-----Original Message-----
From: Big G [mailto:big_g@mad.scientist.com]
Sent: Thursday, February
17, 2000 12:48 PM
To: Tripp David; Ken Adkins; Jen Blubaugh; Steve
Leidenheimer; Allison Fuleky; Kinnickinic Kinnickinic; Stanley Kwiecien; Jenni
Gioffredo; Dar Wolford; Coosa; Tom Derby; Kirk and Joyce Gilliam; Toad Michele;
David Atkinson; Chad Berginnis; Tiffany Hencke; Zenon Guardia; Chuck Drvenkar;
Steven Aiello; Missi; Dennis Mahaffey; Terry Freistuhler; Andrew Suckart; Tom
Forrest; Scott Jackson; Kristen Kupersmith; Marc Blubaugh;Felix McGillicuddy;
Ernest Rojem; n8 DaBishop; Bernie Hohman; Lori
Moffett; Gilbert Leo; Kirk Gilliam; Jennifer B; Lisa Hunt; Atkinson,David
L, JR (FannyPack), BGM; Ken Schtscherbak; Susan Telford; Matt Sheridan; Karen
Strouhal; Jill Potter; Bob Kramek; Brian Leszcz; Geng Wang; Steve Rojem; Debbie
Nykiel; Gregory Clark; Ramakrishna Maganty; Francesco Rizzo; Jeremy Hall; Eric
Leidenheimer; Steve Aiello; chris pickens; Kyu Kweon; Steve Pratt; Jake
Gioffredo
Subject: BIG G LIVES! (and he is no quitter)
Call me
Hardcore.
Yesterday, I finally arrived in Hot Springs, North Carolina
after 270+ miles of winter adventure. The arctic conditions in the Smoky
Mountains slowed me down to a crawl so my revised ETAs will be getting
changed.
I hope you all are following along in my journal. My
readership is much larger than I anticipated and includes people I have
met along the way on the trail and even a grade school class. Perhaps this
is my fifteen minutes (or six months) of fame. I am mailing off my journal
entries and film for Fontana Dam, NC through Hot Springs, NC to my intrepid
transcriber, Bernie.
So far this trip has been amazing. Now I
understand why so many former thruhikers have turned their hikes into
books. My journal entries though larger than anticipated seem to only
touch the surface of my daily experiences.
To borrow from a card I sent
to a friend, I have - hiked during the day under the sun and at night with only
the moon and
stars for illumination - collected water from pristine
waterfalls and slow trickles running over decaying leaves
- slept tentless on
mountaintops under dark, clear skies and huddled in a soaked and muddy sleeping
bag during a thunderstorm
- hiked in 60 degree temperatures and in the low
teens
- hiked on beautiful days and in snowstorms
- travelled 270+ miles
by foot but have also hitchhiked off the trail
- had days filled with meeting
new people and conversations and five days straight of seeing nobody
- spent
time in the comfort of small inns and motels but also a night sleeping in a
public restroom
- met people who cannot fathom why someone would start a hike
from Georgia to Maine in winter and others who do not believe there is a better
time to start.
- walked into Neels Gap, Georgia to discover I was the fifth
person attempting a thruhike to come by and recently discovered that I am now
the third but the only one who has gone straight through without skipping the
most difficult sections.
- and so much more.
I have most of my trip
ahead of me yet and I am eager to find out what awaits me. Though it is
warm here on the banks of the French Broad River I have reports from two
southbound thruhikers that much snow remains on several of the high peaks to the
north. I will continue forward carrying my ice cleats (not exactly
crampons) and snowshoes. I have more winter
adventure yet before spring
comes to the south.
It will not be much longer before I leave North
Carlina and the NC/TN border behind. Then I forge into Tennessee for a
short time before entering Virginia near Damascus approximately one fourth of
the way to my destination of Baxter Peak on Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Here
are some trip statistics and facts:
- Approximate pack weight now: probably
50 - 55 pounds depending on food and water
- Average milage: varies but last
few days has been 10 - 12 miles per day
- Average number of meals: two -
breakfast & dinner with snacks between
- Most supplies carried at one
time: 10 days
- Longest section of trail between resupply: 13 days (you do
the math)
- Typical trail foods: tuna helper, mac & cheese, ramen noodle,
instant potatoes, noodles and sauce, rice and sauce, pop tarts, granola bars,
and nutrigrain bars
- Coldest temp (that I know of): 10-11 degrees back on
Blue Mountain
- Warmest temp: low 60s
- Number of days wearing snowshoes:
11.5
- Number of days in ice cleats: 3
- Longest time between showers: 13
days
- Longest time between needing showers: .5 days
- Longest time
between laundry: 16 days
- Most miles hiked in one day: 14.8
- Least miles
hiked in one day: 0 (1.7 being the next least)
- Number of times I have
shaved: 0
- Average bedtime: varies but usually 6 - 7 p.m.
- Average
wakeup time: varies but lately 6:30 - 7:30 a.m.
- Number of whole days off
with no hiking: 4 I think
To be continued...
-=G=-
GA -> ME
2000
http://BigG.penguinpowered.com/
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