Who's with me?

“At some point in my life I am going to thru hike the AT. It may be 20 years from now, but I'm gonna do it. Who's with me, and gonna do it sometime too? And you know what? If I don't make it on my own, I'm gonna have my son pack my ashes and take them with him in a bear cannister.....oh , too much weight.......Ok, then in a Glad freezer bag!”

“I am down wit it! I want to do it next Fall! I think the 100 mile wilderness will be my preperation hike in Septemeber, and then maybe thru hike, or do the northern section from PA - ME in March!”

“Oh man tho, what would happen if the bag tore? I'd be beside myself.


HEHEHE .....that was a joke.”

“Um, ha ha, I think!”

“Wow Tarp......starting with the 100 mile wilderness....I'm impressed.”

“I am been meaning to do the 100 mile wilderness for years.”

“My wife and I plan to do the AT after we retire and before we move to NH. I know most people section hike the AT. If I'm going to hike it, thru hiking is the only way I want to go.”

“Where is the 100 mile wilderness? West Virginia?”

“BORE - RINNNNNG!

Okay... mebbe some stretches of the AT are different in a cool way, but most of the sections I've seen/hiked are pretty monotinous (sp?).

A thruhike is mostly a struggle against ones' self, and not so much about backpacking. Five months of rain, heat, blisters, cramps, blah, blah, blah. All for a stinking PATCH?! LOL!

I'd LUUUUUUV to spend five months under a backpack, but a constant change of scenery would be desirable...”

“The 100-Mile Wilderness is the name given to a stretch of the Appalachian Trail in Maine that crosses no paved or public roads for 99.4 miles It does cross one or two logging roads. It offers some of the most remote backpacking available in the Northeast.

The southern half of the Wilderness is mountainous and rugged; the northern half is mostly flat lake country (read moose).

My buddy did it a couple of years ago and wants to go back.

It was a challenge due to the lack of re-supply points.”

“i'm with gojo. if i had five months to backpack, i would rather see a hleeuvalot more than the AT!”

“You are under a tree canopy much of the time.”

“gojo and Lounge, where would you go if you had 5 months to backpack?”

“switzerland/germany/austria.”

“The AT is it's own creature. It has it's own people, and it's own vibes. If you don't like, you don't have to do it, but don't knock the whole thing because you want to hike somewhere that doesn't exist. !$%&!”

“Finishing it is a huge accomplishment and I respect anyone who has completed it or crashed and burned trying. When you speak to a thruhiker you sense that the experience taught them a lot and gave them more confidence.”

“More confidence?

Try tequilla.”

“YOU SOB!”

“switzerland doesn't exist?”

“switzerland/germany/austria”

“germany doesn't exist?”

“austria doesn't exist?”

“i don't exist.”

“I'm hoping to be able to finish the Maine AT this summer. For now, unless I run into big bucks... section hiking will do it for me.”

“I knew it wouldn't last.

"Dear everyone,

I am going to start being nice to everyone, even those stinken newbie, car campers, ick!

I think people take my words to seriously but it is still my fault for not realizing that and changing my words.

So, I am sorry to everyone I have offended, and I am going to try and be nice from now on.

Sincerely,

Tarp Lloyd Rat"
Tarp Rat
11:43:10 AM
5/10/01”

“If I had eleventy munfs, I would walk in the woods and sleep in the woods EVER WHER! Abalama, Upaw, Wyodaho, Flowerda, Michissippi, Califorda, New Mexicans, The Laska, Canaryda... EVER WHER!

I can not go to Switzaustermanyland tho cuz I would hafta go to the poleese for a long time ferst.”

“The AT is my dream hike. I want to start it next may after I graduate. All I have to do is pay off my loans before hand. I will do the AT at some point in my life, maybe even next may. It has nothing to do with scenery, its for me its thinking time, its will power, its time alone with the Creator. For me its ideal and somthing that will happen. Maybe next may. Who wants to come with me?”

“My plan is to through hike when I retire. If I plan right that will be between 18 -23 years. I will be at the oldest 51.Hopefully Joy will join me and abby will too. But first I want to do 2 large trails in michigan to see if
i still want too. The shore to shore trail 220 miles. The NCT around 1000 miles.”

“I'm gonna do it too. It'll be when I retire but I'll do it. The only way I'll do it sooner is if something happens to allow me to.”

“Yep when I retire I hope to hike the PCT, hike the AT and ride a bike across the country.

Yeah I could hike up the PCT ride a bike over to the AT then hike down it. woow I better sit down.”

“Did anyone read that story about the guy who bicycled from France (or someplace) with all his climbing gear in a trailer all the way to Everest, climbed it and then rode all the way back.

You'd have to really be a nut to top that!”

“I did the John Muir Trail when was 21, about 50 years ago, and my dream is to do it again with my kids and wife. The window of opportunity for kids is when they are old enough to carry a pack, and before they can refuse to vacation with the folks. The kids are 5 and 10, so when they are 13 and 18 I might give it a try. By then, I'll need Mel's hairy friends to carry my pack, and that might make it doable for the 13 year old, also.

I'd love to do the AT and PCT also, but the JMT is a pretty spectacular part of the PCT. I've hiked the best parts of the PCT in Washington. I'd also love to hike Idaho south to north.”

“Have you OK'ed this with Gentle Ben and tehipite? They might not want to carry your stuff.”

“Lounge, I hear ya. Add the Pyranees on the border of Spain and France, then head over to the French Alps and work your way through Swiss, Austrian, and Italian Alps (the idea of hut-to-hut sections is seductive). I would love to warm up for a trip like that by spending the prior summer in Great Britain, "rambling" as they say through Wales, the Lake District, and Scotland. On a teacher's schedule, the latter is actually possible before retirement.

In the U.S., I guess I lean toward the Continental Divide Trail for a "wishful thinking" ultimate long trip.”

“The hike I'd like to do before I die is along the Camino de Santiago from Bourgogne, France to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain.”

“I don't have any big responsibilities now, and Lookingglass gets a lot of time off, so I try to live my dreams now. I don't know shape I will be in or if I will even be alive when LG retires even though it is not so far off.

My dream is current, to live life now and hike, motorcycle and kayak as much as I can, until I can, hopefully to a nice ripe age.

When I get older, my dreams may change to something else.”