Wednesday, April 17, 2013

CDT Prep: April 17, 2013

My GPS is just about programmed and ready. It's been an exhausting couple of weekends working on it. I still have a little left to do and hope to finish that project this weekend. I followed the advice from fellow CDT hiker Erin "Wired" who has an excellent GPS tutorial on her blog "Walking with Wired." I followed her hike of the PCT in 2011. If anyone is interested in the CDT, I'd recommend following her blog this year. I was amazed how up to date she kept her PCT website, despite hiking all day. Great photos, stories and videos. I expect she will do the same as she attempts a Northbound hike of the CDT this year.

I also finished tracing the Jonathan Ley routes onto the Delorme pages a couple weeks ago. Feels good to check things off the list. Taxes are done, sent them in Monday. Sunday night, I was having dreams about programming the GPS. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about what still needs to be done. Since I could not sleep, I made two more "to do" lists. After working on that for about 15 minutes, I fell right back to sleep. Many Northbounders are hitting the trail this week, and several are out there as I write this. There are close to 100 Northbounders attempting a thru hike of the CDT this year. That may be a record. As far as I know, there are about 20 of us attempting a southbound hike. I will admit, I envy the possibility of a trail community developing for the Northbounders. Maybe those of us heading South will get together from time to time, but a complete solo experience needs to be prepared for as well. That scares the hell out of me to be honest...

5 comments:

  1. Make sure you check in from time to time. You should have some pre-planned windows you intend to call in so we know you are safe, in case you end up spending a lot of time alone. That way, we'll be able to approximate where you are in case something happens.

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  2. Thanks Michael, I will have a better feel for that once I figure out my resupply situation in the next few weeks.

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  3. hey mark,

    i'm also starting the CDT sobo on june 15th. of course, i'm also nervous about a potential solo journey. like you say it seems best to attempt to prepare yourself for that before starting.

    either way it seems like i will definitely see you out there. i've been enjoying your blog's content.

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  4. Thanks Will, hope to see you out there...

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  5. I'm not sure if you have made any plans to start off with any other SOBOs or even have any interest in doing so - but I figured I'd throw an invitation your way. A friend and I are planning on starting at chief mtn on the 15th, if you would like to share a permit for site availability/fun/bear safety etc let me know.

    email is: willgovus @ gmail
    blog here: govus.tumblr.com

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