AT Section Hike 2012

      I just talked with a staff member of the AT conservancy to get some of the last minute questions about the trail answered. Everything is falling into place for the hike. Our food came from sheepleg.com, and I must say it will be quite a variety compared to the average camp food we usually have. Ethan and I are looking forward to four days of adventure with our pup on the Appalachian Trail in Maryland!

   
     Ruby is our three year old min pin who loves the trail as much as we do. I have been keeping an eye on a specific backpack for her to wear in hopes it would go on sale. No such luck. I had to pay full price for it, but at least she can carry her own load and look adorable in the process. She has been practicing with the pack and is finally used to carrying her gear. She can successfully carry a third of her weight, which puts her gear load at about four pounds.

     The weather report for the weekend is 80 degree days with 60 degree nights! Perfect for a backpacking trip. I double checked all the gear, packed, repacked and practiced with the tent last night. The tent is a Kelty Gunnison 2.1 and goes up in less than five minutes. The rain fly was a little tricky, but once I figured it out, it looked beautiful.

     After packing the bags, the weight in my bag is considerably more than Ethan's and I just can't seem to distribute the weight evenly enough to lighten my load more than a pound or so here and there. The thing I keep telling myself is that it will get lighter each day.

     So instead of camping at the trail head the first night we are going to walk a few miles in and camp, which will give us a jump on the hike for the next day. I think it will allow us to acclimate to the environment and not push too hard on the first day of long hiking. We might even get done hiking a day early. Not that I want to rush, but I am not sure what to expect for activity or if we might get bored just sitting at the tent during our downtime. I won't mind having nothing at all to do.

     I plan on taking lots of pictures and can't wait to share them when we return!