How Blogging is Going to Work on the Trail

 I feel like this post might be a tad early, I thought about waiting a few weeks to post it, but I'm typing it now so might as well post it now.

 First off I like to say I'm not a professional writer (although you may have figured that out already) so my posts will be far from perfect 98% of the time especially when being wet, tired, and miserable. I will try and post every night I will be hiking, it is very likely I may not get service so posts might occasionally be a few hours late. I will be using my cell phone (Samsung Galaxy SIII, wish I had the 4) for writing posts and taking all my pictures, its actually not half bad. Because of using an android I can buy additional batteries, so I will be bringing 3, 1 in my phone and 2 on standby. In towns, or wherever there is an outlet I will charge all my batteries completely with my charger and hope they last me to the next outlet. My daily posts will generally be about a paragraph long (shorter than this post) and describe in moderate detail what I did, elaborating on the interesting stuff. I'm a picture person and when reviewing past AT blogs the ones with a lot of pictures I found the most interesting. Because of this I want to include multiple pictures in each post, once again service may not be spectacular so it might take awhile. I'm also debating the idea of giving a trail update in video form about every few hundred miles or so (but no promises).

Update 2: Three More Months!

     It's hard to believe that in only 3 months (probably less-than half the time it will take to complete the AT itself ) I will be standing on Springer ready to walk the gazillion steps to Katahdin. I still haven't thought of an exact start date yet but it will be within the first week of March (leaning towards the 5th). In a few weeks my first semester of college will be done and I will start working full time to help fund the trip. Admittedly this is not the best dissension and if I were smart I would wait a few years until I finished college like a majority of those that hike the AT, but I cant. My obsession with the AT is too strong and if I were to put it on hold I could risk the possibly of never hiking it or just going insane. When I say I cant wait to get on the trail I'm beyond serious, I have had countless dreams where I would be chilling by campfire at a shelter, arriving at Amicalola Falls State Park, or just hiking through the seasons. (kind of sad...)

     Since my last update I bought a new air mattress; the neoair xlite (which is awesome), a few stuff sacks which are probably not even the right size, and not a whole lot more. I'm hoping to get the majority of the rest of my gear for Christmas which include my quilt (Enlightend Equipment Revelation X 20*) and clothing.

     Before I set foot at Amicalola Falls I need at least some physical training. As of now I would probably make it to Neels Gap and then most likely have my legs fall off. I'm planning to start using my unused gym membership more often and attempt a few practice hikes in February to at least be a little more prepared. The best training for hiking weeks on end is to hike weeks on end which can't exactly be done the weeks leading up to the A.T. I expect the first few weeks to be painful and then hopefully get my trail legs where I can crank out 20 plus miles a day and not feel a thing (yeah right). Can't wait to get on the trail...seriously!

13 Reasons Why You Should Take Time Off Of College to Thru-Hike the Appalachian Trail

Saw this article today on Appalachian Trails, been looking for something like this since I started my planning.

Update 1: Four More Months

     In about 4 months, I will be on top of Springer Mountain ready to start the journey of a lifetime. The only problem is that it's still 4 months away. The AT has taken up about 90% of my thoughts for the last few months which makes it very difficult to do other things like school. I believe I have now read every book, webpage, and whiteblaze post pertaining to the AT, which I guess might make me slightly obsessed. Because of this research most conversations eventually come to talking about backpacking whether the other person wants to or not. I am trying very hard to resist the urge to plan the actual trip because I don't want to rely too much on a schedule. For my hike, I want the trail to dictate how the trail goes as opposed to me dictating how the it goes, but as the popular expression goes "hike your own hike". As of now I have about 60% of my gear but I already know nearly all the gear I plan on buying for the AT. Since my last backpacking trip (which was also my first) I now have a water filter (don't forget one...trust me), a few more clothing items, and some platypus water bags. I am still planning on attempting a thru-hike which I'm going to guess, at max will take about 7 months, but so far almost every person I've told has either told me how dumb I am for attempting this or just dismissed me. I try and tell convince people but they usually don't want to here it.  Even with the possibility of having little support on the trail I cant wait. But I have to, a whole 4 months...