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Special trinkets added to backpack Okay, we will get a little bit personal here talking about personal goods we had on the trail. We’ll start with the mundane and work our way up to parts some people will want to skip. Identification, money, keys  – We each kept our own driver’s licenses, some cash, a credit and a debit card. We also had a key to access our boat tucked deep into a safe place in Sondra’s backpack. Contact solution, contacts  – Jimmy brought more than enough sp

Here we attempt to cover a lot of the little things we brought along. It is quite possible we missed a few items. Gear unloaded around the tent Basic Gear Trash compactor bags  – we lined our backpacks with a white scent-free trash compactor bag to protect items from rain, and to aid in finding objects in the bag. We found one bag worked fine for three months. Dry bags / pump sacks  – most items were placed inside of smaller bags to help with organization or to protect items

This week we take a look at how we managed our food and water while on the trail. Food Along most of the Appalachian Trail there are usually towns, hostels or even gas stations available at four day intervals, so we chose to use these for our resupply. Each time we left a town or hostel, we would typically carry enough food for four nights on trail. Dry bag(s)  – We started out placing all our food into dry bags for storage.  These needed to be hung in trees or on bear poles

Equipment used on our 2024 Appalachian Trail Hike Utopia is in the water and mostly ready to take off on an adventure, but we need to take care of some things over the next month and will be staying put in Brunswick. Therefore, over the next several weeks, our blog posts will summarize gear we used on our Appalachian Hike. Regardless of how much research and preparation is made prior to a hike, it is likely that a backpacker will modify gear during a long hike.  Most of the

October 2023 - October 2024 St. Petersburg, FL to Brunswick, GA Recently we provided an overview of our plans for the upcoming year and this week we’re recapping last year's activities. Many cruisers also look at this time of the year as the beginning of the cruising season. In addition, our boat insurance policy insurance limits where the boat can be between June 1 and November 1, another factor for our defining our sailing season to run roughly from October to October. The

Brunswick, GA November 1 - 16, 2024 For the first time in a long time, I do not feel the pinch of a schedule. It has been pleasant to work on projects without having the crunch of a hard deadline. Utopia is cruising ready, yet there are several items to work on now that the boat is back in the water. We have been following a checklist provided by the prior owner that contains some items are related to the haulout while other tasks are part of an annual maintenance schedule. W

November 2024 – November 2025 Season 1 Recap Last year around this time we did a post outlining what the next year holds for Sondra, I and Baxter. It was neat to look at that post and see what we ended up doing in comparison to what we thought we were going to do. It was pretty close but some things that were different were: 1) we didn’t make it to the Dry Tortugas like we thought and 2) our expected dates where we thought we were going to be all over the board.  If you are i

Utopia has returned to her native habitat Brunswick, GA October 27 – November 1, 2024 As we continued to work on some items required to place Utopia back into the water, she got a major detailing.  Last March I twisted my ankle as we prepared the boat for long term storage, and once that happened, we cut out several of our tasks, like cleaning the boat and polishing the stainless. After the boat sat in a dusty yard between a cellulose & pulp mill and a railroad track result

Brunswick, GA October 20-26, 2024 Our checklist for Utopia  to return to the water is getting very small.  For the most part, she is ready for splashing now. The yard has scheduled our launch for Thursday the 31st and we have a slip reserved with the marina starting then. Since the yard is only open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday – Friday and does not allow owners on site during off hours, our project list has sort of become our “job”. Each morning, we get up and head to the b

October 12-October 19 Brunswick, Georgia This week we really got started in earnest on getting the boat back in seaworthy shape. After the initial excitement of getting back to the boat it began to sink in that we had a bunch of work to do on the inside and the outside. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to focus on what we do during each week to get the boat ready and what snags and/or issues we run into during this process. We promise once we are back in the water

No hiking, no boating, just a lot of in between.

September 29- October 4, 2024 Newport TN, Hayesville NC, and Tallahassee Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1673 Total Uncompleted Trail Miles: 524 (24%) Start date: April 21 End date: September 24 (Day 157)   Sorting by name is recommended.  Well as the title of this week's blog states, we are at the end of our Appalachian Trail hike after 157 days and almost 1700 miles. On Sunday September 30th we successfully obtained a shuttle to get us out of Newport TN. Since I-40 to the east wa

This week involved a lot of sitting around.

Begin: Day 147-  Saturday, September 14,  Carver Gap , TN End: Day 152- Thursday , September 19, Flint Mt. Shelter Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 21.1 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1607 Miles to Springer Mtn., GA: 327.7 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the “ 09-08 TN ” folder. Sorting by name is recommended. ——————— Saturday 9/14- Day 147 Start: Carver Gap, TN - 380.8 End: US 19E, Mtn Harbor, TN - 395.6 Miles: 14.8 Ascent: 2348  |  Descent: 4964 We

Begin: Day 140- Saturday, September 7, Damascus, VA End: Day 146- Friday, September 13, Roan Mountain,TN Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 16.2 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1519 Miles to Springer Mtn., GA: 396 Day 140- Saturday, 9/7 Zero Day Damascus, or Trail Town USA, was a nice place to spend a zero day. All of the locals were super friendly and our hostel, Lady Di’s B & B, had loaner bikes for us to use around town. It was nice to do our chores by bike instead of walking

Big Miles Begin: Day 132- Friday, August 30, Bland, VA End: Day 139- Friday, September 6, Damascus, VA Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 20.7 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1444 Miles to Springer Mtn., GA: 471 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the “ 08-27 VA South ” folder. Sorting by name is recommended. Day 132- Friday 8/30 Start: Bland, VA - 592.1 End: Burkes Garden Hostel - 571.4 Miles: 20.7 Ascent: 4307  |  Descent: 3738 Pam, our shuttle driver pic

Begin: Day 122- Tuesday, August 20, Daleville, VA End: Day 131- Thursday, August 29, Bland, VA Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 19.6 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1323 Miles to Springer Mtn., GA: 592 A lot is packed into this post in an attempt to being it up to date while we have internet availability. CENTRAL VIRGINIA Day 122- Tuesday 8/20 Start: Daleville, VA - 731.7 End: Lamberts Meadow Shelter - 721.2 Miles: 10.5 Ascent: 2200 | Descent: 1450 Cool morning weather ha

Begin: Day 117- Thursday, August 15, Buena Vista, VA End: Day 121-Monday, August 19, Daleville, VA Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 20.1 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1184 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the “ 08-10 VA Central ” folder. Sort by name is recommended. ————————— Day 117- Thursday Start: US 60 Buena Vista  - 809.4 End: John Hollow Shelter - 789.3 Miles: 20.1 Ascent: 4355  |  Descent: 5383 Our shuttle driver dropped us off back at the trai

Begin: Day 112- Saturday, August 10, Waynesboro, VA End: Day 116- Wednesday, August 14, Buena Vista, VA Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 16.8 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1105 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the “ 08-10 VA Central ” folder. Sort by name is recommended. Day 112- Saturday (8/10) Start: Waynesboro, VA - 864.5 End: Humpback Rocks Picnic Area - 851.5 Miles: 13.0 Ascent: 3179  |  Descent: 2024 It felt very good to get back on trail this m

The Southern Shenies Begin: Day 105- Saturday, August 3, Big Meadows Lodge, Shenandoah National Park, VA End: Day 111- Friday, August 10, Waynesboro, VA Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 19.9 Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1051.0 Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the “07-31 VA Shenandoah” folder. Sort by name is recommended. ————————— Day 105- Saturday Start: Big Meadows Lodge  - 927.1 End: Lewis Campground  - 918.4 Miles: 8.7 Ascent: 1381  |  Descent: 1