Day #8 - A Wonderful Day for a Zero!

Miles: 0 glorious miles

Weather: 60s/40s and rainy 

It was so great to wake up in a warm hotel room. I'm not going to lie. That room smelled awful. Yesterday when we got there, the boys decided it would be a good idea to put their socks on the heater to dry them out. That combined with all our stinky gear made for a pungent sauna atmosphere in the room. Six of us and a dog still managed to sleep in there. Tonight we're in a new room that Tigger's parents treated us to. It smells MUCH better!

I woke up early to get a hot breakfast in the lobby. Everyone else woke up around 9:30. We walked around Hiawassee several times today grabbing new gear and supplies. We went to the cutest little satellite outfitter, Three Eagles, in a little shed. They had just about everything you could need. I bought some Hot Hands and some canister fuel. Also picked up a cheese sauce foil pack from the hiker box, which is a box where hikers can dump unwanted stuff for others to take. Kris said they were pretty good. They even stamped my passport! 

We also went to Ingles a few times. I bought donut holes to snack on but ants in our room got into them later. Such a sad discovery. I also snagged a soy chai latte from the Starbucks in Ingles. A little taste of normalcy and so good on a rainy day! Three of us got knee braces at the pharmacy. We're all nursing aching bones. Several places we went asked us to sign their hiker logs. It's so sweet that they want to keep track of us! 

We did laundry today and now one of my gaiters is missing. So sad. If it doesn't show up I'll have to order new ones before we hit the Smokies. 

I called Will and my parents tonight. It's nice to be able to find out what's going on back home. I'm in a totally different world out here. I thought no makeup,  dirty hair, hairy legs, and dirty stinky clothes would bother me more than they do. Don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I was able to shave my legs tonight though. Hallelujah! What a luxury! Won't be able to shower for another 7 days or so. 

We had pizza delivered for lunch and are watching episodes of Cops. I'm icing my knee and taking Chondroitin with every meal. Planning on getting a shuttle back to the trail early in the morning and meeting back up with Kim out on the trail. Might try to crank out a few miles after the shelter too. The weather is supposed to be much better so we'll see how it goes! 

Best Thing: A day of rest! 

Looking Forward To: Hiking in good weather tomorrow. 

Day #7 - Slip Slidin' Away

Miles: 9.7 miles to Unicoi Gap/Hiawassee

Weather: 50s/30s, rain in AM and foggy all day

I'm so glad I slept in the shelter last night. I actually got hot and had to take off my down jacket. That's a first. I couldn't roll around or curl up like I normally do because I kept bumping into the people next to me, but I still slept well. Still had to wake up to pee. It's the bane of my existence. So annoying. 

It started raining at 5 a.m., much earlier than we expected. Goat and Jake were sleeping out by the fire so they had to scramble under the shelter floor. It was SUPER FOGGY all day. It was very hard to keep track of time. I set off with Chris, Mike, and Tigger. Kim and Oliver the dog stayed behind. Her gear got wet in her tent so she planned a zero there at Low Gap. Our goal was to meet up with Tigger's parents and take a zero. 

I'm slower than the group and fell behind, but they were nice and kept stopping to wait for me and make sure I hadn't slipped. I have decided to hike at my own pace and not try to race to keep up with my group. When I race I don't take time to look around or take breaks and I aggravate my knees. 

Today's theme sing was Paul Simon's "Slip Slidin' Away." I felt like the nearer I got to my destination the more muddy and slippery it got. 

Stopped at Blue Mt Shelter for a late lunch and a break from the cold rain. We met two men (one thru hiked in '97) hiking with a kid. One of the men had the kid's pack strapped to his chest. About 20 minutes from the parking lot, we came across Tigger's mom on the trail. I couldn't believe she had hiked up in those conditions to meet us. She followed me down and slipped and rolled in the mud on the way. I felt bad but she didn't get hurt, just muddy. 

At the lot, a Baptist church was doing trail magic. They gave me their last burger, a bottle of water (I was out) and a banana (a whole bunch of bananas, actually). I was so thankful. We then piled into Tigger's dad's van and he drove us to the Budget Inn (full) and the Holiday Inn Express. We have a nice room with double beds, a pull out couch, fridge and microwave. Our gear is everywhere! When I came out of the shower, Kim was here! She decided not to stay in camp and booked it to Unicoi. 

Tigger's parents surprised us and booked their room an extra night so we can spread out tomorrow. Showered and ate at an AYCE buffet at Daniel's (southern food). Bushwhacked through drainage ditches to resupply at Dollar General and Ingles. Going to give one of the guys a razor in exchange for a shot of whiskey. Seems like I got the better deal on that one. Bought some Glucosamine and Chondroitin for my knees. 

Gave Chris a new trail name, True Story. He's said that dozens of times today. Icing my knee, drinking PBR and watching HBO. My knee feels better but it might be the beer. Today was tough but this zero is going to be awesome. 

Tonight we were talking about 9/11 and I said it happened when I was a freshman in college. Abby did a double take. She didn't know I was 32. Guess how old she was on 9/11. 7. I'm old out here. 

Mikey's toes are black so Mike and Chris did a little "medical procedure" in the hotel bathroom. They heated a needle with a lighter and poked and hole through his toenail to drain the blood. It grew quite the crowd. Hope it helps! 

Best Thing: Zero day tomorrow. 

Looking Forward To: Not hiking tomorrow! 

Day #6 - I'm Still Standing

Miles: 4.8 to Low Gap Shelter

Weather: 60s/30s and sunny 

I slept great last night in my tent. I still had to wake up in the middle of the night to pee, but the stars were gorgeous. It was cold when I woke up, so I cooked my first hot breakfast, two packs of apple cinnamon oatmeal washed down with some hot cocoa. 

I set off early with Mike (Little Foot), Kate (Tigger), Chris, and Kim. We're all hurting except for Kim. She was flying ahead of us. I'm the slowest right now. My knees hurt pretty badly, but not as bad as on Blood Mountain or yesterday. They don't cause me to grimace anymore, which I take as a sign of progress. 

It was a short day, so I tried to take it easy. We got to the shelter before 2:00. At first I insisted I wasn't ready to sleep in a shelter yet because I'm scared of mice, but when I heard there was rain in the forecast, I changed my mind and grabbed the last spot. I didn't want to deal with taking down a wet tent. My first shelter experience! 

I ate pepperoni, string cheese, mayo, and a tortilla for lunch. Now we're just relaxing and hanging out until dinner. 

Cooked broccoli, rice, and cheese Rice-A-Roni for dinner. It was my favorite dinner so far. Can you tell my world has started to center around food? We've all just been talking and hanging out and resting our bodies. There's a guy named Gregg that we met the second night out. He's here tonight and getting on everyone's nerves. He's one of those people that knows EVERYTHING and tries to tell people what they are doing wrong. 

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. Glad we are heading into town soon. 

Best Thing Today: Low mileage day and beautiful stars last night. 

Looking Forward To: Spending a night in town. 

Day #4 - Get Me Off This Bloody Mountain

Miles: 15.9 to Neel Gap (slept in Blairsville)

Weather: 50s/20s with high winds and snow 

It rained overnight. I meant to check that my hiking shoes were under my rain fly but was too lazy. I woke up to wet shoes, but they dried quickly as I hiked and my feet didn't get wet. Kim and I both overslept our alarms so we ended up leaving camp at 8 instead of 7. The good news is we slept great! I love my Thermarest NeoAir XLite! 

Because of our miscalculation, lack of bear canisters, and what our friends had planned, we had to hike a brutal, knee-murdering 15.9 miles to Neel Gap. We had to get up and over Blood Mountain because a snow storm was blowing in. I flew on the uphills but the downhills got progressively more painful. I had to go super slow and start descending sideways to avoid a real knee injury. It was soooo cold and brutally windy that we hardly took any breaks. The goal was just to get to Neel Gap as quickly as possible. We did it in 9 hours. Not too bad. 

Today was a lot of mental work. When I got cold, I thought of cranking up the heat in my car or at home to keep me warm. When the sun would shine briefly, I'd think of my mom and how she'd wished that for me. I had to keep reminding myself that today would be over and the pain and cold were only temporary. I was not going to die no matter how hard the day was. I had gear to keep me warm and enough money to take a zero if needed. 

During our hike, Oliver caught and killed a squirrel. My face and hands are windburned and my lips are chapped. Ibuprofen is my friend. We FINALLY got to the famous Mountain Crossings. I've never been so happy to see a building in my life.

The bunks were full, so we called a guy named Ron and shuttled to Blairsville. Kim and I rode with our packs and Ollie in the back of an SUV. Kim and I shared a room with Abby at the Seasons Inn. Mike, Chris, and Tigger stayed next door. I showered for the first time since Saturday (today is Tuesday). We exploded our gear in the room to dry our tents. We also did laundry. 

It's snowing outside! I can appreciate that now that I'm warm and dry inside. We went to an AYCE (All You Can Eat) pizza buffet. I only had 4 small slices but I made up for it in sweet tea consumption. We did our first resupply at Foodland. That was kind of fun. Finally got some cheese! I've been craving it. 

Best Thing: Getting to Neel Gap without injury and seeing the famous Mountain Crossings. 

Looking Forward To: A short day tomorrow and eating new food. 

Day #5 - I Shipped My Pants

Miles: 6.7

Weather: 50s/30s and sunny

Sleeping in a hotel last night was AMAZING! Shared a bed with Abby. It was soooo good to sleep on a mattress in a heated room. Got to pee in a toilet and use toilet paper as often as I wanted!  

Got a late start from the Seasons Inn. Ate breakfast (a cheese and cherry Danish) in the room and posted to my blog. The owners of the hotel were SUPER nice. I had hot cocoa in the lobby and met thru-hikers Jake and Goat. Southern boys. 

Eight of us piled into Ron's van and took a very crowded ride back to Mountain Crossings. That's such a neat place and somewhere I've been looking forward to visiting. I decided to ship my convertible pants home in favor of my legging/hiking short combo. Since I now don't have any pant pockets, I needed a way to carry my wallet and phone other than a Ziplock since I almost left my Ziplock "wallet" at the Foodland in Blairsville. I bought an orange 1 liter stuff sack from Mountain Crossings. I also bought a bag of Sour Patch Kids and ate that for lunch. Here's a photo of Little Foot (Mike), Tigger (Kate), me, Simba (Abby), Chain Gang (Chris), Kilt Man, Kim, and Oliver in front of Mountain Crossings. 

We set off from Mountain Crossings to hike to Whitley Gap Shelter. My knees are hurting pretty badly so it was a tough hike, but the weather was pretty good and we had some beautiful views. 

The shelter was much further from the trail than we thought. On the bright side, it was a pretty green hike in a landscape that looked like a movie set. We were all hurting and just ready to be done for the day. 

We were expecting nighttime lows in the teens, so I wore nearly all the clothes I had. I also took 800 mls of Ibuprofen from a friend before I went to bed. I slept warm and sound. I'm still waking up in the middle of the night each night to pee in the woods. That's super annoying (and cold!), but what can you do? At least I'm hydrated. 

Best Thing: Ate new food and had good food. 

Looking Forward To: A short 5 mile hike tomorrow! 

Day #3 - The Devil is in the Details

Miles: 7.7 to Gooch Mountain Shelter

Weather: 60s/30s and sunny

We expected 100% chance of rain but didn't get a drop. That's always a lovely surprise to wake up to. I was a bit cold last night and considered getting a warmer sleeping bag, but I already have a 600 fill 10 degree down bag. Not sure I want to throw down $500 just to be slightly warmer. Going to switch up a few things and see if I can get a little warmer.  I had to take a few breaks when taking down my tent this morning because I couldn't feel my fingers. 

Hiking was pretty easy today. Downhills are hard on the knees! I tried hiking in long johns with running shorts. I like that but it's harder to use my PStyle. 

Everyone seemed in high spirits today, which is encouraging. We made great time and ended up at Gooch Mt Shelter at 2:00. I set up camp and got water from a pipe coming out of a spring. At the spring, I found out Tigger didn't have a multitool so I gave her my extra (it fell out of my pack suspension after night 1). Hung out at the shelter and ate dinner before 4:00. So many nice people. So far, seems very HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike) and not too many know it alls. 

I was the first to put my food bag on the cables. Don't want to lift 5+ bags later ! The site is filling up from Springer and Hawk Mt shelters. Expecting good weather tomorrow. Hope to hike 12.4 to Woods Hole Hostel where Geni Godwin (my old bosses' daughter) works. More on this later. 

Texted my brother Michael for his birthday and texted Mom and Dad to let them know I'm okay. Told them Nita is off the trail. They told me my GPS signals are going through. 

About "Woods Hole Hostel." Yeah... That's in Virginia. I misread the guide book. It actually said Woods Hole Shelter, which is NOT the same thing. That threw off our mileage. You need a bear canister at Woods Hole Shelter and all the way to Neel Gap. We are shooting for a 16 miler to get up and over Blood Mountain in one day. Luckily, lots of others have the same plan, so we are in it together! 

Best Thing: AMAZING weather and new friends. 

Looking Forward To: Big miles (for us) and Woods Hole Hostel (oops!).

Day #2 - It Feels Official Now

Hiked: 9.6 miles to Hawk Mt Shelter

Weather: 50s/30s with morning rain 

This morning Nita told us she was leaving. She said the lows are just too low and that she shouldn't have used this trip as her first night away from her husband. I don't disagree. I later found out she had been throwing up all night from anxiety. Yesterday we had perfect hiking conditions. If she wasn't happy then, getting off the trail was the right thing to do. I said goodbye to her at the shelter. I hope she gets things figured out! 

Kim set out a bit before me, so I was on my own for the short hike to Springer Mt. It started raining right before I left camp, so I put on my rain coat, hat, and pack cover. The hiking wasn't bad. So far, things have been much flatter than I had envisioned. I almost missed the summit of Springer. It was pretty vegetated and the first white blaze and placard werent obvious. I had a hard time finding the trail so I wandered around for a few seconds and stumbled on the first white blaze on a rock. 

Ran into a scout troop at the summit. The leader told me the first 4 days of a thru hike are the hardest. So far, I think mine has been pretty easy! On the way back down, I put a Springer pebble in my pocket to carry to Katahdin. I didn't think to sign the register on Springer, but then again I didn't see it. Hoping my sign-in at Amicalola counts! 

The scenery was green and gorgeous today with a babbling brook and a smooth, pine needle-covered, relatively flat trail. I'm starting to make some trail friends and am happy with my food and gear choices. 

We arrived at Hawk Mt Shelter at 2 pm. We made excellent time! Met Chris, Mike, Greg, Alex, and Terry. Chris, Greg, and Alex are recent college grads. Mike just got out of high school. I think Terry is retired. There were SOOO MANY bear bags on the cable tonight! I'm surprised it didn't collapse! 

When I got to camp to set up my tent, I heard a squirting/leaking sound. Thought it was my NeoAir or my water bladder. Then I noticed it was coming from my hip belt pocket. I thought my camera battery exploded because it was covered in orange liquid. Turns out my mace had sprayed all over my hip belt pocket. I wiped it up the best I could. Seems okay now, but I threw the mace away. Oh well. I don't feel like I need it anyway. I am loving my PStyle though! Makes peeing in the woods so easy! Definitely worth the purchase. 

Best Thing Today: Saw my first white blaze! 

What I'm Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Hiking with new friends! 

Day #1 - Here Goes Nothing!

Hiked: 7.3 miles from Amicalola Falls visitor center to Black Gap shelter. 

Weather:  60s/40s, clear and breezy 

I'm so glad this day is finally here! I have been looking forward to hiking rather than planning and anticipating. I loaded up my pack last night and let Mom and Dad try it on. I thought Mom was going to fall over! She started stumbling back and forth. It didn't even come close to fitting Dad, but at least he got to try it on. 

I slept well and in the morning Mom, Dad, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Cindy walked down to The Waffle House for one last big meal. Then it was off to Amicalola Falls, about a 1.5 hr drive from Atlanta. We had no problem getting there and began looking around the visitor center while we waited for Kim and Nita to arrive. I weighed my pack (33 lbs with 4 days of food and 2 liters of water), signed the thru-hiker register, and got my first stamp in my AT passport. Took a few photos out back under the famous archway. 

Kim and Nita were lost on remote mountain back roads, so they arrived about 20 minutes later. In the meantime, some shuttle driver began telling my family about a female hiker who had been raped and decapitated. I politely told him my mom probably didn't want to hear those kinds of stories. Then he moved on to the story about the guy that drove into the hikers during Trail Days last year (this after I told him my parents plan to meet me in Damascus). That's when I excused us from the conversation and said we needed to look for our friends. 

Kim, Nita, and Nita's husband, Daniel, arrived in a mud-covered car looking frazzled. Somehow their GPS had routed them through some rough dirt roads and they had a hard time finding the visitor center. I introduced them to my family, then showed them where to check in and weigh their packs. Nita told me when she woke up she almost decided to give Kim a ride to Amicalola then just head home. Not a good sign. We took some pictures under the arch, said our goodbyes (not as tearful as I had expected from my mom), and were off! 

We hiked up 600+ stairs to the beautiful Amicalola Falls. All I have to say is THANK GOD I've been training for the past few months. The stairs weren't that bad, though Nita struggled. It was humid and we were sweaty, but the views were beautiful. Oliver didn't like the open metal grate on the stairs, but he did well. 

We ate lunch at the top of the falls, then hiked a few more hours to Black Gap Shelter. The hiking was much easier than I expected. Nita was in high spirits, but she began to struggle on the uphills and eventually told us to go on ahead. I worried that being alone would crush her morale, but we went on anyway. We arrived at the shelter and went down to the creek to get water. I ignored the little critters living at the bottom of the pool. After some Aqua Mira drops, the water didn't taste bad at all! I'm quickly learning to ignore bits of dirt and debris floating in my water bottle. 

Nita arrived at camp and we met some fellow thru hikers from Germany. They are both 19 and hiking with their dogs. They are hiking with a kid who goes by Blacksmith. There are so many young hikers out here! Don't think I've met anyone in their 30s yet, but I didn't really expect to. I sent an OK signal to my dad from my SPOT GPS. It texts and emails him my GPS coordinates and lets him know everything is okay. I try to do it when we get to camp each day.

I showed Nita how to use her stove. She said she wondered what her husband was doing right then. I was getting more and more certain she wanted to head home. Hung our food bags from the bear cables next to the shelter and got in our tents. That's when Nita said she wanted to go home. Kim and I tried to convince her to sleep on it and at least hike to Neel Gap to give her time to work out her jitters. She's young, has never been away from her husband, and has never been backpacking. So many new experiences at once. I don't think she'll end up staying with us much longer. 

Best Thing That Happened Today: Beautiful weather and being seen off by my family. 

What I'm Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Officially reaching Springer Mt, the southern terminus of the AT. 

The FINAL Final Countdown

It's finally here! I can't believe I start my thru-hike tomorrow morning. I've been planning this trip for a year and a half. During that time, there was only one night when the thought crossed my mind, "What am I thinking?!" Besides that one moment, I was totally excited and eager to begin my hike. That changed a bit over the past couple of weeks once I left my job. I was still excited, but the gravity of what I am doing began to sink in. Honestly, I think printing the trail map for my going away party triggered the "OMG! That's a heck of a long trail" moments. The map was 6 pages long and spanned the length of one of the doors in my parents' house. As I began to look for landmarks along the way (like Damascus, VA where they hold Trail Days or McAfee Knob, the most photographed spot on the trail), I noticed those were only on page 2 of 6. Seriously? How could that be. Then I began to think of my day to day life on the trail. I'll be sleeping in the woods for the next six months? Pooping in a privy or a hole I dig in the ground? Going without a shower for days on end? Doesn't sound very fun. I knew I just needed to get to Georgia and get this show on the road.

Now that I'm in Atlanta and have all of my gear safely packed away in my pack, I'm excited again and ready to hit the trail. There's no more planning I can do. No more gear adjustments to make. It's just time to get out there and do the best I can. I'm FAR from an expert on backpacking and am totally open to learning from others out on the trail. It will take a few weeks to fall into a routine and understand the best order to do things in and the best ways to use my gear. Once I get into a groove, things will be much easier and setting up and breaking down camp each day will get quicker. I'm so excited to start my hike tomorrow and am eager to meet some great new friends and trail angels along the way.

Before I leave, I want to thank everyone that has offered their support during the past few months and even years. I can honestly say that I have not met a SINGLE PERSON who has had anything bad to say about my journey. Sadly, not every hiker can say that. Everyone is excited for me and many people tell me they wish they could do something similar themselves. So many people have offered to send me packages along the way (I'll post a list of post office locations as soon as I get a better grasp on that), meet me along the way, pray for me, or just follow my blog and live vicariously through me. Those offers and sentiments mean more than you'll ever know. Knowing I have such a huge support system behind me will make the tough days much easier and will keep me going when I am feeling overwhelmed. This trail is NOT EASY and many, many days will suck. I'll be wet, smelly, hungry, and covered in bug bites much of the time. I wouldn't be undertaking this journey if I didn't think the good would outweigh the bad, but I can't dismiss the fact that this will be a tough hike, both mentally and physically. Thanks for your encouragement so far. I hope that by reading my blog and following my journey you'll be inspired to take big risks and follow your heart. Life's too short to not be doing what you love.

Here goes nothing! I'll post as much as I can during my hike. Follow me on Instagram at StaceyinTX to see the most photos. I'm trying not to overwhelm my Facebook friends and I won't be able to put them all on my blog. Talk to you soon!

Pre-Hike Gear List

One of my favorite things to do is watch people's gear videos on YouTube. I think it's so interesting to see what other people carry. After over a year and a half of trial and error, I've narrowed down my gear list to these items. It's more weight and volume than I'd like to carry, but I'm sure I'll be able to weed some stuff out after a few weeks on the trail. Without water and fuel, my pack currently weighs a little over 28 lbs. It's more than I'd like, but that includes 4-5 days worth of food, so the load will get lighter as I eat it. Here's what I'm carrying.

Pack Contents

This is nearly everything I will be carrying in my pack. I think the only things not pictured are fuel and my multi-tool. I'll detail more about each item in the following sections. From left to rightish, starting at the top:

• ZPacks bear bag kit with 8 lbs (4 days) of food
• Homemade first aid kit
• Toiletry bag
• REI pack towel
• Crocs camp shoes
• Black Rock down beanie
• MSR Hubba tent
• Tyvek tent "footprint"
• Tent poles
• Snow Peak Titanium Mini Solo Cookset (pot and mug)
• Medications (Ibuprofen, Benadryl, Immodium, etc.)
• Ben's 100 Max DEET
• Toilet paper
• P-Style female urinal (green)
• SPOT GPS tracker (orange)
• Chargers and spare batteries
• Montrail Mountain Masochist trail runners with green Superfeet insoles
• Seattle Sombrero rain hat
• ULA pack cover
• 2 liter and 1 liter Platypus water bladders
• Aqua Mira water purification drops
• Rite in the Rain journal with pencil, Rite in the Rain pen, and mini Sharpie
• Headlamp and matches
• 8-liter Sea to Summit dry bag for clothing (pink)
• Wool buff (purple)
• GoLite rain pants and Outdoor Research Helium II rain jacket
• NeoAir XLite sleeping pad (yellow)
• REI down mummy bag rated to 10 degrees in an eVent compression sack
• Seirus All Weather Gloves (these are different than the ones pictured)
• Outdoor Research waterproof mitts
• Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer down jacket
• Leki Cressida hiking poles

Clothing

This includes clothing both worn and carried.

• EMS women's camp cargo convertible pants
• Icebreaker wool tee (red)
• Icebreaker wool sports bra (x2)
• Icebreaker wool underwear and ExOfficio underwear
• Fox River X-Static Liner Socks (x2)
• Darn tough socks (x2)
• Possum down socks for sleeping
• Crocs camp shoes
• Black Rock down beanie
• Seattle Sombrero rain hat
• Nylon running shorts
• Wool long underwear top
• Icebreaker Sprite wool leggings
• EMS Women's Techwick Heavyweight Tights
• Dirty Girl gaiters
• Head net
• Wool buff (purple)
• GoLite rain pants
• Smart Wool midweight crew (blue)
• Seirus All Weather Gloves (these are different than the ones pictured)
• Outdoor Research waterproof mitts
• North Face fleece (grey)
• Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer down jacket

Kitchen

• ZPacks bear bag kit with 8 lbs (4 days) of food
• Snow Peak Titanium Mini Solo Cookset (pot and mug with stuff sack)
• Smart Water bottle
• Platypus 1 liter bladder
• ZPacks rock sack
• ZPacks bear bag cord (orange)
• MSR Pocket Rocket stove
• Purple bandana
• Snow Peak titanium spork (purple)
• Olive oil in 3 oz. bottle
• Waterproof matches
• Small pot scrubber (blue)
• Lighter
• Aqua Mira water purification drops
• 2 liter Platypus bladder

Electronics

• Dual USB charger
• AAA batteries
• Nikon Coolpix AW110
• SPOT GPS tracker (orange
• Mophie external battery
• Spare memory card and camera battery
• Cords to charge devices
• Camera battery charger
• Petzl headlamp
• Ear buds
• Cord to connect camera to computer
• I will also be carrying an iPhone 5 in a LifeProof case (not pictured)

Sleep System

• REI down mummy bag rated to 10 degrees in an eVent compression sack
• MSR Hubba tent
• MSR Hubba tent pole and stakes
• Tyvek ground sheet
• NeoAir XLite sleeping pad (yellow)

Toiletries

• First aid kit
• Bandana
• Wet Ones
• P-Style female urinal
• Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
• Medications (Ibuprofen, Benadryl, Immodium, etc.)
• REI pack towel
• Facial cleansing cloths
• Collapsible hair brush and hair bands
• Dr. Bronner's soap
• Nail clippers
• Ear plugs
• Sunscreen
• Razor
• Toilet paper
• Face lotion, medications, etc.
• Ben's 100 Max DEET
• Cotton swabs and cotton pads
• Elastic head band

Other

• The A.T. Guide
• Rite in the Rain journal
• Pencil and Rite in the Rain pen
• Stamps
• Small photo wallet insert
• AT Passport
• Small notebook (for photo log)

The Whole Shabang

And here it is packed up in my Osprey Aura 65 pack. She's pretty full! If you have any specific gear questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll do my best to respond.

Stay tuned for a post-hike gear list/review to see what I ended up keeping and what I sent packing!