[b]rainstorm

Right now, a real summertime boomer is cutting it up outside. Lightning is flashing with high frequency and thunder is shaking the ground. This evening storm is both powerful and beautiful. With a week before the start of a fast-paced thru-hike attempt of the Benton MacKaye Trail, I try to imagine myself out in the thick of it with the scant gear I plan to carry on my back.

I picture myself at the end of a long day looking for a place to heat a modest meal over an esbit tab and set up camp. Suddenly the heavens tear open with a shriek of lightning, unleashing marble-size raindrops. Within minutes, everything around me and on me is soaked. Night falls as the storm passes, but water keeps drizzling from dissipating clouds and saturated leaves. Inevitably, my camp is rather uncomfortable and my dinner is cold.

This scenario isn’t that far-fetched. One thing is painfully obvious: a journey such as this is going to be wrought with trials and tribulations. Am I ready to endure such discomfort? I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking but not doing; tinkering but not training. Maybe if I had stuffed five pounds of raisons and a wool blanket in a burlap sack and slung it around my back and used all that time training my body, I actually would be better off than I am now.

Nevertheless, this BMT fastpack is less than a week away. I don’t feel alone in my wariness of it all. There are currently four other fools lining up to take on 288 miles and as best as I can figure, about 50,000 ft. of climbing (or around 10 miles, straight up) self-supported. I’ll post a couple more factoids as the countdown continues…