Prep Entry #2

I have a zillion things to consider in preparation for this trip. Weather. Clothing appropriate for the weather. Footwear. Water availability (there is a drought in North Carolina). Potential dangers (lightening, scary people, flesh-ripping angry dogs, being the proof that mountain lions have returned to the Appalachians). To cook food or eat raw/ precooked food? Music - radio or fancy new iPod nano? Getting to Outer Banks. Tent or tarp? How do I find a bike at the right time and place? And how am I going to hike without my lucky orange mug that I accidentally left in Minnesota?

So I just make lots of arbitrary decisions:
The weather looks good for the next 10 days. Dress, spandex, long underwear, long-sleeve shirt, sleeping bag and liner. Chacos. Bring two liters to start and hope that I don't end up dehydrated, weather-worn and dead as a doorknob when the Outer Banks tourist season begins in the spring. 1% pepper spray (long-term safe for dogs). Raw. Radio. Greyhound to Elizabeth City. Tarp. Serendipity. Courage.

I will be carrying my cell phone, checking messages and updating this blog with photos and stories when I find public libraries.

Prep Entry #1

This is a ridiculous idea; what other explanation can there be for choosing to spend my last months of commitment- and loan-free existence hiking in the winter alone across North Carolina? I mean, seriously. Half of the trail isn’t even off-road. Only 12 people have thru-hiked or thru-hiked/biked the route Ever. Kind of ominous, my sister Amelia goads me. My Malian bro-in-law Salam likes to remind me that it is too cold to go hiking much less sleep outside. My parents have been surprisingly enthusiastic about this last-minute change of plans (from getting a job to unemployed hiker bum status). I haven’t told a lot of people about this hike, actually. I’m not hiding it, exactly. I have a blog online practically advertising it (Want to be my wealthy benefactor, so I never have to get a real job?). But I am approaching the subject with wariness, I think partially scared that I might not be able to finish the trail and will blemish my hiking resume.

I have a pretty good idea about why I like hiking so much. I like being physically active. I love natural areas. I like to meet new people and learn about why things are the way they are. I think more clearly and more creatively when I am hiking (I blame it on accidental-meditation), making the trail an ideal place to study for the GREs, write something substantial and non-fiction, and finally read Guns, Germs, and Steel. What better way to mine ideas than feast on a buffet of things that make me happy. Amelia thinks that I am fond of hiking because it allows me to eat as much chocolate as I want. And alas, there is a Type A personality deep inside of me (I try to quell it) that wants to be the 13th person to through-hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.














Without further ado, I introduce you to the trail I’m lusting after: the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from The Outer Banks to Clingman’s Dome.
Over 40 miles of beach walkin’,
the highest dune on the Atlantic coast,
3 ferry rides,
a 2.5 mile long bridge,
a swamp (yessir, a goddamn swamp),
the potentially dull Piedmont,
the Linvale gorge,
Boone,
the Blue Ridge mountains and snow,
Mt. Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi!!),
Asheville,
and the Smokies in late February when will be doubtlessly be hiking adventures abound.
Nine-hundred miles.

This may be crazy. Or totally brilliant. I'm banking on the latter.