just asking?

What if he was to accompany me on the trail?  Would I get more support? Less than 3 weeks to go!

another update

     Bus ticket purchased. Leave AZ on the
14 of april. Be in Georgia on 16. Still working on shuttle to get close to trailhead. Soooo if anyone else is gonna be in gainesville Georgia that date...let me know.

finances

     I've come up a little short on the funds for hiking the AT. The cost of taking care of things here at home has run a little more than I anticipated. If any of you are able to help out you can click on the link below. I usually don't ask for help, however this is my last shot at a 2015 hike. If not this year there is always 2016.
     My plan has been to be on the trail by April 15, 2015. After consideration, I probably could push that back a week or two and still make Katahdin before weather conditions make it impossible to summit. The other consideration is a possible south bound hike, which wouldn't start till around June 1.
     Thanks for any help anyone can provide and thanks for reading.


http://www.gofundme.com/mr9yrg

Bear bag hanging

     Haven't been on for awhile because internet service has not been cooperating! Anyway did put a branch in my wind tower so I could show u the PCT bear bag hanging technique.

 Here are the contents of the throw bag. 50ft. of 3/16 line with a bowline tied in the end and a 2" carabiner clipped through. Just a cheap carabiner like you would put your keys on. And a rock, which of course you don't carry in your throw sack. Lol.

 The throw bag thrown over the simulated tree branch. I'm standing on the line to get the picture. When I took my foot off the line, the bag (with rock in it) plummeted to earth. (That darn gravity...sometimes helpful, sometimes hurtfull.)

 The throw bag has been unclipped and the food bag is clipped on. The food bag is a waterproof bag lined with a plastic bag and all the food is also repackaged in ziploc baggies. The pull strap on the bottom of the bag is a handy place to clip onto. Of course the drawstring at the other end is tied off. Don't trust the cord-loc thingies.

 The food bag pulled up. Notice that the line has been put through the carabiner. That's the important part...clip the trailing line through the carabiner!

 A stick tied into the line with a clove hitch. Tied as high as you can reach comfortably, which in my case is app. 6ft.

Here is the stick jammed against the carabiner. Bag is hung and you don't need to tie the end of the line off to the tree.

     So in case you're wondering how far the food bag drops before the stick binds against the carabiner, let's review our basic math.

     In these pictures the "branch" is 12ft. off the ground. I knot the stick in at 6ft. off the ground. That leaves 6ft. between the stick and the branch. That means the food sack with the carabiner will fall 3ft. until it jams with the stick. (because half of that 6ft. between stick and branch is now on the other side of the branch.)  So 12ft. minus 3ft. leaves 9 and subtract another foot for the food bag and we are at 8ft., which is not high enough. The food bag needs to be at least 10ft. off the ground and 6' away from the trunk.
     So for me to have the food bag at 10' I need a branch at 16'. Stick tied in at 6' which leaves 10' of line above it. The food bag will drop 1/2 of that, which is 5' (16-5=11) so we are at 11' and minus a foot for the length of the food bag and we are at 10'.
     That's the PCT bear bag method. Thanks for reading.