We leave for the AT Saturday. Hedy and Nata are both joining me for this 9th leg of the trek. Hedy will provide shuttle for Nata and myself. Nata will hike with me for one week before returning to San Antonio. I last hiked with Nataly in the Grand Canyon in 2003. We hiked down the Kaibab and stayed 2 nights at Phantom Ranch. We also took an extensive side trip on the Clear Creek Trail before returning to the South Rim via the Bright Angel.
This year we will begin the AT at the exact point I left it last year, as always. This will be a spot very near Salisbury, Conn., about 7 miles from the Massachusetts border. We are planning on camping the first night as there is no good exit point. We plan to exit the following day at the 30 mile mark where Hedy will pick us up. That is a pretty aggressive goal but that is basically what I was doing last year and feel that we can maintain it. Nataly is in good shape, not overweight, and has geared herself up for this.
We will be HQing in Duncan, Mass. That is about 60 miles north of Salisbury and Nataly and I plan to make it in 4 days.
I’ll let you know how it goes when I return. We will be on the trail July 1 and our final trail day will be July 16. I plan to be near Rutland, Vermont at that time. We are flying in/out of Logan in Boston.
