ABOUT THIS BLOG: So, people may wonder about the title of this blog. It's in Italian and it translates to "Rebirth by trail and by trial". I have titled it this because I am expecting this journey to be life-changing for me. I am hoping to gain clarity of mind and figure out the answers to some perplexing life questions. I've told friends and professors that I expect it to be like a vision quest without the peyote. I may use this same title the semi-fictional book I'll write about this experience after I get back. The main point of this blog is to let people at home know how and what I'm doing. I'll have some phone/text and email contact periodically, but I'm preferring to keep this to a minimum. I hope people will understand my not being in touch while I'm away.
ABOUT THE WRITER: My name, or rather my trailname (one and the same while I'm on this trip) is Double Bow. I got this trailname while backpacking the Long Trail in Vermont a few years ago. It's a long story as to how I got this name. As part of trail culture, trailnames are given and used exclusively. In this blog you'll see the trailnames of people I come across and I'll ask that anyone who wants to comment on my blog only use my trailname or not address me by name. There's a sort of wonderful anonymity on the trail and a distance from life off the trail and I'd like this blog to maintain and honor that.
BEGINNING: Well, it's two weeks until I'm "on the road to Damascus". I'm heading down to Damascus, Va for the 25th Annual Trail Days, the largest backpacking festival in the world. From there, I'll hike south 3.5mi to the Tennessee-Virginia state line before turning around and heading north all the way to the Massachusetts-Vermont state line. I'm having a hard time focusing on finishing up my classwork and internship as I'm so eager to take off. As it is, I'm packing, unpacking, and repacking gear. I'm getting packages for maildrops set. I'm planning ahead but at the same time trying to leave things as open ended as possible as not knowing where I'm going to be on a given day or week is part of the freedom of this trip. Sure, I know roughly how many miles I want hike each day and how often and where I'll plan to resupply, but other than those things I want to keep my options open and the details unknown to me.
My food is going to be largely based on quick-cooking couscous, packets of tuna, protein bars, Mountain House dehydrated meals, bagels, fiber bars, Pop Tarts, salami, and whatever else I find along the way. I know I'll probably get bored of these things after a few weeks, so I'm trying to work in enough variety to prevent this from happening too soon. We'll see how that goes...
I'm still figuring out the exact locations for food drops and just how much I can and/or should bring at once. On the one hand, I'm kind of tempted to bring two weeks worth of food at a time as this would reduce the need to stop into town and would result in fewer maildrops. On the other hand, my pack will be lighter if I'm just going with one week's worth of food at a time. It will also afford me the opportunity to work in more fresh food. This will help with getting bored of the packaged stuff. I'm also figuring out what exactly I'm bringing for clothes. I've got lots of ideas, but I'm not locked in to many set ideas.
I am not obsessing over pack weight (yet) and in part I think this is because I'm accustomed to carrying a heavier pack than most. I am bringing a fair number of "non-essential" items. Most of these are designed for my comfort or entertainment such as a candle lantern, my iPod, journal, thin softcover books, cotton clothes for sleeping in, and a flask. When I write it out, it doesn't sound like much but there are folks out there who cut their straps shorter and drill holes in their toothbrush handles to reduce weight. TO me, that seems like too much of a hassle. Next week I should have my pack contents finalized and it'll be interesting to see what my final pack weight comes in at. Hopefully it won't be more than 45-50lbs.
I'm very glad to report that a couple of the final details have now worked themselves out. I've got someone taking me to the train station in Brattleboro, VT the morning I leave and I have another friend letting me crash the night at her apartment in the DC area that night. Namaste dear friends. You have made the way easier through your kindness and hospitality.
