I'm back!!! ..Sorry I disappeared!!!
So yes! I did make it out to the AT back in July!!! My sister had a training at Harpers Ferry, so My dad, 3 sisters and myself all drove out there!! We had about a week out there and I was thinking at first that we'd hike about half that time and then turn around and hike back, but!!! As it ended up, we wanted to see my sister who was taking the training almost everyday.. SO! We basically hiked for the day, camped and then hiked back to the car. Then the next day we'd drive out to another entrance to the trail and hike THAT for the day and repeat the process. We're weird.
Got a tale to tell..
The FIRST night out, we didn't realize that the little trail going down was indeed the shelter and campsite area, we had differing opinions and we were all getting tired and crabby. SOOOO, we decided to keep walking awhile and see if the REAL trail to the shelter was a little farther.. Well, it wasnt. And it was getting dark, and guess what, thunder.. So we hurried back to the little trail. The thunder kept increasing and it was getting dark quick. JUST as we got to where we'd set up our one of two tents, it started POURING down rain.. LOL! And I meaning POURING!!!!!! By the time we got the one tent up we were SOAKED and the tent had a good 3 inches of water in it. My dad, two sisters and I just sat there in the standing water a moment. Silently I think we all contemplated whether we should just go sleep in the car tonight.. My dad was the on who vocalized it, but we were all like NOOO!!!! Its okay!! We just gotta get dry!!! So we moved the tent to higher ground, dried it out(thank goodness I took some of your alls advice and had my clothes, sheets, pillow and such in a plastic trash bag, so all was dry there!!! THANK YOU!!!! <3 )with wettish clothes and a sheet, got ourselves dryish and in dry clothes and snuggled together with dry warm sleeping bags... It wasn't the warmest, or best nights sleep, but considering.. it was great.
Funny, right? ..Well thats only have the story.
The next day of course all of our stuff is wet. We dried the tent off and out as best we could again and packed it up. All of our wet things went into one of the black plastic bags. Well two of them, we filled two.. We didn't know what to do with all of our wet stuff so we decided we'd make our way back to the car and visit our sister in town as well as find a laundromat and dry stuff.. Ahem.. My dad.. wore the huge billowing trash bag full of wet clothes.. on his head. 8| 8| 8| And a down the trail we went! LOL! We definitely got some looks. But nice "Hello!"s too!!! I held the other billowing bag in my hands.
So tell me!!!! What do thru hikers do if everything is sopping wet?? We had a few people and a probably over packed for it, but say like for when you wash your clothes? How does a thru hiker dry their clothes? Or do that skip that step??
Another thing we got some experience on is packs... We had one Gregory, but otherwise our packs were just cheap ones and by the end of one day I had a bruise the size of a softball on my back.. Planning to get an Osprey before my next trip.. I'm glad we got the experience though!!! We'll, there was so much we got!!!! Tents, packs, clothes, etc, etc, etc!!!! Now I have first hand knowledge of the truth though. And I believe it completely.
My sister who took the training didnt hike except for one night after her stuff was done, BUT! She stayed in Harpers Ferry at a hostel and fell in LOOOOVE (I believe thats how she puts it??..) With the hikers and hiker atmosphere that was there. And our family has a thing for challenges.. SO!!!!! Two of my sisters(the one who'd went to the training, and another that had stayed home from our trip in July) and myself are planning to do a thru hike in 2015, going SOBO!!!!!!
I have a bunch more clearer pics, but need to get them off the camera still...
Not sure if those pictures worked??
So yes! I did make it out to the AT back in July!!! My sister had a training at Harpers Ferry, so My dad, 3 sisters and myself all drove out there!! We had about a week out there and I was thinking at first that we'd hike about half that time and then turn around and hike back, but!!! As it ended up, we wanted to see my sister who was taking the training almost everyday.. SO! We basically hiked for the day, camped and then hiked back to the car. Then the next day we'd drive out to another entrance to the trail and hike THAT for the day and repeat the process. We're weird.
Got a tale to tell..
The FIRST night out, we didn't realize that the little trail going down was indeed the shelter and campsite area, we had differing opinions and we were all getting tired and crabby. SOOOO, we decided to keep walking awhile and see if the REAL trail to the shelter was a little farther.. Well, it wasnt. And it was getting dark, and guess what, thunder.. So we hurried back to the little trail. The thunder kept increasing and it was getting dark quick. JUST as we got to where we'd set up our one of two tents, it started POURING down rain.. LOL! And I meaning POURING!!!!!! By the time we got the one tent up we were SOAKED and the tent had a good 3 inches of water in it. My dad, two sisters and I just sat there in the standing water a moment. Silently I think we all contemplated whether we should just go sleep in the car tonight.. My dad was the on who vocalized it, but we were all like NOOO!!!! Its okay!! We just gotta get dry!!! So we moved the tent to higher ground, dried it out(thank goodness I took some of your alls advice and had my clothes, sheets, pillow and such in a plastic trash bag, so all was dry there!!! THANK YOU!!!! <3 )with wettish clothes and a sheet, got ourselves dryish and in dry clothes and snuggled together with dry warm sleeping bags... It wasn't the warmest, or best nights sleep, but considering.. it was great.
Funny, right? ..Well thats only have the story.
The next day of course all of our stuff is wet. We dried the tent off and out as best we could again and packed it up. All of our wet things went into one of the black plastic bags. Well two of them, we filled two.. We didn't know what to do with all of our wet stuff so we decided we'd make our way back to the car and visit our sister in town as well as find a laundromat and dry stuff.. Ahem.. My dad.. wore the huge billowing trash bag full of wet clothes.. on his head. 8| 8| 8| And a down the trail we went! LOL! We definitely got some looks. But nice "Hello!"s too!!! I held the other billowing bag in my hands.
So tell me!!!! What do thru hikers do if everything is sopping wet?? We had a few people and a probably over packed for it, but say like for when you wash your clothes? How does a thru hiker dry their clothes? Or do that skip that step??
Another thing we got some experience on is packs... We had one Gregory, but otherwise our packs were just cheap ones and by the end of one day I had a bruise the size of a softball on my back.. Planning to get an Osprey before my next trip.. I'm glad we got the experience though!!! We'll, there was so much we got!!!! Tents, packs, clothes, etc, etc, etc!!!! Now I have first hand knowledge of the truth though. And I believe it completely.
My sister who took the training didnt hike except for one night after her stuff was done, BUT! She stayed in Harpers Ferry at a hostel and fell in LOOOOVE (I believe thats how she puts it??..) With the hikers and hiker atmosphere that was there. And our family has a thing for challenges.. SO!!!!! Two of my sisters(the one who'd went to the training, and another that had stayed home from our trip in July) and myself are planning to do a thru hike in 2015, going SOBO!!!!!!
I have a bunch more clearer pics, but need to get them off the camera still...
Not sure if those pictures worked??
"You've got what it takes. But it will take everything you've got."