April 21 from OD

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OD
Evaluating, improving, replacing and eliminating of gear has been completed. We have gone over every piece of gear we are carrying and feel we now have the proper things for returning to the trail. We have trimmed at least five pounds from our packs each and a minimum of one pound off our boots. A pound off our boots does not sound like much, but over the course of a hike like this the figures are staggering. The average person takes 2,100 paces to walk one mile. Drop one pound from your boots and this equates to eliminating ONE TON of work or more on your legs per mile. In a ten mile day (about our average right now) that is 10 tons not lifted, over the course of the trail you save 4,350,000 pounds of lifting on your legs. The guys who are really smart also say one pound on your feet equals five pounds on your back. So you can see there is a significant savings in work done by just reducing a single pound off your boots. We are packed for eight days before our next re-supply. This is only one day less than our longest sections of nine days worth of food we must carry in only two places. Our normal food supply is only six days. CC's pack is down to a few oz. over 30 lbs, mine is right at 50 lbs. Not bad weights and at least five pounds lighter than when we first set out with only five days food.
I gave CC my sleeping bag from Alaska. I have tested it there in temps as low as -45F, if that bag does not allow her to keep warm nothing will. I replaced her water-bag with a newer one that does not have any plastic taste. I took her old bag (taste doesn't bother me) and replaced my 1 liter bottles reducing my load by one pound and not having extra space taken up by the empty bottles as I drink throughout the day. Once the weather warms up to a point we can drop the gear designed for the cold, our packs will drop even more weight. I hope to have mine down to about 45lbs before we are done with the hike.
The trip home has cost us two weeks walking time and has eaten up the cushion time I had built in to our schedule. It means we will be limiting our off trail times to a minimum. We will still make all the family functions, but it will only be for just a couple of days not the week planned. We wanted to head out for VA today, but could find no one who could be gone all weekend. We will now depart home on Monday morning around 5AM for Syracuse and the train. It will get us down to Culpeper,VA around 7PM that night and we will stay in town until Tuesday morning. The man who shuttled us down there when we left the trail will run us back early Tuesday. If all goes as planned we will heft our rucksacks on our backs by 8AM Tuesday and start walking again. Elkwallow Wayside is where we will start, that is the same spot we left from. If you look at a map of VA, find Luray and Culpeper. US211 runs between the two and Skyway Drive runs N - S through the Shenandoah National Park. Elkwallow is about eight miles north of US211. Our first few days will be 11 miles+ and our next re-supply stop will be in Waynesboro, VA. I am not sure how often I will be able to get to a phone, but will send out my updates as often as possible. I will try to be more specific on our location throughout my entries so you may more easily see where we have been.
CC is one of the toughest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Walking 75 miles in boots that fit poorly might not be real smart, but it takes real determination. I spent 20 years training Rangers and soldiers, very few had the grit to do what she has. Most would have quit after the second day. This delay has only solidified her determination to complete the entire trail before the end of the year. Try and talk to her about breaking it up and finishing next year and the Whirling Dervish, Tasmanian Devil and West Texas Twister all hit you at once :-) she will not be discouraged. I will do all I can to see that she continues to be focused on the successful completion of her long time goal, "The Thru Hike."
Keep us in your prayers; we can use all the help we can get. That and we can feel the difference when someone is praying for us.

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