2019 AT Thru Hike: ...Set...Go!

Helen and I stopped by Amicalola Falls to pick up my AT Thru Hiker tag on the way to Damascus VA where I started my AT flipflop thru hike.

We drove through Roan Highlands on the way and stayed at the Dragon Fly Inn in Damascus. We hiked up to Mount Rogers from Grayson Highlands and saw the ponies. We rode bikes on the Virginia Creeper Trail. We enjoyed meals at the Damascus Diner and then Helen walked me through town and I walked up the iconic steps and started my hike on April 3rd.

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2019 App Trail Thru Hike: Genesis

Obsession\planning continues for my early April Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike departure

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How did I get here?

I used to be more of a runner than a walker, but age happens and that's ok. The progression feels natural and brings new perspectives. While I'm no spring chicken, I'm grateful my body still works well enough to even attempt the thru hike.

I'm 53 now and well aware that the wheels are going to start falling off the bus at an ever increasing pace. When they do then Helen and I will settle down in a quaint cottage with a garden and a dog. Until then....

When we took the boys on all our big family trips, we would see these big beautiful national parks and only get to experience a small fraction of what they had to offer. You had to be able to strap on a backpack and walk long distances to really experience them. We did some small hikes, but barely scratched the surface.

As time passed, I really started gravitating towards longer walks, the sights and sounds of the natural world, and minimalism. The framework of what our empty nest life might look like started to form. I wanted to be "gone"...out there experiencing the natural world...with minimal possessions to weigh me down. I became interested in slow travel and backpacking.

A few years ago I started listening to "The Sounds of the Trail" podcast. Two of my favorite episodes are "This Is Why We Do It (Giving Yourself Permission)" and "Before and After (No Going Back)". I started to throw around the idea of a thru hike when we retired and Helen didn't dismiss it out of hand. In 2017, I came across an article called "10 Stunning Viewpoints Along The Appalachian Trail" and got Helen and Adam to go along to check some of the places out. We had a great time.

I also decided to quit my job at the end of 2017. While I had been discussing the idea of quitting with Helen for some time and she said I could...it turned out...she didn't think I actually would. 2018 was a transition...for all of us. Derek had gone off to Georgia Tech, Adam went on a summer trip to Europe and was moving to a new school for his junior year in high school, I was embracing "intentionality" and "minimalism", and Helen was working.

In early 2018, I threw around the idea of hiking the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail during the summer and Helen and Adam said they were interested. However, when the time neared and the reality of what would be involved became clear...they backed out.

As 2018 drew to a close, the idea of the 2019 thru hike started to form. With Helen's blessing, I decided this would be a good time to go for it. We had fun gearing up and learning a bunch of things about hiking over the holidays. Helen and Adam even got in on the action and got some of their own gear to do some limited overnight backpacking with me.

And that's how it all started.

At Max Patch in 2017

Retirement: Year 1 Thoughts

New backpack and trekking poles

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It's been just over a year since I officially retired. Here are some thoughts:

• I like it: I read a lot about retirement beforehand and I continue to read blogs and listen to podcasts and the common theme is: people are different. All you can do is hike your own hike. I don't get bored as long as I'm in control of my own schedule. I prefer a calendar free of commitments so I can chart my own course.
• I'm not fancy: I prefer casual environments, food like pizza and Mexican, and I wear a tshirt, black stretchy athletic shorts, and Chaco sandals every day.
• I miss Lulu: Our dachshund Lulu died in July. She was so sweet and easygoing and loved going with me on long daily walks through the trails and creeks. It may have been that she was deaf in her old age, but she never seemed to mind all my stream of consciousness silly non-sensical songs, chants, and ramblings...unlike other members of my family.
• FIRE and Backpacking: I really relate to unconventional yet intentional mindsets...of charting your own course, but being smart and self aware. I read all kinds of blogs and listen to podcasts about things like FIRE (Financial Independence\Retire Early) and backpacking.   
• Intelligent Life and The Great American Read: I love sites like Aeon, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard, New York Times, etc. The stories are terrific, but I really enjoy the well thought out comments and different insightful points of view. It just makes me feel good knowing there's intelligent life out there. Helen and I also really enjoyed following along with The Great American Read on PBS. It inspired us to read Pride and Prejudice. I devoured all the sharp witted sarcastic and irreverent poking at convention. Jane Austen's writing was from another world. How can some people be so amazing? It has to be painful for people like her to live in the real world with the rest of us. I'm also finishing up Thoreau's Walden...and finding him quite the kindred spirit. I kept calling out passages to Helen and confirming "isn't that what I've been saying all along...this guy's in my head." 
• Systems and Minimalism: I've always enjoyed analyzing and organizing things into manageable and predictable "systems" with the goal of making things "easier". That's fun for me and I've had some additional time to do that. I also know enjoyment can become compulsion, but I try to head that off by staying way ahead of things and minimizing what I concern myself with. I know I'm bad at ad-hoc situations with things like hidden data, contradictory prioritizations, inefficient solutions, etc. Who "owns" it after all? I don't want to if I can help it. I'm trying to calm the storm in my head not add to it. 
• Activity: I can't sit still for long. I'm constantly bouncing back and forth between things. I read some, listen some, watch some. I usually have about 3 browser instances opened with about 10 tabs each. I get antsy and have to make some progress on some things, I go on a long walk, do some push ups, pull ups, etc. There's always something.  
• Derek and Adam: Derek was working nearby for the past 6 months and I enjoyed him coming home for lunch and visiting. Adam is really maturing physically and mentally in his high school junior year. He spends a lot of time alone in his room, not so much gaming as before but just trying to figure things out. He shares his movies and music with us and joins us on a walk from time to time. Helen and I are the potted plants. The kids come by and check on us from time to time and it gives them comfort to know we're there, but they don't generally have a need or a want to interact with the plants.
• Helen: It's been nice to spend more time with Helen. She's still working...as she often reiterates to me. We get up most mornings at 4:30 to do some sort of exercise\stretching and have breakfast before she heads to school. In the afternoon, we catch up over a coffee, go on long walks in the wooded park, prepare meals, and wind down together. No more running around with all the kids activities. Her job is still very busy, but not as stressful as it was. However, it's also been a washing machine. She's dealing with her job, aging parents, mid life lady stuff, kids who have moved on, and a honey who "dropped out" and talks about things like minimalism and intentionality. It's a process...we're trying to figure it out. 
• The Fleetingness Of Relevancy and Time To Hike: Everyone's always busy and everything's always so important, but I can't seem to unknow what I've been acutely aware of for a long time now: relevancy is fleeting...tick tock tick tock. It seems like most of the transitions I've made in my life have just felt right. I'm not talking about touchy feely or pre-ordained stuff, but rather the you know it when you know it kind of gut feeling. It felt that way with marrying Helen, having kids, quitting work, etc. So it's with Helen's blessing and support that I'm going to try to thru hike the Appalachian Trail this spring and summer. The time just feels right...tick tock tick tock.    

Back To School For Derek

Visiting Derek's new apartment

After a 6 month break for a summer job at T Tech and a fall co-op assignment at NanoLumens, Derek is heading back to Georgia Tech, as an almost junior, to continue the school part of his Mechanical Engineering degree...it seems they won't let you skip that part.

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He's renting a bedroom from one of his friends on the Wreck Racing team

The sushi noodle place was too crowded

...so we did barbecue instead

Picking a Tree and Teen Angst

On Sunday morning we took a nice drive north to Kinsey Farm to pick out a Christmas Tree followed by a hike at Sawnee Mountain

Derek and Madison met us at the tree farm and we also ran into our former next door neighbors, the Hornung's, who moved out when Derek was just a year old. We had fun catching up and meeting their new grandson. The boys said experiences like that where grown ups talk about them "growing up or changing so much" makes them uncomfortable and they're not sure how to respond. 

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Adam drove, which means listening to "his" music

Like all of us, Adam's trying to figure things out. Like most teens on the verge of adulthood, he's disappointed to find there are no easy answers despite so many others having passed this way before. We had some nice discussions on the drive and the hike about teen angsty things. He played one of his favorite songs about someone not finding any answers in conventional society or in the drop out culture, their disdain for people offering simple minded questions and conventional advice (only offer when solicited), and the realization that people ultimately have to figure it out for themselves.   

He's introspective with more than a grain of cynicism. He's interested in non mainstream, critically acclaimed things, especially music and film these days. He picks movies for us to watch with him. The other night he shared one of his favorites, Mr Nobody, with us. He spends a lot of time in his bed consuming online content and analysis. He talks about the pervasive vaping "Supreme" wearing teen culture, his own appreciation for the philosopher Diogenes, and his dislike of SJW politics. He still plays video games some and is currently into the dystopian Darwin Project. He laments the difficulty in finding like minded people his age in real life.  

Meeting up with Derek and Madison