-436.Equipment, Time Management, and Accolades

The gear selection is just beginning, I believe. While this is an important part of the process, I am trying to keep myself from getting overly absorbed by the commercial gear sales world. REI and REI Outlet, Mountain Hardwear, Backcountry Gear are all sites leading to awareness of what is available. They are also giving me the idea that only their gear is acceptable to use. And lastly they impress upon me that my gear must be designed solely for what I am going to use it for.

My escape right now is through Don Johnston's Alcohol Stove which is an ultralight stove built by me out of two pepsi cans. I can make it myself (and thus have it now, versus waiting to be able to buy it) and can change the design as much as I like. I have constructed two of them, and am still haveing seal issues with both. They take about 10 minutes to construct with the right materials all on hand, and require 15 hours of drying time. I am sure I will build several more. Why not have some burners built as backups? I can't see why not.

I am also managing to keep my priorities straight, which I recommend as essential to balancing your life and your trek planning. Right now I am student first, employee second, and AT planner third. While this should seem obvious, it would be very easy to lose track of how I'm going to afford to get myself onto the trail when I plan on being there.

That said, I am tentatively planning on beginning on February 1st, 2006. Why then? Briefly, the "masses" tend to begin their trips on several standard dates. March 1st, March 15th, April 1st, The first day of Spring, April 15th, and May 1st. With 375+ hikers completing the trail each year these make for some crowded trails and the potential for not getting a spot in a shelter on any given night. While I plan on enjoying company on the trail, I don't know what type of hiker it will be with. I recieved a DVD from Peter Saiia with a slideshow & video clips from his trip on the AT.

We (4 guys - 3 of us 161 Eagles) started our trip on Jan 1 1994 in Georgia. We ended 176 trail days later on July 26th 1994. We snowshoed in the Smokies. We took off almost a month in April because of ice storms in Virginia that tore down a lot of trail & forest. We averaged $11 a day for I think everything. We also purchased most of our food before we left - 75%.
-Peter Saiia

Peter has already been a very instrumental person in my decision to hike. Mr Falendysz, our Scoutmaster from Boy Scout Troop 161 based at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Racine, Wisconsin, helped me get in touch with Peter. I now am grateful to have a successful thru-hiker in close contact. I'm able to ask questions about concerning issues and recieve thorough, thoughtful, and timely responses that are extremely useful.

Our main tie is the troop, but I tend to think of our tie as Mr. Falendysz. Also known as Mr. F, Tim Falendysz is the man in charge. He is a pillar of scouting. Having umpteen Philmont treks (How many is it now, Tim?!) in his pack, he's also a very experienced outdoorsman. I have to thank Tim for all he's done for me. As a person and as an outdoorsman, I am better for having known Tim.

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