going adventuring!
It's one thing to think, and even plan, for an abstract adventure. It's another for it to look me in the face. With two days off and ski plans ravaged by a "January thaw" that shut down Mad River Glen, I started toying with the idea of going backpacking. By myself. In winter. You know, with ice and sub-freezing temperatures and all that. In other words, pretty much what I might do on the first several hundred miles of the AT. Only this current adventure seems kind of scary. I've never backpacked alone before. I've never camped--truly camped, without the benefit of a woodstove in a winter sheter--in the winter before. I've never operated my backpacking stove. Etc. etc. etc.
Which I why I'm going to do it. "It" is a pretty mild out-and-back from the top of the App Gap to the Birch Glen shelter, an easy 2.4 miles. Okay, actually, a pretty rugged, technical 2.4 miles, but that's still pretty short. If I knock it off with ease and there's plenty of daylight, I'll continue on to the next shelter, which is an additional 2.9 miles...but I'll probably stick around Birch Glen. This trip is not about mileage; it's about testing some gear and working out some kinks, and proving to myself that I CAN do this. I can, I will, I must...because if I shy away from it, what ghost of a chance do I stand of completing the AT?
Which I why I'm going to do it. "It" is a pretty mild out-and-back from the top of the App Gap to the Birch Glen shelter, an easy 2.4 miles. Okay, actually, a pretty rugged, technical 2.4 miles, but that's still pretty short. If I knock it off with ease and there's plenty of daylight, I'll continue on to the next shelter, which is an additional 2.9 miles...but I'll probably stick around Birch Glen. This trip is not about mileage; it's about testing some gear and working out some kinks, and proving to myself that I CAN do this. I can, I will, I must...because if I shy away from it, what ghost of a chance do I stand of completing the AT?