Hey everyone, I trust you all had a great Christmas & a Happy, but Safe, New Year’s celebration! If you weren’t able to get outside for some hiking or camping in 2009, I hope you will in 2010. I have some hikes already planned myself and, hopefully, can drag some people out with me to enjoy the outdoors. Yesterday, I was able to get out with a couple friends for some snowshoeing. Anything to get out & enjoy some scenery & fresh air!
A few weeks back, I received in the mail a copy of the 2010 edition of The A.T. Guide. For those of you who don’t know, David Miller ended his publication of the Appalachian Pages after 2009. From hereon, his new publication, The A.T. Guide, can be found at http://www.theatguide.com/. The forum, Appalachian Pages, is still up & running, and a really good source of info & guidance for hiking the A.T. It’s a good forum & a bit more friendly, in my opinion, than some hiking forums.
There’s an older entry detailing my supportive review of the 2009 Appalachian Pages. David has incorporated some excellent features in The A.T. Guide, including more maps & a better layout in a easier to use landscape design. I like the zip-loc bag included with the book, as it helps protect the book when stored in a pack. I give The A.T. Guide two thumbs-up, and look forward to using it in the coming weeks & months ahead. Check out the website and grab yourself a copy!
Hey everyone, I returned home from a successful completion of this year’s section hike. The trip went great! I made a video here, just as an intro to the remaining videos I’ll be uploading soon. Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to leave a comment. It’d be nice to hear from ya!
One thing I didn’t mention in the video was that I lost 20 lbs. on my trip. It’s hard not to lose weight when you’re accustomed to hiking 15-20 miles a day. The body is the ultimate fat-burning machine on long hikes, and you simply cannot eat enough. Even the all-you-can-eat buffets in town don’t stay with you!
Thanks again to all for your donations to the Hike For Cancer this year! You helped raise money for a worthy cause. Keep an eye out for more videos of this year’s trip, as well as day by day entries from my journal & reviews on some of the gear I used.
Last year I was privileged to hike for 5 weeks on the Appalachian Trail. Since I returned, there’s been a burning desire to get back to the trail. In August, if all goes as planned, I’ll return to the trail to hike another 500 miles or more. This year’s hike is dedicated to raising money for colorectal cancer and to the memory of my mom who died from this disease. Mom passed away in December of 2005.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a whipmaker; I build whips for a living. My whip website is something I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned on this site. The company is Noreast Whips and the site is www.neawhips.com. I also run a blog that’s linked to the site. It refers much to whipmaking & the techniques used in the construction of the whips I build. A full post was written explaining the purpose of this year’s hike on the whip blog. Here’s the post below:
If you can afford to give a little to this cause, it would be greatly appreciated! The donation button to the right will take you to the Paypal website. Once you’ve clicked through & given, you’ll receive an electronic receipt from Hutt Industries. Hutt Industries is affiliated with my whip company, Noreast Whips.
As an additional promotional offer, all who give $25 or more will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a nylon bullwhip. I realize this doesn’t appeal to everyone, but if you know someone who’d like a chance to win a bullwhip, please let me them know about this fundraising event. The ‘09 Noreast Whips Hike For Cancer will be from August to mid-September. Donations will be accepted all through September, with the drawing being held at the end of September 2009. Thank you again to all who’ve given & are supporting us in this endeavor.
