Well that explains my divorce (2016) lol. The woman I have dated for most of the last year and a half is an avid hiker and put in over 500 miles last year while holding a 50hr a week job. She on the other hand not only wants compliments, but gets a tiny bit psycho if they do not happen when she thinks they should(ie she put in the work I better pour on the compliments).
Ive been divorced 13-14 years now, I still like to watch my ex walk away.
Don’t feel bad, I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to hold it between resupply stops! I’ve never been a poop in the woods kinda guy, I have a feeling I’m going to learn how to be…
Mine wants the compliments, but there’s a time and place, I know better when she’s feeling sweaty and gross, cause I’ll be like “yeah baby, looking good” and she’ll be like you ***** *********** ********* ******* *** and ****
True story. When I first met DoggyMama, I was getting ready to go down to Lake Monroe the next day. I was planning on sleeping on my pontoon boat (no tent). She said she wanted to go, so I asked her if she could poop in the woods and take a bath in the lake, and she said, "Sure!" We've been together a little over 18 years now.
Maybe… maybe not…Are you married to @BigRed (or his sister)??
I mentioned this to her. She said grrrrrr and some other rather aggressive sounds so I kinda stopped…
Do you know the number one way to get lost on the AT,and without any of your gear is? Dropping your pack and walking off the trail to dig a cathole. The more paranoid someone was someone might hike by and see them the further off trail they go,in the wilderness alone without any gear.Been on a bicycling trip last week and have been media free so a lot to catch up on in this thread. Really liking the AT discussion and the insights from @smokingman THANKS!
Glad I could help
I can research the crap out gear online and get in plenty of training miles and some extended backpacking trips. It is all the other aspects, particularly mental, that will be a good part of the challenge. Staying motivated, working through the hard times, missing family and friends, conquering fears… This is where SmokingMan’s comments have provided some real insight.
Fears are so funny. One of my backpacking fears is going off trail to dig a cathole and the spot I choose to dig has been previously used. Silly and never encountered but fears don’t have to be logical.
Ask in that group how many have had a bladder infection on the trail(do not mention pee rags) and what they did about it.
Haha yep, everybody poops.Do you know the number one way to get lost on the AT,and without any of your gear is? Dropping your pack and walking off the trail to dig a cathole. The more paranoid someone was someone might hike by and see them the further off trail they go,in the wilderness alone without any gear.
I saw and hiked with many men and women it had happened to, I even experienced it once myself. It is fairly easy in heavy vegetation to get turned around when looking for a good spot to dig a cathole. You are in a rush usually. "This needs to happen right now!" lol. You drop your pack,grab your TP and shovel to head far enough off the trail you think no one will see you.
Finished you then need to get back to your pack. Things can and have gone south from this point for many. In your effort to hide yourself from any embarrassment you made darn sure it was impossible for anyone on the trail to see you,meaning you likely can not see the trail at all. You were not looking up as you hunted a good spot either,you had a focus to find a spot and get relief. The terrain is most likely not level and heading up hill generally will be the right move,but not always(hence how smokingman became a cathole victim lost for about an hour).
Be less worried about being seen would be my advise. No one cares. The further you get in your hike the less you will either.
Now,you have made it back to your pack after a correct choice on where the trail was. Which direction were you heading on the trail? Sound simple right? But you have been doing this day in and day out for months. Trails are never just go north. Never. My simple advise is any time you take your pack off your trekking poles need to point in the direction you want to head when you put it back on. It will save you some time and worry,and is a great habit to have.
I am going to say this one important thing for women. Do not use a pee rag. They are preached as great by many women. What you do not hear about are the stories of bladder infections. I personally know women who hiked the trail and got them, more than likely from those rags. I even carried a pack of a woman running a high fever and had to help get her 9 miles to a gravel road to get to an emergency room...from a bladder infection she ignored for almost a week. Being the only one she knew within 1000 miles I went to the hospital with her and spent the night sleeping in an ER waiting room.She had a fever of 104.3 at check-in. My shoulder badly bruised from her pack being slung on it for 9 miles(I tried to wear it on my chest but the down hill terrain made it impossible). The doctor at the ER had seen it before in female hikers,every single year. My point. What sounds like good advise is not always. Do not use a pee rag,use TP. Things are already not that great in the sanitation/cleanliness department. Do not add a risk.
There are some composting toilets on the AT that have NO WALLS. You are up on a platform for all to see. They are rare and do not exist at established shelters(those have partial walls),but at a couple of campsites they are a real thing. I think most of them were in NJ,NH,and Maine. I did not see any of them before those states. So at least the population of hikers was down to a small select group of dedicated hikers who no longer cared lol.
Yea this was on a 42 mile trail that people could jump onto at multiple places, and there were GIRLS! camping nearby, but I could wait til dusk.
My first ever backpacking trip was my dad's idea to go to the Wind River Range in 1985. He was a go big or go home kind of guy. It was his only backpacking trip. It was absolutely beautiful and I'd love to get back.To go along with the wife discussion...I've done a few trips with my wife. I'm 6'5", she's 5'3". Needless to say, our pace is different. I quickly learned that the best thing to do is let her go first and set the pace...it keeps her from getting frustrated and makes the walk easier for me. Everybody wins. We did a couple of days in the Bighorns last year, and may do the Manistee River trail in MI this fall if I can get the time off and we can find somebody to watch the kids.
She's gotten pretty good at hiking over the years...she actually did a trip to Portugal and Spain this spring and did over 100km of the Camino de Santiago with a group of women from our church. I had to stay here and work...not fair at all.
A few pics from the most recent Wyoming trip:
Lol I've seen those at a couple of National Parks and remember thinking, "WTH, why is this necessary?" But you know it's happened, and more than once, otherwise there wouldn't be signs.
