Trail Tuesdays: Preparations

Four weeks to go. Yikes! I know I'll be saying that every week day until I hit the trail. I just still can't believe this is happening. I mean, it's 100% my decision to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, yet it still feels unreal to be carrying out this crazy dream I've had for years. Everyday, I count the days forward until I hike the trail and then I count back the same number of days, which brings a huge amount of perspective into the impending situation as everything I look back on is so incredibly recent.

I don't know what I expected when I officially decided to do this, but checking out of the real world takes a lot of work. I've already made so many preparations, but I still have such a long way to go. Here's a little glimpse into

Preparations Made So Far...

• Told family and friends about the journey (this happened forever ago, but it still counts - also I couldn't be luckier to have the all around support that I have).
• I purchased a plane ticket to Atlanta for exactly four weeks from today! To correct myself, I was stupid and didn't read and bought one for the opposite way but thankfully noticed half a day later and didn't incur any charges... still major facepalm).
• Bought 80% of my gear (e.g., tent, sleeping bag, jacket, air mattress, water filter, etc.). Figure I should clarify that the majority of it is used since minimizing my footprint is really important to me    and the stuff I bought used has all been super high quality (I cannot praise eBay enough).
• Ordered lots of bulk food ordered off Amazon (including fourteen of these!... which will inevitably be eaten during the first fourteen days on the trail). 
• Done lots and lots of research - Dan gave me a book about the A.T. for my birthday and I've been reading a little every day since. 

Preparations To Make...

• Buy the other 20% of gear I need (e.g., backpack, poles, shoes, etc.)
• Put together mail drops to pre-send to multiple towns so I have supplies to pickup along the way.
• Weigh all my gear and pare down any non-essentials so I have a max of 40 pounds to start with food, water, clothing, and shoes.
• Cancel my things that automatically renew like my gym membership and Netflix.
• Put in notice at work... I'm planning to give three weeks this Friday. Aah. I'm cringing just thinking about it.
• Test out my sleeping situation on a wet night to make sure it works.
• Test out some of the meals I'm planning to make (couscous, split lentils, etc).
• Figure out how to set a password-protected Find My iPhone app so my parents, Dan, and Joe can track me for their own sanity or whatnot.
• Book a shuttle from the Atlanta airport to the start of the trail.

I'm sure there are a 100 things I'm forgetting, but for now that's a little bit of the process.

P.S. The pic above was taken by my friend Lee in 2014 on Macomb Mountain in the Adirondacks.