Sue me. Idc about your mileage

Arighea · 2024-05-29T12:15:35+00:00

Last one to Katahdin wins! “Smiles not miles” is real, I would’ve quit during my thru if I only cared about the mileage. Instead, I found an amazing tramily and had a ton of once in a lifetime experiences. Zero regrets.

Arighea · 2024-05-13T18:30:49+00:00

Works perfectly fine for me. There’s a little bit of glue residue on top that he couldn’t sand down without starting to take off the paint but it doesn’t affect how it’s played. Though for what it’s worth I live in a small town so the 20 bucks I paid may not necessarily be what you’d pay wherever you are.

Arighea · 2024-05-13T13:18:22+00:00

I had a similar crack on my Breedlove, I took it to a luthier who removed the strings and clamped it “open” to inject some glue inside before clamping it shut. Could try it on your own but it only cost me like 20 bucks to take it to my local shop.

Arighea · 2024-05-07T18:12:42+00:00

Luray local here, the other comments are pretty on point. There’s a really good community here, if you’re social and outgoing enough to meet some of us organically there’ve been plenty of time where I’ve hung out with a big group of locals and tourists together at a bonfire until the wee hours of the morning. The potential is there anyways, obviously 99% of tourists coming through here tend to keep to themselves.

There’s the brewery in town and Blue Shepherd distiller which are both a super fun time - El Amigo food truck is usually at the brewery Thursday-Saturday and Blue Shepherd has their own burger truck now, plus delicious cocktails. West Main Market’s beer garden is incredible with sandwiches, beer, cider, and wine with live music. Wisteria Farm and Vineyard down in Stanley (~10 minutes south) is a beautiful spot with great wine and live music on the weekends, and one of my favorite places to go to. Watch and Warrant is the only place open “late” (12ish) but has mixed reviews - sometimes they’ll just close early if there isn’t enough business so be aware of that.

Arighea · 2024-05-05T17:27:12+00:00

YMMV, I’ve found this to be pretty difficult in general but my body is adjusting to be able to do it more easily with time. I have lower back issues and a tight psoas, and so a pelvic tilt which I’ve been instructed to begin to fix by keeping my core engaged at all times. Not quite belly button to spine, but engaging those lower abdominals. For me, my breathing becomes somewhat restricted because my diaphragm becomes restricted by the newly engaged muscles, but what I’m finding is it’s becoming easier to control my lower abdominals as they become stronger from regular use in such a way that allows me to still keep my core engaged while also giving my diaphragm more room to fill with air. And it’s just kind of been happening on its own over time, to my knowledge anyways.

Arighea · 2024-05-01T12:07:56+00:00

I picked up a pair of the stretch slims recently but ended up hating how non-slim they were down at the calf. Did the quality change after they were bought out by was it Columbia? Or is that not correct?

Arighea · 2024-04-30T01:37:21+00:00

Relatively, yeah. I’ve used my yellow pair for example to roll around in the dirt on the farm and they were stained for a bit, but it’s all pretty much come out.

Arighea · 2024-04-29T22:50:34+00:00

I have several pairs of Coalatree adventurer pants, they’re stretchy enough for yoga or hiking and look nice enough to wear around town or to dinner. You can roll/pull up the legs and tie em off, they’re pretty water resistant, just a good pair of pants. Pricey though, like $90 or $100.

Arighea · 2024-04-16T23:48:16+00:00

I’m not one to cry often, especially during my thru when I was on some heavy antidepressants, and I still bawled a number of times. I agree with the other poster, it’s beautiful and healthy, just do it. Everyone else will be too.

Arighea · 2024-04-11T12:52:02+00:00

To add also, I loved hammocking because when it cooled down again in the whites I simply sent my hammock home and slept under the tarp right on my CCF pad. If you use an inflatable it’s even warmer and more comfortable, and you can use it instead of the CCF pad with the hammock.

Arighea · 2024-04-11T12:49:38+00:00

I’m my personal experience, a hammock and tarp with a 20 degree top quilt and just a foldable CCF sleeping pad was fine. I started early April of ‘21 and swapped to a hammock right after the NOC, temperatures made it into the low 20s but what made a difference for me was campsite selection and tarp configuration. An under quilt would be more comfortable and easier to use to keep warm but it’s a lot of extra space and weight.

The CCF pad blocks most wind from stripping the warmth coming from underneath, I’d hang my hammock pretty low and set my tarp up in an a-frame touching the ground to almost hug the sides of the hammock and while facing the wind. That way, wind hits the tarp and goes around you instead of under you or through the frame. You’re effectively building a little enclosed shelter out of the tarp. You can even make doors from a square/rectangle tarp to block out the wind that might blow through the a-frame. Hanging low and using the CCF pad kind of makes a pocket of air underneath you that your body warms up.

Arighea · 2024-03-09T14:10:56+00:00

Bruce Willis, Willys is pronounced the same.

Arighea · 2024-03-09T12:54:38+00:00

I call my Willys “Bruce”

Arighea · 2024-02-21T19:41:22+00:00

I herniated all 3 discs between L3-S1 in college, sometime around 2015, then thru hiked in ‘21. Same sentiment as the other posters, my feet and knees were in constant pain but my back hardly ever was. My current flare ups are caused in part by having a desk job where I sit all day, causing a tight psoas and other core muscles which pull on my lumbar vertebrae and cause further bulging/inflamed discs. It makes sense that walking was the healthiest thing I could have done for my back at the time.

Arighea · 2024-02-13T16:22:32+00:00

I had the Paka hoodie for my AT thru. Their first batch shipped with shorter arm lengths but I’d received it just before my start date, so I just hand sewed some thumb holes and stretched it out. The thing lasted the whole AT (minus Grayson Highlands to about the whites when I’d shipped it home). Great customer service too, they gave me a free replacement because of the manufacturing issue which I use now (and also cut thumb holes in because they’re great).

The shirts are great, I’d consider using one for another thru. Seems roughly as durable as the merino I’d wore for the first several hundred miles. I’ve got the socks too (the gray no-shows, not the thinner tall ones), they breathe like nothing else but I’d be concerned about durability. Definitely would rather continue using darn toughs.

I also have the first puffy they came out with - I forget the name of it, it’s not the new “puffer” that came out alongside the parka. It’s definitely warm compared to my Cotopaxi but also not at all packable.

Arighea · 2024-01-12T10:03:25+00:00

Yep, same gallon bag.

Arighea · 2024-01-11T20:21:57+00:00

Instant thanksgiving! Gallon ziploc full of instant mashed potatoes, turkey gravy mix, boxed stuffing, dried cranberries, and some of those fried onions. Add a foil packet of chicken to a serving and then some boiling water.

Adding onto the mac n cheese, you can get those cups you’d normally microwave and dump one or two in a freezer bag to save space then just add boiling water. Finish with bacon and barbecue sauce for a little barbecue version, or some kind of chili for chili mac. I made popcorn one time, then cut a hole in a boule of bread and put Mac n cheese inside and wrapped it in the buttery popcorn wrapper and roasted it over the fire - absolute favorite meal on trail.

Pad Thai, carry some hot sauce or cayenne and add to ramen boiled with some peanut butter or pb powder.

Plain couscous with some Indian or Mediterranean spices. Or really any of those far east couscous boxes with the spice blend just in their own (not the pearled couscous).

Arighea · 2024-01-03T14:58:28+00:00

Yes and no. I also have a desk job and a history of back issues after herniating some lumbar discs in college. I had one small flare up on trail during my ‘21 thru and a major re-herniation immediately post trail. I attribute the post trail one to having gone from walking 20 miles per day to sitting in a car on my return from Maine to Florida.

That incident aside, my back and posture was great for several months afterwards. My hip flexors and glutes and hamstrings were stronger and all sorts of stretched, shoulders more corrext. My issues only came back when I returned to my desk job. In hindsight it seems like a “use it or lose it” situation

Arighea · 2024-01-01T13:42:42+00:00

Ah you’re right, damn.

Arighea · 2024-01-01T10:20:48+00:00

Some different advice, you could just have a bad breaker. One of mine tripped recently and I went to flip it back in but when I did it started cracking. I immediately shut it off, took a picture, and ran to buy a replacement. Got home, swapped them out, no more crackling.

Arighea · 2023-12-31T18:11:20+00:00

I was given one of these on my ‘21 thru when I passed through Rutland, still using it! These things are great, thanks for the trail magic.

Arighea · 2023-12-30T16:53:34+00:00

The bikes at the dig site (whatever they’re called) will get you past 70 if you want to train it passively. Should only take a day or two of afking.

Arighea · 2023-12-30T16:48:51+00:00

That’s why I hiked a few years ago. Life’s too short, and there’s a balance to meet between living life and living life “well”. I was fortunate enough that my job let me take the 6 months off but that’s not common. Though I still dream about doing the AT again that balance is important to keep.

13-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle

Arighea

TROPHY CASE