Yesterday I checked out a book from my university’s library, The Appalachian Trail: Celebrating America’s Hiking Trail. I admit, it was quite the adventure finding the books among endless shelves of dust and hardbound covers on the library floor I never explore. There’s a good deal on the Trail’s history in books circa the 1950s, but from reading things like ‘wool breeches’ and ‘tennis slippers’ I have decided to browse through them later out of curiosity and not now, while I’m in search of basic (up-to-date) information.

Anyway, three other A.T. books ordered through Amazon:

AWOL on the Appalachian Trail and The A.T. Guide 2013 by David Miller

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Billy Bryson

I have officially entered the obsession stage in my A.T. planning. This past week I’ve focused  on the blog, made lists of what I need to purchase and planned what I need to plan. At the end of July I am going on a ten day expedition in Washington. Luckily the program provided an outline of everything I need to do in order to train/pack. I figure a lot of the gear and prep work for the AT and that overlap so… here are my current training plans:

• Go on longish (4-8 hour) hikes in hilly terrain with a 20+ pound pack.
• (since I live in flatland Florida) Simulate hiking up steep terrain via hills, long flights of stairs, or stadium stairs for 1-1.5 hours with my pack. Making sure I climb AND descend.
• Incorporate more cardio into my daily routine by bike rides, short hikes, or the elliptical.
• 2-4 days of gym climbing a week with one of these days focusing on strength exercises with an emphasis on legs.

Gotta’ have beast legs to climb this beaut!