It’s coming together

Welcome to my new blog page. I hope to share my journey along the Appalachian Trail with you here. This will be done from my phone while on trail. Hopefully when I hit a clearing or town I’ll be able to download some pics and info. With that said, I’ll say this: grammar nazis - comments will go in the next cathole I have to dig, negative comments you want to make because you think I’m crazy can be expressed as “I will pray for you” .
Yeah, I know, you think I’m crazy. Well, you are not the only one. Many times I’ve said the same thing. I don’t know how many times a week I question my sanity, but, I was doing that before I planned this hike.
I’ve been collecting gear for the last couple of months, and think I’ve got 98% of what I need -

Somehow we are upside down🙃

not counting food.  This has been a fun ordeal, which I’ll touch on later.

I have sold the End of the Trail wall hanging to help cover cost of gear. This weekend I received a call about my car. It is now sold. I feel like everything is coming together saying Go, Jane , Go!

They say to budget 1k per month on the trail. Hopefully the car purchase will give me enough time to finish. I definitely don’t want to get sucked into the town/hostel vortex where a lot of hikers spend way more than planned. I’ll be sending most of my Gluten Free resupplies to cut down on time in town. I do know of a few hostels that I’ll seek out in New England that offer slack packing services. Slack packing - they keep my heavy  pack safe while I carry only food and water for the day. They then pick  me up at a designated spot and bring me to the hostel where I  pay to stay and receive a shower and chance to wash clothes. Some include a meal. Most will also allow a resupply package to be sent to them.

Start date : April 17th, 2020. I should be doing the Approach Trail around noon. The Approach trail doesn’t count as part of the AT. (Unless they change it this year) it is 8.8 miles up to the top of Mount Springer. The approach trail starts at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia. There are 604 stairs in front of the waterfall going up . I hear you have to do them to have “Gritching rights”. There is a road that can get you  closer to the top, but it’s sketchy.  Hoping the stair master will prepare me for those stairs  and more.  The Appalachian Trail starts at the top of Springer Mountain with the first white blaze- a 2” by 6” rectangle painted on a tree or rock or anything else along the trail. ‘Follow the white blazed trail.  follow the white blazed trail’. Did you hear the munchkins chanting at you. I did. Blue blazes take you off on side trails to water, shelters, waterfalls, or parking lots. Word of caution try not to camp near the roads and parking lots. These shelters get the day hikers who might be creepy and not part of the tramily- trail family. There is a Leave no Trace rule for hiking the A.T. Or any trail. Pack it in pack it out. That’s your public service announcement for the day. You are welcome.