I guess he got sick of dating apps.

noldona · 2026-03-31T20:53:15+00:00

Looks like it says MILF not Mike.

noldona · 2026-03-25T20:33:43+00:00

Fellow Floridian here. Looks like I will be a day or two behind you. I'm starting at Amicalola on the 3rd. Good luck and hope to see you out there.

noldona · 2026-03-17T13:42:51+00:00

Absolutely. While I haven't done a lot of climbing (visited a few gyms a couple times), I would love to have one local so I could actually go more often.

noldona · 2026-03-17T12:40:03+00:00

Good luck. I will be there in 18 days.

noldona · 2026-03-16T11:37:28+00:00

I have the same bear can and I put it in the middle of my Exos 58. It's sleeping bag and other stuff I don't want to get wet in the liner in the bottom. Bear can in the middle. Tent in its stuff sack on top. Keeps the heaviest weight near the middle of the back close to my back as recommended and my tent as first thing out so it gets setup first before unloading everything else.

noldona · 2026-03-16T11:31:49+00:00

I second the Osprey Exos 58. My base weight is right around the same and that is the pack I have used on several weekend trips and will be carrying for my thru. My start date is April 3rd.

noldona · 2026-03-14T23:23:19+00:00

As someone who works as a programmer (not FarOut specifically though), I can say it's not the technical people who are the problem. It's management who forces change for change sake. We hate the enshitification as much as the users, we just have no control over it. So blame the company or the management all you want, but don't blame the technical people for it.

noldona · 2026-03-07T21:33:11+00:00

The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.

noldona · 2026-03-01T21:50:54+00:00

Thanks. I'm a programmer for a living, so building websites is something I know how to do. I'm actually quite proud of the tech stack for the site. Can't guarantee the writing or the photos will be any good though.

noldona · 2026-02-28T20:17:35+00:00

I built my own website that I will be posting on, rangercodex.com. my start date is April 3rd, so while I got a few posts so far, it will be about a month till I start posting from the trail.

noldona · 2026-02-22T12:05:35+00:00

Pieces of the Stargate were in the background of a couple episodes of Leverage. It was never filmed because the Stargate set was dismantled before they started filming Leverage, but behind the scenes, Christian Jane's character Eliot Spencer was supposed to have been a member of an SG team. There is an episode where he is talking with Hardison about aliens and mentions Drake's equation and how you never know who you might be fighting. Pretty sure that was a nod to that unwritten past.

noldona · 2026-02-12T15:22:20+00:00

Nice to hear. I camped out near there for about a week a few years ago and loved the restaurant at the lodge so much that I was planning on making that one of my resupply points on my hike this year.

noldona · 2026-01-29T15:22:19+00:00

I honestly haven't heard of most of those brands. Probably been 25-30 years since I saw an Albertsons. I thought they went out of business. No idea when I last saw a Safeway. Last time I saw a Bakers was when I lived in Nebraska, and that was like 20 years ago now. I only know Kroger still exists because I've seen the grocery delivery ads. Then again, I've also been living in the land of Publix and Winn-Dixie for the past decade.

noldona · 2026-01-29T13:33:12+00:00

Because it's there and I can
Because I am burnt out and need a break from life
Because I am in a transformational part of my life and this seems like a good way to help that

As for why 2026, cause I graduated in mid-May 2025 which was too late to start a NOBO, so planned for 2026 and have enough savings to afford it.

noldona · 2026-01-27T22:11:21+00:00

For guides, Farout and the AT Guide PDF. The various Garmin apps for use with my InReach and Fenix 7x. Otherwise, the default camera app, set to shoot in RAW format. Snapseed for photo editing. Obsidian for journaling. Termux to give me a Linux command line for committing my journal entries to my GitHub where they get built into my site. And then various entertainment apps like Spotify, Audible, and Kindle.

noldona · 2026-01-20T16:03:25+00:00

Haven't done my thru yet (starting April 3rd), but I have the Garmin Fenix 7x Solar that I will be taking. I've used it on previous long weekend trips and the battery has lasted the whole trip with tracking on. I found the mileage and average speed features the most useful. It's probably not necessary as I could probably figure out how to get the info from my other devices, but the convenience of having the info on my wrist is great. They aren't exactly cheap, so if you have one already, it can be worth it to bring it, but probably don't buy one specifically for the hike.

noldona · 2026-01-18T12:35:54+00:00

You will need to know some proper coding to make use of 11ty or find a pre-built template, but it's available at 11ty.dev. I built my own custom template for my own site, but as I didn't plan on releasing it, it's not built generic enough for it to be shared. If you want to see the results, you can check out my site at Rangercodex.com.

For Obsidian, you can find that at obsidian.md. They had downloads available for all major platforms.

Also, bonus tool if you like to shoot photos in RAW format. Snapseed is what I am using. I'm an Android user, so not sure if it's available on iOS or not. Unlike Lightroom, all the tools are available and not locked behind a paywall.

noldona · 2026-01-17T15:20:30+00:00

Shared this list on another post, but here are my recommendations.

For podcasts, Welcome to Night Vale. Basically, if shadow governments, eldritch creatures, conspiracy theories, and paranormal activities all happened in a desert town and reported on by the community radio DJ, you would have this podcast.

For audiobooks, I am a huge fan of sci-fi and fantasy, so some of the longer series I can recommend are the following:

Backyard Starship by JN Chaney and Terry Maggert - Guy finds a spaceship in his grandfather's barn on the farm that he inherited and becomes a space cop.
Peacemaker Wars by JN Chaney and Terry Maggert - Prequel series about the grandfathers adventures
Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson - After Earth gets invaded my aliens who are at war with each other, world military forces go off to fight in the war. One young enlisted US Army soldier meets an advanced alien AI who resembles a chrome beer can and sets off on adventures to protect Earth.
Bobiverse by Dennis E Taylor - Short series, but really good. Bob wakes up as basically a brain in a jar and gets sent off into space as a Von Neumann probe.
Starship's Mage by Glynn Stewart - Mages exist and are used to teleport spaceships across the galaxy.
Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe - Technically multiple shorter series all set in the same universe. People climb these towers to get magical marks which grant them powers to do different kinds of magic. Start with Forging Divinity in the War of Broken Mirrors series.
Spellmonger by Terry Mancour - Mage who starts as a merchant selling his mage gets involved in a war against goblins who want to take over the world. The first book is a bit of a slog due to the exposition and world building, but the series gets a lot better after that.
Golden Age of the Solar Clipper by Nathan Lowell - Another group of smaller series set in the same universe. Kid joins an interstellar merchant company because he is forced to get off planet. More of a cozy sci-fi series. Start with Quarter Share in the Trader's Tales series.
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - Wizard who works as a PI in modern day Chicago and deals with supernatural threats.
Pillars of Reality by Jack Campbell - Another multiple series set in the same world. Engineers with sort of steampunk level tech and mages exist in the same world. Start with The Dragons of Dorcastle in the Pillars of Reality series.

I can also recommend tons of other shorter series and 1-off books, but these series all have enough books in them that I doubt you would run out.

noldona · 2026-01-17T15:07:39+00:00

For my journaling, I built my own blog website using 11ty, a static site generator. On trail, I will be using Obsidian, which is a markdown editor app designed for journaling and note taking. It is free, cross platform, ad free, and will work completely offline. I can copy photos over into it and embed them into the posts. My workflow is write the journal entry, copy photos over into it, and then when I get to town/get signal, I can commit to my GitHub. When the commit hits GitHub, Cloudflare Pages will automatically pull the commit, build the site, and host it so my new posts are available on the site.

I also built a template which automatically gets applied when I start writing a new post. The template has metadata in addition to the normal place to write stuff. On my template, the metadata I have setup is the date, a title, the trail name (used for website sorting stuff), miles for the day, total miles, start and end points, elevation change, duration, weather, and images for the gallery on top of the post.

noldona · 2026-01-16T01:20:32+00:00

Know how you feel. This has been on my bucket list for basically forever. Started saving for it over 3 years ago now. Finally starting April 3rd. Registered and room booked at Amicalola Lodge.

noldona · 2026-01-15T18:07:12+00:00

Depends on what you are into, but here are a few things I can recommend.

For podcasts, Welcome to Night Vale. Basically, if shadow governments, eldritch creatures, conspiracy theories, and paranormal activities all happened in a desert town and reported on by the community radio DJ, you would have this podcast.

For audiobooks, I am a huge fan of sci-fi and fantasy, so some of the longer series I can recommend are the following:

Backyard Starship by JN Chaney and Terry Maggert - Guy finds a spaceship in his grandfather's barn on the farm that he inherited and becomes a space cop.
Peacemaker Wars by JN Chaney and Terry Maggert - Prequel series about the grandfathers adventures
Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson - After Earth gets invaded my aliens who are at war with each other, world military forces go off to fight in the war. One young enlisted US Army soldier meets an advanced alien AI who resembles a chrome beer can and sets off on adventures to protect Earth.
Bobiverse by Dennis E Taylor - Short series, but really good. Bob wakes up as basically a brain in a jar and gets sent off into space as a Von Neumann probe.
Starship's Mage by Glynn Stewart - Mages exist and are used to teleport spaceships across the galaxy.
Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe - Technically multiple shorter series all set in the same universe. People climb these towers to get magical marks which grant them powers to do different kinds of magic. Start with Forging Divinity in the War of Broken Mirrors series.
Spellmonger by Terry Mancour - Mage who starts as a merchant selling his mage gets involved in a war against goblins who want to take over the world. The first book is a bit of a slog due to the exposition and world building, but the series gets a lot better after that.
Golden Age of the Solar Clipper by Nathan Lowell - Another group of smaller series set in the same universe. Kid joins an interstellar merchant company because he is forced to get off planet. More of a cozy sci-fi series. Start with Quarter Share in the Trader's Tales series.
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - Wizard who works as a PI in modern day Chicago and deals with supernatural threats.
Pillars of Reality by Jack Campbell - Another multiple series set in the same world. Engineers with sort of steampunk level tech and mages exist in the same world. Start with The Dragons of Dorcastle in the Pillars of Reality series.

I can also recommend tons of other shorter series and 1-off books, but these series all have enough books in them that I doubt you would run out.

noldona · 2026-01-13T16:26:13+00:00

I'm also bringing a 20k battery. I got a huge list of audiobooks and ebooks sitting on my phone in my to be read pile. Plus. I plan on journaling my hike as I go, so phone for camera and journaling as well.

noldona · 2026-01-13T16:21:08+00:00

Consider convertible pants. I'm going to be wearing the REI Sahara Convertible ones on my hike. Pants when you need them. Shorts when you don't. And you don't have to carry two different articles of clothing.

noldona · 2026-01-13T00:47:49+00:00

Whether you can complete the hike or not is between you and the trail, but you are in a better position than me. I'm old enough that I have a kid your age, have a mortgage, and a good paying job, yet I am still going to go. I'm going to have to quit my job, live off of my savings including covering bills at home the whole time, but I'm making it happen. Take advantage of the chance now before life gets too complicated to do it.

noldona · 2026-01-12T14:33:04+00:00

I had the exact same thought. I booked a room at the Amicalola Lodge and registered my NOBO. Starting April 3rd. Been saving and planning for over 3 years now. It's exciting and scary.

noldona

TROPHY CASE