What are you up to?

June is running out of time.

Off the hills of a much needed vacation filled with good friends, good conversation and good beer, the summer is quickly passing along.

The traditional thoughts I hold during summer...vacations, nights spent at Arrington [local winery owned by Kix Brooks of 'Brooks and Dun' FANTASTIC!] camping, hinking, and the world cup...have taken a back seat to planning a life goal.

I live three hours away from one of the most traveled and most famous hiking trails in the world...the Appalachian Trail [AT as the locals call it].

This year I turn 30, not that I am complaining because everyone I know seems to find the wonderful joy 30 brings, unless your name is Tiffani or Chad and fortunately I don't know anyone named Tiffani or Chad!

You probably guessed it, as a birthday present to myself, my hopes are to start hiking the AT. Doing all the research, which includes mapping out my hikes, planning on the gear needed, reading a vast amounts of blogs, I have discovered wonderful aspects surrounding the AT.

Thru-hikier: someone who hikes the whole trail at once. This usually takes 5-7 months depending on how fast you hike. Which translates to 15 miles a day.

Section hiker: someone who hikes sections of the AT. Duh!

Trail magic: finding a cooler filled with goods [soda, candy bars, etc.] left by locals because they know people who hike the AT look like death.

Needless to say I cant hike the whole trail at once, because of life happening, but plan on being a section hiker.

Another aspect of the trail that I find extremely interesting are the nicknames fellow hikers give one another. As I read through the blogs on hiking the AT, there are three ways in which to acquire a nickname...

1. Someone gives you a nickname, which is how most people acquire a nickname.

2. You give yourself a nickname, which is just lame!

3. Someone gives you a multiple choice of nicknames and you chose one.

Reading all the blogs I run across names such as...Buck, Metro, Limerick...typically the names have some interesting fact surrounding why a person has that nickname. The most fantastic nickname I found was 'Bear'. 'Bear' was giving his nickname because one night an actual bear was sniffing around his tent, so 'bear' decided he should scare the bear away by wrestling it, which is never a good idea. Needless to say 'Bear' emerged victorious, meaning he didn't lose his life and the actual bear ran off. So, that is how 'Bear' got his name!

What's the plan?

If you look at a map of the different sections you will notice most are broken up by mileage... 15, 20, 30 miles sections. I plan on breaking up the sections based on state boarders. Georgia section, two N. Carolina/Tennessee sections, etc. My hope is that I can carve out weeks rather than long weekends to hike vast amounts rather that small amounts. Moving south to north the trail begins in north Georgia and only travels in Georgia for about 80 miles till you reach the Carolina boarder. This Georgia section is the first section I plan on hiking.

In light of the question "what are you up to?" I'll keep you posted on the plans and hiking of the AT. I'll also keep you posted if I acquire any sweet nicknames during my journey.