a brief view of things to come... :)

lots of fun things are happening, ladies 'n' gents.

in the past two weeks, i've talked with both of my managers concerning a 6-week leave of absense for the end of july through august that would allow me to go finish the AT.

three weeks ago, tim, kira, swayze and i went to linville gorge for three days and two nights of outdoor adventure. the weather on sunday was not so great, so we car camped that night and then hiked out on monday morning. God bless all trail maintainers!! we took an unmaintained trail off the mountains to sea trail to get down into the gorge, and at times, i was just closing my eyes and walking forward to avoid having them poked out by the leaves and overgrown branches. we saw three snakes... an unidentified brown snake, a black snake, and a copperhead. the copperhead was really pretty... he was just sunning himself on a rock. the main bridge down in the gorge had been washed away a few weeks prior due to flooding, so we actually had to swim across the river. we threw our packs on a pulley system someone had rigged up and forded the river. no oxen died in the fording.

we ran into two people who were at linville hiking with their dogs. the dogs were two really cute labs named springer and baxter. :) it was kind of crazy, too... apparently the guy followed my blog when i hiked. small world! they were really nice.. the guy offered moral support to swayze when she had to swim across the river, haha. she wasn't too fond of that.

that weekend, i realized i might be able to cut my pack volume by more than a few liters. for the three days, i had plenty of extra food, and plenty of empty space in my bag. since that weekend, i've tried on multiple packs in the 50-55L range. i think i've decided on the osprey aura 50L. but i want the green color. not the ugly purple color.

so not only will i try to hike with a ~25% reduced pack volume, but i think i'll try going stoveless this time, too. while i really enjoy a buttered hot chocolate every once in a while, i'm super lazy about doing dishes in the woods. twelve hours between cooking and cleaning doesn't make ramen any easier to scrape off the sides of your cook pot. this will take some getting used to. stay tuned on how that all works out.

section hiking kinda sucks, though. i'm gonna have to figure out all travel logistics and whatnot. i much prefer the "drop you off in the woods and just call me when you're done" routine. not so much a big fan of having a timeline i'll have to go by... what happens if i get to a town and there's another church picnic with ponies to ride?! or if i meet another stranger lady that just happens to want to take me and my dog out of the summer heat for three awesome days of home-cooked meals and ice cream?! zeroes are the BEST! and i'll have to limit them.

so pretty much the entire dynamic of this hike will be different than last hike: less space, less weight, less meal options, and less vacation in the middle of the woods. this will be based on planning, planning, planning. and i kind of suck at that.

challenge accepted!