I thought about trying to play catch up and post everything I have done over the past year in one big blog. That would take all night, and Fall Break is over and I need my sleep. SO, I'll hit some highlights and pretend that everyone knows what I'm talking about.

Last blog occurred WAYYYY back in January of this year. At that time I had experienced my first real hang in super cold weather. Didn't work to well for me! Took and hour or so of hiking to feel my left leg completely (honest!). After coming of the mountain, I vowed that would never happen again and I began the trip down the road of down underquilts for my hammock. I ordered 9.3 ozs of down, and after roughly 6 hours of sewing and tinkering, I had an uq.

Fast forward again. Spring Break 2009. April, and its the tail end of thru-hiker season. I put in at Hogpen Gap and headed north on the AT.



Real easy walk until the snow started. It would snow almost continually for the next 48 hours, and leave around 3 inches on the ground in North Georgia and, I would find this out later, 8 inches in North Carolina!

I hooked up with a group of firemen out of Clearwater, FL. and informally walked with them over the next four days.



We stayed at Blue Mountain Shelter, Trey Mountain Shelter, and Deep Gap Shelter. It was probably the best hike that I have done. Meet lots of great people, including a medic from the Israeli Army who had just finished up hiking in Nepal and along the Himalayas (he was averaging 18 to 20 miles a day!).



I finished up a Dick's Creek Gap with a knee that I had hobbled and limped on for two days. I couldn't put any weight on it going down hill. It took almost two weeks before I could really walk on it without limping.