akratic's ERE journal

[jennypenny]

If you want to get other hikers to play cards with you, would having a nickname like 'rummy' or 'dealer' help?

[akratic]

Dealer would be taken the wrong way 100% of the time considering the amount of pot being smoked on the trail.

And Rummy is vastly inferior to Spades, Hearts, Oh Hell, Devil's Bridge, etc. Hhmmmm. Too bad none of those good games have better sounding names.

[theanimal]

Some tips that might help the foot problems:
-Treat any hotspots right away with tape or bandages. Don't put it off for a while and let it develop into something bad.
-Tying your shoes loose is better than tight. Tight shoes increase the friction and potential for blisters. YMMV.
-Washing feet often is wise. Not particularly helpful with blisters necessarily but it'll help to prevent any other foot issues (salt rashes etc.).

I rarely sleep through the night outside as well, but I always feel rested regardless. If I'm up in the middle of the night and there's clear skies, I usually just watch the stars for a while.

You're doing well! Keep it up. Your physical problems will diminish soon enough as your body adapts to life on the trail.

[akratic]

Sorry theanimal. I think my problem scale was confusing.

I have zero blisters, but bad knees, heels, and soles.

I editied my post to make it less confusing.

[theanimal]

Much better! I thought you were all beaten up. Aching shoulders and ankles with feet full of blisters.

I'm guessing the probable cause is the hard packed nature of the trail. The repeated pounding wears on the body, especially if you're not used to it. The rest day will help. I imagine you'll be feeling better tomorrow.

[jennypenny]

Dealer would be taken the wrong way 100% of the time considering the amount of pot being smoked on the trail.

I didn't think of that, although it might get you some more interesting conversation. At least you wouldn't be lonely. Same if you went with a nickname like All Fours. Or Slam. Or One-Way. Or Screw Your Neighbor.

Maybe you should just go with Deck.

[C40]

If you want to make it even more challenging to talk to people: "WALL STREET". I bet that after a while you'll get used to the other hikers and figure out the kind of things to discuss in order to have fairly good conversations with them.

I'm curious to hear about if/when you start sleeping better. I was out camping over the weekend and sleeping in the back of an SUV. I woke up many times at night, and one night had trouble getting to sleep. I'm thinking that if I had a more comfortable bed and week or two to get used to sleeping in the vehicle, I'd sleep better.

[jacob]

Of the people I know well enough to guess a Myers Briggs type, the people I've met so far would be: ~25 SP, 2 XTP, 1 NF (quit with a sprained ankle), 0 NT, 0 SJ.

Could that be because of Spring Break?

[tommytebco]

It sounds like you're doing great.

Sore feet. Your shoe size will probably increase. Mine went up a full size (lifelong 9 1/2 to 10 1/2) With the larger size, the soreness went down markedly. To treat aches and minor pains, I would start ibuprofen at mid morning, as soon as the aching feet began. Lots of help.

Once you settle into a pack of equal mileage hikers, you'll get a name. Or, just pick Akratic and go with it. I ,myself, have no idea what it means, but you're "Akratic" to me.

[arrrrgon]

Nickname yourself ace if you want them to play cards with you

It's hard enough to find interesting and intelligent conversation anywhere, let alone in a small group of random strangers.

Good luck out there.

[mxlr650]

I still don't have a trail name, and I'm getting a bit worried that I won't get one at all, or that it will be terrible. If anyone has any suggested trail names for me, I'd love to hear them!

you are from MIT, so how come your list has no recursive acronyms? How about MIT (MIT Is-my Trailname) or better yet MITT (MITT Is-my Trail Tag)? Mitt is great because right away it weeds out two groups of annoying people (bookish-liberals and christians), and you are left with a pragmatic folks that you can converse with Good Luck!

[tommytebco]

the cat tweaked me and I did look up your "handle". What an interesting name.
If you claimed it on the Trail, a one line answer "It means "one who is acting against one's better judgement" could lead to many discussions deeper than 'Do you like your sleeping bag? or what does your base weight work out to? etc".

[Ricky]

I'm struggling to connect with my fellow thru-hikers. I'm surrounded by so many conversations that are of such low quality that it kind of feels like I'm back in high school. I've asked about 20 people to play cards, and only got one enthusiastic yes, which just blows my mind considering the alternative seems to be talking about absolutely nothing. There are some small groups of people playing games like Rummy, but just with their clique.

Of the people I know well enough to guess a Myers Briggs type, the people I've met so far would be: ~25 SP, 2 XTP, 1 NF (quit with a sprained ankle), 0 NT, 0 SJ. The only good conversations that I've had are the three people that I isolated and hiked with for a few hours each. I was hoping to find a small community of people to hike with for the first couple of months, but it seems unlikely at the moment.

Maybe you need to lower your expectations? To be fair, the AT is the most recognized trail in the USA. It sounds like you're romanticizing it a little too extensively. Let's be honest, you're going to survive it, and there are very few unknowns. That said, it's a great accomplishment to finish the entire thing to be sure. You just have to realize that there are going to be many people who set out to complete it that were never going to from the start, on top of the many "casuals" who are just backpacking for a week or so.

That said, you definitely sound a lot like me. I tend to judge people too much based on their personality and try to dig too deep into their thought processes. Then I wonder what's better - to think philosophically all the time and ultimately end up depressed when everything ends up as "it's all pointless" or to live carefree and simply. I've come to learn to appreciate everyone for who they are, thinkers or not. I know you're yearning for more, but give some of these people a chance, they'll probably surprise you.

Good luck! Completing the AT is definitely a lifetime goal of mine.

[akratic]

I'm at mile 700 now, in Virginia, almost a 1/3 of the way. At my worst I fell five days behind schedule dealing with injuries, but I'm recently on pace to erase the deficit entirely. The terrain has gotten easier here in VA, and I've been averaging 18 miles per day recently.

It's said that the first test on the trail is physical with rugged terrain to start the trail, and then the next test is mental with the state of Virginia lasting over 600 miles with monotonous views but easier hiking. I'm more mentally strong than physically strong, so this should be to my advantage.

== Body ==

I've dealt with quite a few foot problems at this point between my Achilles, my shins, my arches, and my knees. I've changed my shoes, my insoles, my mileage, my trekking pole technique, the size of my steps, and keeping the back of my heel on the ground on inclines. I also got a $10 electric watch and stretch every hour on the hour now.

I've lost 25 pounds so far, almost all fat. In another 10 pounds or so all fat will be gone, and I'll switch to maintenance eating. (I gained 20 pounds or so in the year leading up to the hike, mostly out of laziness and knowing that I'd just lose it while hiking anyway.)

I've been through so much pain without giving up that I'm feeling increasingly confident that I'll be able to finish the thru-hike (barring major injury).

== Mind ==

The biggest thing on my mind is homeschool. I've met 14 homeschooled kids on the trail, and I'm shocked at how cool and capable they all are. With homeschool as a real possibility for my hypothetical kids, the locations we can consider living change dramatically!

I'm also feeling more confident about my entrepreneurship ventures after the trail. Getting up every day and hiking for nine hours rain or shine is fucking hard - but I'm doing it! Starting a company should be easier.

I've read 9 more books as well, the best ones being Survival+ (via jacob), The Happiness Project (self-help) and Accelerando (sci-fi)

== Interpersonal ==

Things have gotten so much better for me socially on the trail. The two big changes are 1) a lot of the lame people have quit and 2) there was a huge party called Trail Days where 30,000 hikers clustered in a small 1,000 person town for a weekend of being drunk/high. I skipped the party and finally have some distance from those people. I respect their right to party and hike their own hike, but gosh is it dull and alienating to watch them get drunk every single night that they're close to town and high every single other night.

Anyway, with the crowd thinned out, I've met some much more interesting people recently. There is a resilience to the hikers that have thru-hiked this far that I find inspiring. With their help I've started to master some outdoors skills, like I've learned a DIY bug repellant recipe that is more effective than DEET, and also I'm getting legit good with knots.

I've also found a lot more takers for cards recently, and the cliquey highschool-esque feeling is gone for now.

== Misc ==

I did get a trail name, but I think I'll keep it to myself and avoid cross-pollination. Thanks for the suggestions.

The gear changes I've made include buying a warmer sleeping bag, bigger shoes, new insoles, gaiters, lighter clothing, an OP Sak, a watch, and a new mp3 player. Still, my costs are quite low, as food is pretty much the only other expense I've I have, plus splitting occasional motel rooms.

I'm mostly just focusing on finishing my thru-hike for now, but the planner in me is already starting to toss around a few ideas for afterwards:
1) ski bum redux: west coast edition
2) fix up my uncle's distressed yacht (or buy something), get it to the Bahamas or equivalent, and live there for a bit
3) pick a US city to settle in for a few years and get serious about entrepreneurship and also building a community there

[George the original one]

To use a mixmaster on metaphors, the man emerges from the woods!

[C40]

Great to hear about your progress and about finding better hiking / camping companions.

Don't just leave us hanging on the bug repellent recipe! What is it?

And the yacht/Bahamas options sounds wonderful!

[jacob]

It makes sense that the AT would sort in the same way as a long race does. If everybody starts at more or less the same time, eventually, you leave the party crowd and beer drinkers behind unless you're one of them while the speedsters are up ahead unless you're one of them. In other words, in the long run you get the crowd you "deserve". Another word for this is ergodicity. One potential downside which might not hold on the trail is that once you reach a "stable distribution", you no longer see many or any new people. This could also be an upside allowing for deeper relations

Question: Have you gone lighter or heavier in terms of packing since you started?

[theanimal]

Good to see an update! You've certainly made it through the hardest part mentally. The first few hundred miles is where most of the people do quit (as you've found out). I'll be looking forward to reading about your update from Maine in a few months!

Besides your clothes and shoes, how has the rest of your gear fared?

[akratic]

@George: Nice

@C40: this link after substitutions looks to be the closest thing I found with a quick google search: http://backwoods.blog.com/gear-reviews/ ... repellent/

@jacob: Cool word: ergodicity. Your race example is spot on.

To answer your question: roughly the same. I quickly cut the stove, fuel, pot, camp shoes, bottom of convertible pants, gloves and injini toe socks but added an mp3 player, kindle case, watch, gaiters, extra darn tough socks and heavier sleeping bag. Soon I'll cut a bunch of cold weather stuff such as thermal underwear and long sleeve hoodie.

@ffj: haven't seen that guy, but I did hear about it on the trail.

@theanimal:
- tent: Tarptent Notch: 7/10. Great tent all around, but if I did it over again I'd probably 1) trade away some vestibule space for more room immediately above my head and 2) pay up for a zpacks tent or possibly a hammock.
- backpack: Zpacks Arc Blast 52L (Orange): 10/10. This is the best backpack. It gets uncomfortable above 25 lbs though.
- quilt: MLD Spirit 28: 2/10. This is the only major gear I hated so much that I swapped out on the trail. As a restless and picky sleeper, I found the quilt to be super annoying. It's so much nicer to simply zip or unzip a sleeping bag to adjust temperature rather than to fiddle with clasps and buckles or sticking body parts out. I would have liked the EE Quilt that you recommended slightly more (everyone on the trail with a quilt has EE).
- sleeping bag: Brooks Range Drift 15: 5/10. This bag is perfect size/shape for me and is so much more comfortable than the quilt. The main thing I don't like about it is the hydrophobic down, which I believe to be causing the down to clump and lose loft much faster than normal. Basically I paid a price premium for a feature -- hydrophobic down -- the hurts more than it helps. If I could do it over again I'd probably get the Zpacks 20 degree bag or the Brooks Range Alpini 15.
- sleeping pad: NeoAir XLite: 9/10. This is hands down the best option in a tent. In a shelter it's too noisy. I sleep 90% tent and 10% shelter, so I'd pick this again.
- water treatment: Sawyer Mini: 9/10. This thing rocks. Arguably the full size one is better because the faster flow rate matters more than the extra 1oz. However, I'm engineering a gravity system for my mini (using just stuff I already have in my pack) that will make it superior once I work out the rest of the kinks.
- trekking poles: Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork: 8/10. These are solid and I'd choose them again. However, I thought cork was supposed to mold to my hands and it isn't. Also Black Diamond tells thru-hikers with gear problems to go fuck themselves, whereas Leki fixes gear for free, so I wish Leki made this product.
- flip phone on Verizon: 9/10. I get way better service than other people with this combo. I'm just missing weather on the phone. Also other thru-hikers transform into cell phone zombies as soon as they get wifi, whereas I do not.
- Kindle Paperwhite: 10/10. The perfect luxury for the trail. Lighter than a single guide book and the battery lasts effectively forever. The Kindle Voyage is too brittle and the cheaper Kindle lacks the backlight. I've read 11 books so far.

[Matty]

Thanks for the detailed update Akratic. I’ve enjoyed reading about your trip so far! I’d love to do a long distance thru-hike like the AT at some point!