Gear, gear, gear!

So with the many conversations we have on the trail, most of them end up being about gear. Gear is basically the easiest way to have a conversation with another person and is very repetitive. So let's talk gear! 

Defining gear is easy, everything you have on your back during your hike minus food. Normal pack weight without foot is about 15-20 pounds. 

Alright, time to jump into what I have. 

For my pack I have a Gregory Baltoro 75. Which by itself weighs a whopping 5 pounds when not covered in my sweat. 

My sleeping arrangement is so magical so come on a journey through my nocturnal palace! 

I sleep in a Eagles Nest Outdoors (ENO) DoubleNest with two 12 foot long cord to tie me to a couple trees. 

The padding I use underneath me so I do go cold at night is from Scout and is quite lightweight. 

My sleeping bag is a REI Travel Down bag, which is rated to 40 degrees. This baby keeps me way to warm some nights but it is totally worth it. 

Now on to how I can stay dry in the rain with a hammock, with a tarp! I use a ENO DryFly and steak it out around my hammock with some MSR miniGroundhog steaks. 

What do I wear out here? Well clothes an shoes of course!

For my little feet I am wearing some Oboz Sawtooth boots with some Darn Tough socks. 

I wear some trail running shorts to make me go faster and extend my range of motion. 

Lastly for my shirt I wear a biking jersey!

Then around my head or neck I wear a wool Buff, basically a tube of fabric that shields my pale skin from thise dastardly rays of sunlight. 

To protect myself from rain I have a Patagonia raincoat. 

Now on to cookware! For a pot I pick one randomly up on the trail! The trail literally provided because we traded the old pot for this lighter one. 

Oh and don't forget how I get clean drinking water. I use a Sawyer water filter screwed ontop of a SmartWater bottle. 

Lastly come my knee savers, my fall preventers, my trekking poles! They are Leki Micro Vario poles which are collapsible. 

Finally gear talk is over. Now on to where are we headed to next. Our next few stops, for those following along at home, in order of where we are hitting first include:

Waynesboro, PA

And

Duncannon, PA

If you want to mail something to us at those spots just format the postage so. 

Ross Beazell and Scott Shipley

C/o general delivery 

Town name, state

Please hold for AT thru-hiker

Onwards we go and soon we shall start counting down the miles to Maine!

Cheers,

Ross (Burnout [the Rooster]) Beazell

Shelter and Hobbits

Hello again

It's old Scout Shipley. I'm happy to say that we are alive and in good health. In two days we are going to be in Waynesboro, VA where we will be picked up by Burn Out's mom. She's going to put up five dirty, foul hikers.

It's still Burn Out, Knock on Wood, Honeybuns, HB, and myself. Now our fifth is a tall, young man named Hobbit or as we like to joke, Hobbits. Since he is two hobbits stacked on each other.

Lets see, Hobbits likes to eat, sleep and play games. He wakes late and catches up to us at some point in the day. Sometimes it's after dark. We love Hobbits. With his influence we night hiked 10 miles. I loved it. The rest of the party were wiped afterward. We did it to get to a brewery that didn't exist....

Glasco was cool, but we didn't linger. We did stay a night in Buena Vista. Where we planned to celebrate HB's birthday. We ate bar b que and fell asleep. Party! Last night we made him a "cake" out of a cosmic brownie, cake frosting, sugar letters and I found trick candles in a geocache. It was awesome. Check out their photos at clifandallie.com

If you and I aren't friends on Facebook, you need to add me. I post a lot of random photos to it. I'm Scott Eugene Shipley.

Ok, topic time. SHELTERs

It's a very important part of the trail, but by no means do shelters have to dominate your hiking plans. Important thing about shelter is water. They normally have decent water sources. A basic shelter is a simple three wall platform. They come in all shapes and sizes, but the average is 8 people with only one room and a raised wood floor. They are maintained by the ~30 trail clubs. We like to stay at these shelters for the water convenience and the people. We tent, shelter, cowboy camp and hammock depending on how we feel or weather allows.

Shelters haven't been more than 20 miles apart and in one stretch of six miles you can stay in one of three.

They can be very lovely when hikers haven't ruined them with garbage, graffiti and vandalism. We like to blame day hikers for that, but it's not true. Both parties share that blame. I can say that because I've met the thru hikers that litter constantly. They like to burn their trash and don't like to start fires. I don't know which part I hate more.

Sometimes a shelter is built because there's water and others because there is a view and still some because it's needed.

How do we know about a shelter's distance, capacity and water source? It's this amazing book by David "AWOL" Miller. It's $15 and amazingly detailed. I can't recommend it more to a hiker or someone bent on following us.

I will wrap this here. Currently I'm writing in the dark by a stream listening to LOTR Fellowship watching the stars come out as the last few hikers night hike in. Thinking of all of you warm in you comfortable beds and chairs, under blankets or laying in warm sun filled grass. Above and Beyond Group Therapy is fuel for my ears. My hips are rubbed raw and a couple days not hiking will be nice. Also new pack!

Love all of you,

Scott Eugene Scout Shipley

Seven hundred and mumble, mumble miles!

Hello everyone!

We are currently in Roanoke, VA. It's 20 minutes off trail by car.

Yesterday, we got into Daleville and we were pretty stoked for hotel room. EVERYTHING WAS BOOKED, EVERYTHING. We ate our feelings away, I ate two lunches. Then did our shopping and went to the outfitter. At the outfitter we noticed a flier for a pair of trail angels looking to help hikers. We inquired within and they drove out from Roanoke to pick us up and took us into their home.

Pizza, beverages and laughs. Also interestingly,  Team Pie was walking into town from the trail and actually walked right by our trail angels headed south to have lunch a little south from town, so when they drove up and got out we had this conversation-

"Woah we walked by you today! You had the Subway and smelled so good!" -us

"Yeah! You were the ones talking about Lord Of The Rings." -them

:-)

Over the last two days we crossed what had been called a "triple crown." It's Dragons Tooth, McAfee Knob and Tinker something. My feet are shot, but still trucking. In 130 miles, we're going to hit Waynesboro. Where we're going to take a couple few days to heal. Only 130...

Things I've learned seven hundred mumble mumble miles later.

1. No matter how far you walk the last mile is going to take as long as the rest of the day.

2. I should not be allowed to shop because I want all of the food.

3. Burn Out has one pace- his own and no matter if you chase him or not, he's trying to leave you in his dust

4. Electronics, out on the trail, eat more electricity out on the trail to handle their emotions. Just like hikers do.

5. Just when all my fears about something like carrying enough water have been lessened, the trail knows... it will no longer have water.

6. You're awesome.

Love and everything,

Scout Shipley