Misc.

T-2 1/2 Days

The clock is running down fast! Tell you what, if you ever want to have a lot of fun in a one month period, try planning a five month walk in the woods, moving out of your house, moving someone else out of their house, AND planning a wedding all at the same time. Yikes.

So not much new to say today except for the fact that in terms of the trail, all my preparations are made.

Over the last few days I acquired some final pieces of gear...a heavy duty case for my phone, a water proof pouch to place it in, and a knife to strap onto my pack.


The total weight of my pack before food and water (known  as base weight) is twenty pounds, which is pretty excellent. That puts me firmly in the "lightweight" backpacker category, but not the "ultra-light" category. With ten days of food and two liters of water at all times, I'm looking at thirty pounds on average. That's pretty much right where I wanted it. That twenty pounds includes a sleeping pad, rain gear, extra clothing layers (long underwear bottoms, a wicking athletic shirt, and a fleece jacket), a sleeping quilt (basically one half of a sleeping bag), one cooking mug, one spork, a homemade stove made out of a cat food can, denatured alcohol to use as fuel, a tarp-tent, chap stick, bug spray, compass/barometer/altimeter, knife, phone, chess set, toothbrush, toothpaste, a novel, my guidebook, two trecking poles, and various other knick knacks that I can't remember at the moment cause it isn't all in front of me. 

I'll be flying out of Atlanta on July 2nd at 7:30. I have a short layover in New York, where I'll hop on a plane of truly terrifyingly minuscule size and fly up to Bangor, Maine. From there I'll hop on a bus to Medway, Maine. At the bus stop I'l be picked up by a representative of Maine Quest Adventures. For a small fee, MQA will drive me to Baxter State Park, where I will camp for the night at Kahatdin Streams Campground. The next morning I will wake up early and hike five miles up to the top of Mt. Kahatdin and the official start of the trail.

That's it for now. My next few posts will be picture updates of my travels from Atlanta to the trailhead. Check back on the 2nd!

--Pawn