Here's my story in the briefest nutshell I can manage...
This will be my first section hike of the AT. I have hiked parts of it on day hikes while living in Asheville, NC but have never spent the night and kept hiking the next day.
What took me to Asheville? Roller Derby and School! I played roller derby in Tampa, Fl. starting in 2006. In 2009, I decided to move to Asheville and skate with a league there. While there, I feel in love with the mountains and the trails, but roller derby kept me very busy (oh and school but I was way more involved with roller derby). I moved back to Tampa, Fl area in 2011 to be closer to my family and I had already graduated. I started to play rollover derby back in Tampa but had a sudden bad run of luck....turns out all the hits to my head during my 6 years of playing roller derby took its toll. I had got a mild concussion and went to get myself check out. They decided to do a scan and found out that at one point I had a brain bleed but luckily it had cleared up. I only had a mild concussion, but the doctor told me that I needed to stop playing contact sports because all of the injuries over the years have complied and I could really do permanent brain damage if I continued. I stopped playing and started coaching! This sport has taken me all over the world and I have had a blast doing it, but I am a bit tired of practice 5days a week and not getting to play too. So I am retiring after our last tournament in September.
My hike....I decided that I wanted to try a section hike of the AT to see if I was even capable of doing the whole thing, and time restraints as of now, sometime in February. I have been planning since then. I will be hiking with my service dog so when I say we, it's just me and him. He and I have been training here in Florida since mid March and doing 2-3 nights on the longest trails I can find here that also offer primitive campsites. We have encountered all animals that could be on the trail except bears, but I am confident we will be able to handle it after all the friendly help here and being vigilant in storing my food.
We will be going doing the first 110 miles staring at springer mt. I am thinking we can do about 8 miles the first few days then step it up to 11 or 12. We are tent camping the whole time so we do not disturb shelters. (We both do better in the tent!)
Here is my gear list and his and our food list. He is carrying all his own stuff and has been practicing for it so he is ready! Please feel free to Le me know if I'm missing something or feel free to leave your thoughts on my gear. I got all of this on a very tight budget but have been testing it out and getting used to it and like all that I have
Big items:
- Kelty Red Cloud 80women's
-kelty 20degree women's sleeping bag
-Ozark Trail 3season 2 person tent with foot print and tarp for rain fly
-sea to Summit pack cover
-thermorest self inflating sleeping pad
-crazy creek chair
-katadyn hiker pro water filter
-bear spray
-bear vault
-goal zero solar power charger
-2 32oz. Nalgene bottles
-Spot GPS tracker
Cook Bag:
-Jetboil stove kit
-GSP Outdoor cook pot, bowl, cup
-wind screen
-spork
- bandana
Clothing:
-Rain Wear Bag- Frogg Toggs Rain Suit - Ourdoor Reaserch Short length gaiters
-Separate clothes bag -2 underwear/ 1 on me, 1 packed
-3 pairs socks/ 1 on me, 2 packed
-2 convertible pants/ 1on me, 1 packed
-2 convertible shirts/ 1 on me, 1 packed
-1 bandana
-fleece packed
-2 sports bras/ 1 on me, 1 packed
-baseball cap on me
-Salomon Women's Hiking Boots
-Keen Sandles for camp
Personals Bag:
--everything in separate ziploc baggies- bug spray with deet
-Sunscreen
-Camps Suds 3oz.
- travel toothbrush
-travel toothpaste
-hand sanitizer
-1 roll portable toilet paper
-2empty ziplocks for waste
-30ft rope
Handy Bag:
- basic Swiss aArmy knife
-energizer head lamp
-foldable shovel
-sea to summit insect shield
First aid: 4-3x1 bandages, 2-2x6 bandages, 1 small roll stretch wrap, 2 alcohol pads, 2 doses aspirin, 2 doses ibprophen, 2sting relief pads, 1 small roll medical tape, 1 neosprorin on the go, 1 small roll duck tape, water proof matches, water tablets, emergency whistle
My Dogs Pack:
-rain cover for him
-pack cover
-chuck it travel bed
-ruff wear dog boot
-2 6ft leads, 1 on him, 1 back up
- 2 32oz. Nalgene bottles
-2 portable food/ water bowls
- sea to summit insect shield
-odor resistant bags for food
Our Food:
we are stopping at Neels Gap and I'm giving us 6 days to get there.
His---
- 1 packet of wet food per day/6packets
-2 cups dry food per day/ 12 cups
-3 biskit/bones per day--18
- 3 pieces of jerky a day--1 pack jerky
My Food---
-Breakfast: -combination of eggs and grits/oatmeal/granola
-dehydrated eggs and bacon-3bags=6 meal with supplement
-oatmeal and grits- 6oatmeal 3grits=6 meal supplements
-dehydrated milk and granola- 1pack=4 meal supplements
-Lunch:
-peanut butter and jelly on tortilla- 12oz peanut butter/8 indivitual jelly packets/5 tortillas
- tuna and crackers- 2 packets of tuna/ 1 sleeve crackers
-Dinner:- dehydrated meal and meat
- dehydrated meals- chilli Mac, beef stroganoff, chicken Alfredo/ 3 packages=6 meals
- pepperoni and beef jerky- 1 package of pepperoni, 1 package of jerky=6 meals
-Snacks: - gorp ( m&m, honey roasted peanuts, raisins, pretzels)
- chewy granola bars- 10 cliff and natures valley bars
- fruit leathers- 10 assorted fflavored
-cinnamon roasted almonds and walnuts
-Extra Food Stuff-- 6 tablespoons protein powder, 6 iced tea packets, 6 coffe packets, 6 emergenC, salt and pepper, 3 hot chocolate, 12 packets of honey


Ok, that's it, thanks in advance for those who read all of it