Lessons from the AT

By Heidi, aka Mom.

I picked up our intrepid hiker yesterday at about 1 pm at the top of Dick’s Creek Gap.  She was out of fuel for her stove, and mostly out of food as well. She also wanted a shower, if possible, and needed a fresh supply of the white stuff that comes on rolls next to all the best privies that aren’t on the AT. 

The shower was easy, as I’d just spent 24 whole dollars on a campsite in town and moved our camper out of the stealth camping location we’d been in for the past few days. Showers for all of us!

Food, no problem! There were still 3 days worth of our pre planned food stuff in the cooler of the car.

T. P. was also easy, seeing as how I am the kind of gal who always has a stash of that in the car anyway (something about traveling with kids for the past 23 and 1/4 years has finally sunk in).

Fuel, though, not so much. I had some, don’t get me wrong, and it was even the right kind of fuel for her stove, it just wasn’t the right size canister. What I had was the large 8 ounce (heavy!) canister, and what she needed was a small 4 ounce (light!) one.

Now, 4 ounces might not seem like much to you and I, who are using all the latest devices to truck around our stuff, but just imagine if you will, carrying, ACTUALLY CARRYING, everything you need to get through the day, and the night, on your back.

Did you wear pajamas to bed last night? I don’t want to know if you did or didn’t, just plan on carrying them around with you all day if you did.

Did you sleep in a shelter of some sort? Can you carry that, too? Brush your teeth and hair this morning? Good for you! Toss all that into your bag.

Are you wearing clean clothes right now? You are? Does that mean that you carried them around with you all day yesterday? No? How did they get clean? Oh, man, that washer is heavy!

Did you eat breakfast this morning? With dishes and silverware? Do you plan to eat lunch? Dinner, too? Food is REALLY important, so toss it all in.

Your backpack, I’m sorry to say, is not looking so good, and I have no idea how you’re going to carry it all the way to the next shelter.

My point, of course, is that sometimes 4 ounces makes a difference, so I began to look for the right size canister. I won’t bore you with all the details of my search but I will tell you that I drove all over the town of Hiawassee, Georgia, searching for and finally finding the right size canister.

It and half of all the other 4 ouncers in this neck of the woods are hidden away in a shed, behind a gas station, with a hand written sign listing the hours of operation, along with a very nicely written – ish after the closing time.

They’re flexible, see, because it’s the AT and we’re all living on hiker time, so they can stay open longer if business is brisk, or close early to go get a beer.

And if you really want to buy a dinky little canister of isobutane for your 90 lb daughter to carry in the backpack that is her home, you’ll agree to be there, during the hours they choose to do business.

What’s more, you will also agree to pay a little bit extra, because you know, or perhaps suspect, that if you wait (to check out the price at the hostel that sits between town and the trail) you will end up paying even more.

All that aside, she is back on the trail, and at 3:30 this afternoon she crossed the state line into North Carolina. We’re celebrating by searching for fuel in a new state. Maybe we’ll get lucky.