distance and realize you haven't heard any for hours.)

The being alone is amazing; so are the people you're on the trail with. Oh, and the shelters at night - at least in the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club section - are, and there is no other word for it, *posh*.

I am so incredibly out of shape and so incredibly slow (note to self: don't try to keep up with thru-hikers unless you are one) but I could already feel myself handling hills better by Monday Morning, and when we finally got to the much-anticipated flat part, I missed the climbing.

(Also, I have successfully proven it is possible to hike the trail, in great comfort and with quite a light pack, without spending any money whatsoever on special trail gear. Though if I'd been by myself I probably would have wanted a stove to boil water, though I could have got by without for a short trip, because there was no shortage of shared campfires at the shelters.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Heh, well, when you have shelters and you don't need to carry actual GEAR, you can get by without a lot. Don't try that out here.

There wasn't a shelter every night! We did one night of just hammocks and bedrolls and parachute cord. Though if there had been rain forecast I probably would have brought a tarp/rainfly for over the hammock. The shelters were just so unexpectedly nice that we couldn't resist. (Two stories! Polished paneling and hardwood floors! Skylights! Lending library! Porch swing! It was utterly silly. They are not all like that. Yet.)

Actually, all my hiking books say it's much easier to go light out West where the weather is more predictable most of the year. This could be lies, though.

Wow, that's really cool!

It really was!

oh cool! I wanna do something like that! :D

*resists making the obvious Sanford joke about 'hiking the ol' Appalachian trail*

Edited 2009-09-12 18:48 (UTC)

You should! It's not really all that scary: just throw some things in a backpack, and go! (Just don't go with people who think 25-miles-a-day is slow, like I did.)

...and I was making those jokes all weekend.

That sounds exactly like the sort of situation that would have ended with my mother saying at the funeral: "And they still have no idea where all those wolves came from"