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Showing posts from August, 2014

Thundering Silence: Backpacking on the Appalachian Trail

Ventured out on my first backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail, or AT as its known in the hiking community.  I hadn't been backpacking since I was in the Scouts, when we did a 10-miler at Kennesaw Mountain. My wife Renee had never been backpacking although we had both been primitive car-camping before and we each share a love of the outdoors.  This trip had been in the making for a few years with us sharing a "Wouldn't that be awesome," conversation or two.  I also recall my dad saying how neat it would be to hike the entire AT when I was a kid, a lofty goal to be sure. Renee and I are both in pretty good shape from running and bicycling so we figured that a 2-night trip on the AT would be feasible.  We were right...mostly. We purchased our backpacking and camping gear the week before and took a practice hike at a local trail. We did a trial run at Sutallee Trace in Canton to test the waters and get the packs dialed in.  I felt some new muscles being worked du