Prep, train, go!

imported
#1

Hello, i havnt spoken on this forum and only recently started a blog. My name is Johnny, AKA VelocaWolf, and on March 20th of this year me and a friend will set out onto Springer Mountain heading uphill to Maine. This was planned in may of last year, and i honestly couldnt be more excited. We spend the summer hiking northern new hampshire and parts of massachusetts. The New England fator, i have to say, i feel fortunate to be able to train here. maybe its an advantage, maybe not? i would like to start to get to know some of my fellow hikers, hence this post. under 3 months away, before i begin a journey thats been number 1 on my bucket list sense that first time i climbed cannon mountain, at the age of 7, and saw that hairy man come out of the woods. the man who showed me how to find newts in the puddles, and explained to my young, simple mind, exactly what he was doing. My stepfather and mother had to really nail it out for me…but ive been waiting the 20 years sense then for this oppurtunity, and im greatful to have the ability to do this!

alan and i are hiking for diabetes. you can find our page by searching on faacebook for “Hike for Diabetes”, in which we have raised over $7,000 for the ADA! needless to say, we are very blessed to have the close community around us here in central massachusetts!

VelocaWolf

#2

I suspect you are a New Hampshirite like we are. We sectioned the whole trail in 2005-6.
We are all fortunate to have NH to trail for the AT. You may still have a shock when you start in GA.
WE will be following your journal. Hope you will explain your trail name.

rocky & swamp fox

#3

Well, as a child i was obsessed with Velocaraptors. I grew up on a farm, and my uncle had a pure grey wolf. The term velocawolf came to mind when my imagination took control and i invisioned what a velocawold truly would look like. I am actually from massachusetts, but have spent most of my summers in franconia notch. Im certainly not underestimating not only georgia, but any step on the AT. Mountains like Lafayette and the franconia ridge in its whole do give me the confidence needed, while remaining very humble

VelocaWolf

#4

Your typing is really, really poor. I’m a horrible speller, but what you’ve posted is worse than most of my grammar mistakes. Your writing is filled with spelling errors, incorrect word usage, incorrect punctuation, incorrect pronoun usage, etc. I think I can understand most of what you are trying to say, but please use care (and spell checker) if you would like your new blog to make sense to your readers. If you need a transcriber, I can do it. Also, you should be able to spell your trail name correctly.

This may be related to your casual grasp of writing the English language, but please don’t “Hike ‘FOR’ Diabetes”. I support the organization for which you have raised a ton of money, but I think you are having a “Hike for Diabetes Research”, or “Diabetes Care”, or “Diabetes Awareness”, or what have you. Perhaps it is a “Hike against Diabetes”?

Whatever you do, please don’t give that money to anyone working for Diabetes! It is a really crappy disease. If you must, give it to me; I’m a type-1 Diabetic who has thru-hiked the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails since having been diagnosed around the start of your Dinosaur phase (March of 1991). Seriously though, don’t give me the money, I’d just spend it on insulin.

Having said these harsh criticisms about your writing, good luck on your hike! Knowing what “sense” & “since” mean has zero impact on your ability to hike. You can still have an amazing experience, support an amazing charity, and exceed all of your most amazing expectations. Happy Trails!

Space Monkey

#5

Come on, Space Monkey, lighten up. I can understand his posts just fine. We are among friends here, not a literary guild or a writer’s convention.

swamp fox

#6

Well, this is why I rarely go onto forums. My grammer sucks as well but I did not think that was the point. As for my spelling, my dog is next to me pushing on my arm causing me to type incorrectly. But I still love her to death and none of this matters to this topic. I have hiked the AT twice, class of 2008 and 2010 and will be out there again this year if all goes well. My start date is around April 1. What is the most important item is that you “go” on your hike. Prep is good, training is good but going is often harder than you may think. It sounds simple but get to Springer and start!! There are several hikers out there hiking for a “cause”. It is at least my experience that hiking for a “cause” is not enough to get them to finish the hike. Hike first because you want to more than anything in the world. If there is a good cause that could benefit as a result of your effort then there will never be anything bad about that. There are many things that will temp you to leave the trail. You need more then a cause to get you through them. Just my opinion of course. I will look forward to meeting you on the trail. Good luck.

Fog

#7

Yes, the grammar nazis are alive and well. So typos do abound…in my case, it’s the cat budging around. Also, has anyone else noticed how their spelling has deteriorated since the advent of spell checker?

IMHO using paragraphs does encourage reading of any Journals. I’m jus’ sayin’ So hike on buddy. :tongue

Lady Di

#8

I have been reading Trail Journals since 2006. Over the years I have noticed that some of the most interesting journals are written with passion, enthusiasm, sincerity, and humor. Sometimes the grammar, spelling and punctuation is distracting at first, but then I get into their story and it becomes part of their personality.
I didn’t what to make of Gear Bomb (Tiger Lily) in 2010 when I first started reading her journal. By the end she turned out to be a kind, gentle, thoughtful hiker.
Featherfoot (2009) had a good sense of humor and a way with words, but Miss Schroth, my English teacher, would have gleefully gone after his writing with her little red marker. To me, this excerpt from his journal exactly captures my feeling of the Whites after I hiked them: “…the sense of finishing was strong among us without talking about it. I could feel our confidence with the Whites behind us, staring at them, not conquered, but visited, having first known them by reputation, met them, spent time with them and now leaving them like new friends, now lifetime friends and going through that with thru-hiking friends from the earliest days was perfect, and fitting…”
Sgt Rock (2008) and Zero (2007) would have at times made Miss Schroth cringe, but they were fun reads.
VelocaWolf…Tell about your hike the way you want to tell it. I like your enthusiasm. I hope you have a fun hike. Wingo 09.

Wingo

#9

are some of the biggest f*cking retards on the internet. Tell leif and disk drive or whoever to take a long walk off a short pier.

ryall

#10

are some of the biggest f*cking retards on the internet. Tell leif and disk drive or whoever to take a long walk off a short pier.

ryall

#11

SP not only our hike’in buddy…He’s our english teacher!

kneepaw

#12

Little does Ryall probably realize, but he seems to suffer from the same debilitating weakness as Space Monkey: a neurotic tendency to write stuff on an anonymous forum that you would be ashamed to say in public for fear of looking like a complete idiot.

john e

#13

So anyways, VelocaWolf, if you’d like a transcriber for your blog while you’re hiking, I’m your guy. Email me. Best of luck with your walk.

Space Monkey

#14

thanks space monkey,
but no thanks. you not only come off as a pretentious dick, but you have managed to distract me from what this forum really is about. that being said, ill try to keep it in my mind that im clearly applying for a job while posting in a AT forum about an upcoming trip ive thought about since i was 7 or 8 years old. thanks, youve def pepped my day up. if you need a life transcriber as you continue on making the fabulous relationships you must be making, email me.

moving on

a 2012 hike was decided on roughly a year ago. it wasnt until me and my fellow hiker started a climb on the franconia ridge line that we decided to do it for diabetes RESEARCH. A very good friend of ours suffers from juvenile diabetes, and we see how much this terrible disease does effect him. He once said his biggest fear was that one day his 5 year old son would be diagnosed as he was when he was 11. The hike was something ive planned my whole life, and essentially used as an excuse to also raise money to HELP BATTLE this terrible disease. A lot of people are completely unaware of what diabetes really does. Being main-stays in our community, as local bartenders at the “happening” place, we have been able to not only raise money for the ADA (and a significant amount), we have also been able to school people on the at, what it is, what you do etc etc. as well as conservation.

ive been more then ready for this my whole life, and now at 27 im finally going to do it. i couldnt be more excited. The ultimate theorapy, the unbelievable self-comradery as well as the faces, your faces, that i will meet. (is it odd that i wanted to type youre faces on purpose?)

VelocIwolf

#15

have a good hike out there, it’s quite the experience. i hiked the same year as “burn” in 2004. i recommend a read of his journal, the dude is/was hilarious. what a character. i’m sure you’ll meet many characters on your travels and that’s kind of what it’s all about. hiking is fun, but the a.t is a melting pot of social diversity. my favorite “hiking” was out west on the p.c.t but the a.t is a little more than just hiking. not the sort of place you’ll find solitude, and i think that’s why people hike it, to not only be out there in the woods, but to meet very different like minded people. you’ll find that and more. have fun.

cheers - a hiker.

cheers

#16

VelocaWolf, how’s it going out there? Did you ultimately decide to write your own updates? I cannot find them anywhere. trailjournals, trailforums, and facebook all have prehike posts, but that’s it. Anyhows, I hope you’ve been keeping dry out on the AT this spring. Happy Hiking!

space monkey