Here´s a little info about how and why I´m doing my hike ...

My goal on the Trail is to make life as simple as possible. I don't want to carry portable computers, cellular phones, or anything not absolutely needed (well, except for the pencil and paper for my journal). If I find out I need something, I'll have it mailed to me. I'm also not the type that wants to sit at a computer for hours planning six months of mail drops on a spreadsheet or spend inordinate amounts of time arranging dinner recipes for the whole trip. Again, I just want to take it one day at a time. Most of my gear has been tested from four hour to two day hikes in the Kettle Moraines of Wisconsin (mostly on the Ice Age Trail). Even though most of my equipment is at home, I still have found fun ways to condition myself for the trail. One of the things I'm doing to condition myself consists of non-lift serviced backcountry skiing. Hiking to the terrain consists of anything from 2-hour hikes (for a 2 to 5 minute powder run!) to 4 hours of midnight hiking and skiing under full moon at 12,000 feet. The 130 consecutive days of skiing since Thanksgiving I'll have this season also won't hurt, so I think I'll be physically ready for my thru-hike!