AT17 - Getting there - Day 1 - Ease Please

Joey Camps AT Thru Hike 2017 Trip Report

The goal of the hike was to have fun, experience some beauty, and ultimately see what my body could do!

The self-supported record for the AT is set by Heather "Anish" Anderson at 54days 7hours 48mins
The supported record for the AT is set by Karl Meltzer at 45days 22hours 38mins

I will be traveling as a self-supported hiker, which means:

Walk into and out of resupply towns to purchase or pick up prepacked and mailed supplies.
Hike as a backpacker, carrying all food and equipment between resupply towns.
Follow the official AT route, no detours, road walks or alternates of any kind.
Do not have anyone follow, or provide support in a prearranged manner.
Do not get into a vehicle for any reason during the attempt.
Honestly and thoroughly document the attempt.
Practice Leave-No-Trace ethics.

I will be carrying a SPOT Trace and my Iphone for pictures and video, to document my trip.

Gear List:
Pa’lante FKT Proto-type Pack
SOL Escape Bivy
Thermarest Thermal Mummy +20F
NeoAir Xlite ¾ pad
Mountain Hardware Ultra lite Rain Jacket
SPOT Trace
Buck Knife (first mail drop)
Nail Clipper (first mail drop)
1oz Bottle of Bleach
60gal Garbage bag (emergency poncho, bivy footprint, overnight tarp, ground sheet)
Apple Nano and Headphones
2L Camelback Bladder
Charging Cube
Auxiliary Battery
Surgical Needle (first mail drop)
Duct Tape
Benedryl
Insect Bite Wipe
CC, Drivers, Health Insurance
Fire Starter block
3 AAA batteries

So here we go...



Getting There:
I flew into Portland, ME.  Stayed with my friend Finn.  We drove up to Baxter 8/3 and camped at the Katahdin Springs Campsite.  Checked-in with the ranger that night and went to bed early.
We woke at 3:30am and climbed up Katahdin together.



Day 1: 8/4  0-48.3 Potaywdjo Spring Lean-to
At the summit of Katahdin, Finn took my picture.  I waited for a whole minute, which turned out to be 6:05am.  I asked him to wait a few minutes, so that I could descend alone and not be distracted nor paced.  I got down to camp, grabbed my pack and took off.  It rained on and off very lightly all morning.  I was moving well, but the pack was certainly heavy with 65 items.  At the last minute Finn convinced me to add 5 more items as he did not think I had enough.  I should have trusted my judgment.  An item is roughly 330Kals.  I had cliff bars 250Kal, Ramen 380Kal, Poptarts 410Kal, Nut mixes 320Kal (two handfuls) and gummy candy 350Kal.  I set my watch to chime every hour and eat one item.  That keeps a steady flow of nutrition and by sticking to the one an hour, helps me from over eating in a hunger fit.  I usually have three to five in the last hour for dinner and often skip the first or second hour of a day. It makes it really easy when doing resupplies at different stores.  Just count to 20 items for how many days.  Up north it was roughly 40 miles per day, but after Vermont it was 50 miles per day.  So if I had 75 miles to next resupply, I would just get 30 items.  Simple.  Also, I would add in snacks at store, but how much I carried was 20 items per day.  So that would be 6,600Kal per day, but often adding a couple thousand at a resupply.

            I moved well through the middle of the day and thought for sure I would get around 50 miles, which, was my goal for day one.  In the afternoon, I got hit by a 15 minute rain shower but the rest of the day was dry.  As the sun was setting, I felt fairly satisfied with the day and decided I would just stop at 48.3 miles and stay in the shelter.  I ate my dinner walking the last mile.  Brushed my teeth and hit the shelter at 8:30pm.  I will be honest, if I ever get to camp before finishing dinner and brushing my teeth, I get pissed at myself.  No wasting time!  There was one other guy already asleep.  I threw out my pad, bivy, mummy and it was legs up on the wall.  Untied shoes, take off socks and let dry the feet.  Massaged in Burts Bee’s Peppermint Foot lotion.  Then massage lower leg, upper leg and glutes, always trying for towards the heart.  This is standard end of day protocol.  Some relaxing breathes and then feet down and asleep.  No wasting time!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nolans 41

Image
It was early February and things seemed honky dory.   We had the perfect season going, zero to 60 and it just kept right on snowing.   350” from November 20 th until February 6 th .   Pow was plentiful, turns were deep, and life was how its suppose to be.   But then I felt it.   A shudder.   A glitch in matrix.   Disturbance in the force.   Well, okay.   I had seen a news report of a “bad virus” wreaking havoc in China and that it was expected to become a pandemic.   And then an atmospheric river hit.   6.5” of water in 60 hours and with a lot of wind.   We were interlodged for 53 hours(not allowed to go outside).   That was bizarre.   But no biggie.   Back to life.   But the snow stopped.   And the rumors grew.   We are a large ski lodge that has guests from all over the world crammed into tight quarters.   I was worried about an outbreak.   Finally, there were rumors of closing, I was relieved.   We were getting derailed in slow motion.   As someone who has struggled with anxiety
Read more

WURL, And I think to myself...

Image
              9 years ago I moved to Alta.  Ever since, Ive stared up at these ridgelines in awe of mother earth.  Isnt she lovely?  I tried to run and scramble on as much of these rocks as I could.  By the end of the summer 2012, I realized I had done much of the route I had just recently heard of (The WURL).  In 2013, it was my goal to do the route in its entirety.  One weekend, I set off from Fergy and crested over sugarloaf and descended home.   Next morning, hiked up Baldy and finished the route.  Total time something like 36 hours with sleeping 8 hours in the middle.  I repeated a similar outing in 2015, “getting more comfortable with the route” I told myself.  But all out efforts on the AT, PCT, and a big ole bike tour, hindered feeling 100% in other years.  So last summer 2018, with no hinderances, I tried. Lots of ridges, Lots of Lonely time             First time.  Moving well, but fading a bit over baldy/hidden.  I got up Red Stack to see a big ol nasty dark cloud over
Read more

Utah Thirteeners

This summer has been a struggle for sure. After spending 3.5 days in the hospital running every test possible, the doctors still did not know what was wrong with me. It was clear that I had had Myocarditis, but that had since cleared up. At first I thought I was on my way to healing up, but then I relapsed and became ill again. I spent a lot of time thinking about what it could be and what I could do. I figured since it felt like Lyme and it would be no harm, I ordered up my herbal remedies for Lyme from before. It worked, not great, but they cleared up my joint pain, swelling, and even made my mental state better. However; the deep fatigue I had been feeling was very slow to improve. I figured I was trying to push through illness, which would additionally stress my already weakened body. I emphasized rest and sleep, but still slow progress. I often thought, “Is this it?” “Is my life over?” “What am I going to do with limited energy and time?” “Am I dying?” It sucked. It
Read more