Those who go before us

This one will be short and sweet, but I thought I would share some interesting tidbits I learned from the folks I have talked with who hiked the AT in the past...

1. Most manufacturers will replace your boots for free if they ruin while hiking the AT (Score!)

2. Its not a bad idea to bring a cell phone these days but make sure its not an expensive one because the girl I talked to went through three (wouldn't have guessed that one, we'll see, I think Coach might bring his...)

3. Use garbage trash compactor bags for a pack liner (cheap at Wal-mart)

4. Baby wipes or some sort of sanitary wipes to "take baths" while on the trail

5. 3 pairs of socks to start with in the winter, but you'll probably end up sending one pair home as it gets warmer

6. Go with the "Pocket Rocket" stove, light, compact, not many bells and whistles thus less things to go wrong or break

7. So originally Coach and I were thinking of sharing gear like cookware, one tent and split it between us, etc. just to help lighten the load. Everybody advised against this. They all said bring your own stuff because you never know what could happen and you all might even decide to hike separately for a few days. I guess 4 months is a long time to sleep in a tent with another dude.

8. Hand sanitizer

9. Don't bring a cup, just use your cooking pot to drink out of if you want a hot drink

10. If you start with Nalgenes, you will probably end up sending them home for a lighter option...like a used gatorade bottle

11. Don't buy all your food for the whole trip at the beginning, you'll probably get really sick of it.

12. If you're gonna spend some money on gear make your first big purchase on a really good sleeping bag

13. Bring one dry sack

14. The bugs get really bad in Mass, Conn, NY, ME, PA...

15. No Deet! It eats through synthetics and is ultimately not good stuff for your body if you're going to be wearing it all the time

16. Don't wear capilene as a baselayer, it gets really stinky!

17. Don't wear underwear because you'll probably chafe!

18. Bring some sort of light footwear for in camp because you'll want to get your boots off (one girl brought Crocs)

19. Fleece pants are not a bad idea in the beginning, but you'll probably end up sending them home at some point

20. Neck gator, good for sleeping with

21. Some sort of camel back style hydration system, its easier to stay hydrated that way

22. Drain your water at night because it will freeze

23. Its really dry in NY so carry extra water every day through this state

24. Use purification drops like bleach or iodine not a water filter, its too heavy and takes up too much room in your pack, and there's a likelihood it will break

25. Bandanas are your friend! Carry several

26. Hot sauce and Garlic salt, you'll be craving flavor out on the trail (One of the women I talked to told me a story of a guy who was able to get his pack down to 15 pounds...with a 1 pound bottle of hot sauce! That same girl ended up carrying a tub of frosting... to put on everything)

27. Hiking poles

28. Duck tape

29. First Aid Kit = Neosporin, a few Band-Aids, Vitamin I (ibuprofen), and duct tape

30. Have something to wear in the laundry mat (one of the guys I talked to said he carried a light weight pair of boxers the entire trail that he never wore unless he was in town doing laundry...and that's all he wore while he was doing his wash...)

Sister Act on East Washington St.

I wanted to mention something that I'm really happy about. A big worry I had about leaving was that Lindsay was going to be home alone with nothing but Puke to keep her company. And even though Mr. Rally is a formidable force to be reckoned with and super love all at the same time, conversations, well they can get weird sometimes...

But, circumstance has it, that Casey (Lindsay's younger sister) is willing to move in with Lindsay for the period of time that I will be away, Perfect! To prepare for her arrival we are finally getting to the back room! When I'm not working out, eating chicken breasts, blowing glass, researching gear options, or writing on this blog, I have been demoing our future guest bedroom/study to prepare for Marty's magic handyman hands to help us turn it into something awesome!

Now I don't have to worry about Lindsay turning into a crazy cat lady while I'm gone...not that there's anything wrong with that :)

Physical Preparation

On January 1, 2011 I was 6'1" 244 lbs. at my heaviest. In order to finish the Appalachian Trail by July 1st, Coach and I have to average 18.8 miles a day with roughly 35 lb. packs. I think that its obvious to everyone that on January 1st I was in no shape to take off and hike the Appalachian Trail in the time period that we wanted to do it. These facts worried me and I felt like I was setting myself up for failure on a lifelong goal. I knew I had to do something about it...

Just before Christmas I joined a place that is literally two blocks away from where Lindsay and I live in downtown Louisville called Derby City Crossfit (http://dccrossfit.com/). On January 11th (when I got back from helping to teach a glass class in Corning, NY) I finally got serious. I am giving myself 6 weeks to get in the best shape I can possibly get into. Had I known that Coach and I were going to hike the AT sooner I would not have put myself through this hell, but sometimes you got to try and hit the knuckle ball. If you are not familiar with the Crossfit style of training you should log onto the web address above and it will do a better job of explaining than I could do here. I will however, give you a brief description of my days since I started this lockdown.

Monday through Friday I work out twice a day (7:30 am and 3:30 pm) sometimes closely with a trainer sometimes not, but they always have a work out set out for me each time I come in because what I am doing is not normal. On Saturdays I work out once in the morning and then do either a hike or some sort of run in the afternoon. Sundays, I rest. (this weekend will be a little different though, I am taking Saturday afternoon off and going on a 16 mile hike on Sunday). I have to eat 4 to 5 times a day (which is harder than it sounds), but I'm on a strict regimented diet that consists mostly of lean meats, fish, eggs, almonds, berries, green vegetables, and some fruit. I haven't had any beer, liquor, white wine, or any sort of grain since January 10th. The only alchohol that is acceptable right now is a very small amount of red wine because for the most part the sugar content in the lowest and it still has positive effects on the body.

As far as my hikes are concerned, after talking to several guys at the local Quest Outfitters here in town, I learned about this trail called the Knobstone Trail in southern Indiana only 30 minutes away from downtown Louisville. It's the longest continuous trail in Indiana and comes out to be between 45 and 60 miles depending on some loop options in the northern section. The best part about Knobstone is there is 20 thousand feet of elevation change (for the whole span of the trail), no switch-backs, and an overall rough terrain. http://knobstonetrail.net/ In fact, a woman I talked to who has hiked the AT said that if she where to ever hike it again, The Knobstone Trail is where she would do most of her training. Lindsay and I did an 8 mile day hike in 4 inches of snow on it last weekend and it was a doozy! Perfect for Appalachian Trail training!

Its January 28th and I have less than four weeks to continue my training. I am currently 236 lbs. I know what you're thinking because I was thinking the same thing, 8 pounds sure doesn't seem like that much considering all that I am doing. I talked to my trainer about this the other day and here's basically how I understand it. First of all, I'm shocking my body to the extreme with both diet and exercise. It doesn't like that right now because it was comfortable with my lifestyle. It is currently trying to hold on to what it has (reserves/fat), because it is scared it may not have the resources to keep up with the stress I am putting it through. This is where eating frequently comes into play. At some point my body will trust that I am putting in the resources that it needs and it will dump old weight. In addition to all of this, I am building muscle right now, which is heavier than fat, and adds weight.

Besides feeling like I'm putting myself through hell, I feel good. I feel like I can tell a difference in my body and I'm confident that whatever I am doing is working to prepare me the best I can in this short period of time for the AT.

Side note--my trainer was wearing a Derby City Crossfit T-shirt that I really liked the other day and I asked him if there were any more for sale that I could purchase. He said the only way I can get the T-shirt is if I earn it. He challenged me to loose 16 lbs. by the time I leave for our trek. So there you have it: 220 lbs. by Feb. 24th = cool T-shirt

Gear Part I: Baselayer

I have to confess, I'm not much of an internet guy with all of the social networking and buying online. I am usually a very tangible person that likes personable experiences. So this whole blog thing is pretty new to me, as well as looking at and buying stuff online. We have two outdoor retail stores here in Louisville, Quest and The Trail Store. Both have been very helpful and I have purchased things for the AT from both locations because they seem to carry different companies and makers of gear. Their competition with the internet is like David and Goliath and yes, with some things I succumbed to the seduction of the giant.

Wow, I didn't realize the potential for ENDLESS research that could go on about gear. I feel like my research on the internet has become a spiraling Mandelbrot Set of websites, images, reviews, opinions, likes, and dislikes. It can be entrancing...and addicting. There is a lot of contradiction out there though, and a lot of mixed reviews of the same product. So confusing is just the tip of the iceberg as far as decisions are concerned. But in all of the chaos I did find some continuity.

I also had the opportunity to talk to a couple of people in town at the local outfitters as well as some other friends who have hiked the trail, they were very helpful and pointed me in some good directions based on their experiences. If you plan on hiking the AT I highly recommend talking to as many people as you can who have hiked it in the past. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy website is a great place to get plugged into the community (http://www.appalachiantrail.org). You'll find that everybody's trail experience is different, but its the little tips and tricks that they discovered is what really matters, I'll talk more about this later. The following are some results from my research as well as some purchases that I have already made.

As far as a base layer is concerned I definitely am going wool. It sounds kind of old school I know, but the advances these companies have made with comfort is amazing and it doesn't even feel like what one would think wool should feel like (raw, toasted, itchy oatmeal), this modern stuff is actually soft and comfy. In addition to comfort...well my cousin John Darling (outdoor gear head) explained it best,...it might sound crazy, but wool is brilliant in all types of weather; it insulates well even when wet, it dries fast, it's sturdy, and it takes a whole lot to make it stink. Two brands I was considering were Icebreaker and Smartwool. Icebreaker seems like a great company and got a lot of good reviews, but when it came down to it Smartwool was easily accessible at my local outfitters (no shipping!) and I got a little bit of a deal. Here's what I went with:

Smartwool Midweight crew:

Smartwool Midweight Zip T

Smartwool Microweight Tee

Smartwool Midweight bottoms (two pairs)

I decided to get both the Zip and the Crew tops because, honestly, I couldn't decide between the two and I like the idea of having options while I'm out there. For the most part I went with the mid weight because Coach and I are starting on (hopefully) the 24th of February, which is a bit of an early start as far as the average thru hiker is concerned. Therefore I'm predicting that first month or so to be cold and wintery. Ok, base layer...check!

The Decision

I (The Professor) am a 28-year-old glass artist and I am not a professor of anything. My buddy (Coach) is a 29-year-old Merchant Marine Sailor, he's a coach of life. After years of procrastination, we have decided to take 120 days out of the life that is expected of us and hike the Appalachian Trail before we turn 30. I have a loving, supportive wife and family, great things going for me in the art world, and a cat named Puke n' Rally. So why on earth would I take this "risk?" Because I think I have to. For the longest time I thought, "Well life is starting to take over, I'll just wait on this...maybe when I retire, or maybe sometime later." Life is always taking over, I feel as though I am finally taking over my life. There may not be a later. The cliche is that we are always learning from our parents. Sometimes I think that means we should do what our parents did not do; a lesson of missed opportunities. My father told me that he would much rather be lying on his death bed thinking about the mistakes he made because he tried things, not thinking about what could have happened because he did not try.

Coach and I have known each other for close to a decade. We met in college and became very close with a core group of dudes (whom may be mentioned later in this adventure)...and pledged that we would hike the Trail before we turned 30. Plans for this Spring did not go exactly as planned for myself, and with Coach home on a five-month leave from sea, the time is right, or at least as right as it ever will be.

Besides the normal pre-trail fears of most thru hikers (getting injured, not being in shape to hike 2,181 miles consecutively, the mental challenge of the task ahead), I think my biggest fear, and the biggest thing I want to prove to myself, is that I'm not running away from anything. Inevitably, I expect to gain many types of inspiration from this experience. So I decided to write a "thesis" of sorts, maybe artist statement is a better term, but regardless, I felt the need to work out some things in my head. I have decided to share these thoughts to give a sense of what some of my philosophy (the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence; a theory or attitude held by a person that acts as a guiding principle for behavior) is for hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Jonathan Capps

Walking the AT: A Study of Art and Creation

Throughout my artistic experience, I have had every opportunity and inspiration for creating available to me at my fingertips. The Internet is a fantastic thing; it's like art porn with millions of images, exmaples, and influences to be had in the blink of an eye. I have access, for all intents and purposes, to limitless amounts of natural gas, propane, oxygen, and all of the modern machinery and materials needed to support a sculpture/glass artist. Sometimes I feel a little guilty, sometimes I feel like maybe I'm cheating a little. Have I done something truly mine in every sense of the word, without the influence of other artists and people, without tools? To question my intentions as a sculptor and to question the medium that I love most (glass), I want to create an environment that completely removes myself from all of this. I want to starve myself, not from the ideas and the philosophy behind my art and art itself, but from what I have always perceived as necessary to my creating. I want to fast mentally, physically and culturally, from my comfortable creative environment, and enter into a life of creativity and questioning stripped down to its most basic core. To create this environment for myself I have decided to hike the 2,181 miles along the Appalachian Trail, using only what is available to me in the wilderness and what I can carry on my back. Through this experience I will create (and question) art at the most basic of levels. Every day will be a study and a struggle to observe, create, and discover.

Side thought- Glass is a material that has been considered and kept sacred since some of the first known items created by the Phoenicians as far back as 700BC. Through the ages, it has been made for and used by kings, queens, and the social elite. Even today, the majority of glass sculpture caters towards upper and upper-middle class collectors. Glass is a material that is often treated like a reilgious icon, untouched and protected. As glass sculptors, we tend to "gift wrap" our creations with the utmost care. My experience on the Appalachian Trail will be the antonym of this idea of art. My creations and studies will not be sold, they will not be idolized, and they will not go untouched. Instead, they will be at the whim of the elements and their environment, and may be destroyed within mere minutes of their creation.

I'm sure this will evolve, as will I, as I walk.