Gforce AT Updates?

“Anyone know if Gforce has an online journal?”

“Hey Thrifty, I did a search on Trailjournals and I got nothing except for Crash's logs from 2004.”

“same here, and nobody wants to read THAT GUYS journal j/k...but i didn't know if maybe he was using a different site”

“I talked with him when we hiked the Adena trace and he said he wasn't going to keep an on line journal.”

“Hey, I didn't know he was gonna hike the AT this year! Awesome...hope he's having a great time !”

“I just got an email from G-Force. He says in part, "I'm still cranking out her on the AT . . . about 230 miles so far. I'm just leaving GSMNP and on my way to Hot Springs, NC by Friday of this week."

Go G-Force.”

“yo prosecutor! welcome back. thanks for the update on gforce.”

“did he say if he would be at trail days?”

“G-Force did not say in the email if he would be at Trail Days.”

“Thanks prosecutor...great news....G-force is an inspriring backpacker...and fast!”

“g must have been at standing bear farm when he sent that email. sounds like hes already a couple of days ahead of my 2004 pace”

“only 230??!!...i figured he'd have that in the first week LOL”

““...already a couple of days ahead of my 2004 pace”

How long did it take you to finish Georgia?”

“Okay, no online journal . . . . maybe when I get back. I just got off the trail today in Erwin, TN . . . 337 miles so far and thngs are going well. I'm going to stay at Miss Janet's tonight and tomorrow night . . . then back to the trail. This will be my first zero since Winding Stair Gap, when I spent 2-1/2 days with my sister and family. So far I have been real lucky with the weather . . . only a couple of rain days, but they are predicting some wet weather later this week.”

“Miss Janet's is a great place and Erwin a great town. Don't forget to ask about when they hung the elephant. Keep on truckin'”

“kick ass! you going to be at trail days?”

“Eat a big burrito in Erwin for me !

Good to hear from you...stop and breath the fresh air for me at Beauty Spot...enjoy the view. - MDSHiker”

“Sweet, gforce! Thanks for checking in. Completely envious of you.

Keep on hiking!”

“Way to go Gary keep on going dude.

8)”

“I hate you, you rotten turd!









But don't be mad, it's all jealousy. Hey some friends of family that live in Fines Creek, which is a short distance S of Hot Springs, have some killer pix of a mountain lion looking into thier back door. Got the pix of her just last week(er, maybe it's a he, I wouldn't know). I wish I was tech savvy enough to post it here ....

....but I ain't. Happy Hiking Tho!!!!

GINNY GINNY GINNY!
You still here? Did you ever meet El Chasqui? I just found out he passed away at the end of Feb.”

“Good to hear from you gforce...I can see you, in my minds eye, blowing by straggling, stuggling hikers on the AT...LOL and sending many hugs!”

“Hi Gary!!”

“Hi, Gary! How's it goin'?”

“I started the Approach Trail on April 4, so my offical start was on April 5 from Springer. I'm in Erwin, TN at Miss Janet's Hostel right now taking a zero. I'm at
337 miles completed and way too much to go. My last time off was with my
sister at 106 miles in Winding Stair Gap, so I decided it was time to take a day off. I could
feel that my energy level was down, and I needed a break. After stuffing
myself at the Golden Coral ayce last night I can already feel a pickup
in energy. Talk about inhaling food, my thru-hiker appetite has really
started to kick in. I didn't think I would ever eat that much!

The trail conditions thus far have been all over the map. Sometimes,
it's like a walk in the park and other times the climbs (and descents)
are very steep much like in the northeast without all the rocks. There
has been a couple of very brief hands/feet sections that really reminded
me of the Whites and the northern section of the LT, but not sustained
travel like the good old LT. I think in about 4 or 5 days we are going
to run into some much easier (comparatively speaking) terrain. Even with
the difficulty of the terrain at times I have been able to hike 20+ mile
days . . . twice in the Smokies and once a couple of days ago.

I've been very lucky with the weather so far . . . only two days of any rain to speak of. My trail shoes have gotten wet only once, and, even then not completely soaked. We have had two days of snow (about 2 inches) to contend with, and for the most part, it's been cooler than expected. Although today it's supposed to reach 89 here in Erwin. The best piece of advice I got before beginning the trail was from CB . . . "it gets cold up there in those mountains" . . . so I went with my 20 degree bag to begin the trip. I definitely have not regreted that decision.

The wide variety of people you meet out here just amazes me. I have yet
to fall into place hiking with anyone in particular because I am still
passing people that started the trip before me. Also, taking 2-1/2 days
off to spend with my sister plays into that too. When you go faster
than most out on the trail I've learned it's difficult to fall into any
one group. Most people I will see one or two days at the most. Of course
there are those going faster than I am too. All of this is not a concern
to me because I am still having fun anyway!

I'm really surprised there are no leaves on the trees yet when you get
above 3000', but the wildflowers have been spectacular so far.
Hopefully, I've gotten some good pictures to share.

Im not sure what, or how much of the trail, I will see in the days to come, but I can't wait to find out.”

“rock on gary, sounds like you're having a blast...thanks for the update”

“Gary: thanks for the update. Sounds like you are enjoying your hike, as you should. Keep us informed. Not that you need to hear this, but we are all proud of your hiking skills, and you're a nice guy on top of that!
last edited: 5/01/07 11:00:36 AM”

“Wow, glad I stumbled onto this thread. I have also been searching the journals for gforce. Gary was on the first backpacking trip I ever took (Nordhouse Dunes).

I think it's interesting that due to his late start that he is not falling in with a group. It makes sense. It may stay that way for much of the trip as he passes more and more folks, at less frequent invervals. I would think at some point he will find folks at similar speeds.”

“Glad to hear it's going well, Gary. Ya doin' the 40-mile days??? LOL!”

“That's awesome Gary. Glad to hear from ya!”

“Chinmusic, that's one of the cool things about the trail. Don't like your group, either speed up or slow down to dump 'em. In my case speeding up never worked. I was built for slowing down:)”

“ChinMusic, April 4 is not-at-all late. I began mine tax day, April 15. You wouldn't believe how many ppl begin their thru-hikes all thru April, like every single day!”

“I thought the big wave was in March. If a bunch started at the same time as Gary, you'd think some would be going at the same rate. Gary does fly tho.”

“I suspect that his start date had something to do with getting his business tax stuff out of the way.

Cruise on Gforce. I wish I was racing along beside you.”

“it gets cold up there in those mountains" . . . so I went with my 20 degree bag to begin the trip. I definitely have not regreted that decision.


dont make the same mistake i made. i went to a very thin polyester summer bag at damascus. most of the time it was ok, but there were some VERY cold mornings in the shenandoahs. dont go to a summer bag until you get out of virginia, and get your 20 bag back before you head into vermont

chin, march is probably the busiest month on springer, but april probably has almost as many. probably doesnt start to taper off until late april. those are my guesses. the standard time to allow for a thru-hike is 6 months, and if you start april 15th, you have 6 months until the oct 15th soft deadline”

“Gary won't need 6 months barring injury etc. IMO, he'll be well under 5, maybe closer to 4.”

“Yeah I've read that March is the biggest month, and thanking about the avg 6 month hike, it's a better month to start. Unless you're skittish with snowy weather. But mid-Oct ain't too good to finish up, you're chancing snow on Katahdin.

LOL on Crash, first day of summer we were in a shelter in the Shanendoah's and woke up to everyone's water bottles frozen. Summa those guys had frozen nuts in their gorp bags if'n ya know whut I mean. Hehe, two of them got up, put on every stitch of clothing they had, and just started hiking, make that jogging to try to get warm. I wasn't ultralite back then, so I was aiight.

G-Force I dunno if you have time constraints, but if you fly north, you'll regret it. My first 6 weeks I blew up the trail, then it dawned on me I better sometimes smell the flowers. After that I took it easy. When I hit Maine it hit me that it was about over. I regret my speedy parts.”

“Balance is the key. I regret my slow parts. Oops, that was the whole damn hike:)”

“After that I took it easy. When I hit Maine it hit me that it was about over. I regret my speedy parts.”

If I ever get the opportunity I don't think "speedy parts" will be something I have to worry about.....”

“Any new news?”