Arctic Sven: Finding Ki

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Fifteen years ago, my quest to accomplish a childhood goal began. Several individuals were instrumental to the success of my hike. As my scoutmaster, Jim Newman gave me his knowledge of backpacking, wilderness survival, first aid, and other useful boy scout skills. He also facilitated my first few hikes on the Appalachian Trail with Boy Scout Troop 144. He has since become a close friend and acted as my quartermaster and editor during my hike.

Mike Kobrin has been my best friend and consigliere for almost three decades. He always stared hardship down and made fun of the blizzards, tropical storms, scorching heat, and broken bones during our hikes. When the slow progress during the first weeks of my 2160 mile hike made completion seem impossible, Mike knew how to motivate me like nobody else. My mom, Marjorie Chassels, gave birth to me. She also helped me prepare for many camping trips in my youth and took on the role of quartermaster near the end of my hike. She has always been there for me. My dad, Larry Chassels, made me interested in backpacking in the first place. His exciting stories of the Philmont Scout Ranch and other Boy Scout adventures drew me to and kept me on the trail to Eagle Scout. He taught me most of my pioneering skills when I was eleven years old and always encouraged me to proceed with the adventurous, and sometimes dangerous, activities that make life more fun. My lovely daughter, Vivienne Chassels, is the reason I am finally publishing this book. We have been camping since she was four years old. After she read my journal, she asked me to finish editing this book.

THE ORIGINAL PLAN

OK, so here's the plan: I have been accepted to medical school, I paid all the deposits and fees that I could find in advance. I've paid my first month's rent and security deposit on my new apartment near the school.

Step 2: I bought the gear, and made my battle plan. I've modified this plan many times since the first days in February 1998. It's now January 1999 and I'm looking at a combination of the Ultra Light backpacking philosophy and what I call deal with it as it comes alongphilosophy. Some would also call this the by the seat of your pantsmethod of planning a thruhike. I tend to believe there is a lot to be said for testing your improvisational skills by not planning far ahead.

Step 3: I made arrangements (Actually Jim Newman did this.) to get me and my stuff to the trail head on Springer Mt. in Georgia. I also arranged to get my butt (and other salvageable body parts) back to Boston. (Thanks John G!) I'll probably take an Air-Tran flight or some other we usually get you there before the alligators eat youairline back to Philly. There I will load up the car and drive across country to medical school.

Step 4: I planned my shelter design, gear list, food list, emergency plan, contact plan, post office drop plan, basic time line, and journal / distribution list. Here they are:

You Want to WHAT?!

After my first AT weekend hike, 15 years ago with the Boy Scouts, I decided I wanted to thru-hike the entire trail. One reason or another prevented me from accomplishing this until now. I decided this is my last chance to do the whole thing in one shot until I decide to retire.

The plan is very simple: I plan to start around February 25 on Springer Mountain in Georgia. I will hike North with Jim Newman for the first month. Near the Smokey Mountain National Park, I will say goodbye to Jim, and he will return to NJ and become my support person. I'll continue to hike north to Mount Katahdin, Maine.

I hope to reach the halfway point at Harper's Ferry by April 15th. My goal is to do at least 20 miles each day after the first week. I plan to start with 10 miles per day as the minimum for the first week. Of course snow in Georgia may alter this plan since I'm using a February starting date.

I need to press hard in the south to give myself some time to get through the sharp mountain rocks of PA and scale the steep slopes of NH. I don't know if I can maintain 20 miles/day over the rocks of PA and I'm quite sure I won't do 20 miles/day on the slopes of the NH White Mountains.

My goal is to summit Mt. Katahdin on July 1st. I must finish by August 1st. (I have to drive out to Missouri for medical school soon after.)

I hope to have this page updated regularly. If you want to send me a message, feel free to post it on this site or send it to the distribution list using email. Jim will hopefully keep me informed. I have worked a communication method out for emergency messages.

If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911. Don't call me; I'll be on the trail!

PLANS BEFORE THE HIKE

Jim Newman and I will start our trips on February 22nd. Ginny N. will drive us to Harley N.'s house in PA. Harley, Jim, and I will start the drive to Springer shortly after that. We will be mailing several food drops ahead, but I plan to purchase most of the food from local stores.

I decided to go stoveless, using a plastic container to re-hydrate freeze-dried foods while hiking. This saves on the weight of fuel and the stove, and will save time when it comes to preparing the food. Less cooking time, cleanup, fueling, etc. This means I can hike longer days and can go further in a shorter period of time. Thus, I can make much more mileage on less weight. The fact that I will carry less weight will also make it easier to go further in a day.

I hope to be in Harper's Ferry, WV by April 15-30th. Since this is about the halfway point, I should be right on schedule to summit Katahdin on July 1st if I get to Harper's Ferry in this time frame.

I hope to start the 100-mile wilderness of Maine sometime in mid-June. This will allow me to finish by July 1st. July 1st is the goal for my Katahdin summit date. I must summit by August 1st, so I'll walk through the night a few times if it starts to get near that date. This is reportedly the section that provides the most isolation and back-to-nature feelings. I hope I have time to enjoy this section by taking in the surroundings.

When I hit this section, communication may break off. That's only because there isn't any way to make contact with civilization once I enter the wilderness.

• • •

Reflection: At the time I left for my through hike, I had just gotten into medical school I had planned out my trip six months in advance, and I had researched everything I could on ultralight backpacking and other philosophies of through hiking the Appalachian Trail. I was still a kid. I was living a carefree life, single, without children, ready to go off to school, and it never hit me that I would never return to that life again. I was looking forward and never turned back. I gathered my gear, got in the car, and off I went. I sent postcards home and letters to Jim so he could type them and post them on the Internet for my friends to read. Occasionally I heard from one or two of them. But for the most part, I was writing the letters to myself thinking about my life.

When people ask if I'm insane, I point out that we all are. The definition of sanity is pretty vague. And I don't think anyone consistently conforms to that definition. We're all crazy. One of the neurologists I trained under taught me that: Our job is not to determine if the patient is crazy. Our job is to determine if the patient is crazy with or without neurologic dysfunction. We're all crazy.

When I was 28, I was full of pride. I was proud of my bachelors degree, my masters degree, my EMS career, my teaching career, and now I had gotten into medical school. I think up until that point, everything I did required some kind of reward mechanism. I needed a piece of paper saying good job. During my hike, I gradually went from counting miles and mountains as accomplishments to looking for reasons not to finish my hike. I hope I kept some of that in my real life. I hope I have spent enough time doing the fun things in life with Vivienne so that she can benefit from what I learned.

SVEN'S FINAL GEAR LIST

Wearing:

Camp-Trails External Frame Pack (15 years old)

Danner All-Leather Exterior

Gortex-Lined Hiking Boots

Polyester Cravat for skull cap

sling, splint, pressure dressing, etc.

Columbia Nylon Swim Trunks with liner removed (eliminated chaffing)

Duofold 100% Polyester T-shirt (burned upon completion)

Smart-Wool hiking socks

Money

Driver's License

2 Credit Cards

Phone Card(s)

1"Serrated Spyderco Knife

Leki Makalu Hiking Poles with shocks and doo-dads

Gear:

Shelter: $25 tent (4.5'x5.5') (Seam Gripper and Waterproofing applied)

1 length 50' nylon cord

Polarguard (10 deg.) mummy bag (OR) fleece blanket with zipper (depends on section of hike)

1 emergency trash bag

2 reflective Mylar emergency bags

Ridgerest closed cell foam pad

Packed Clothing:

Bug net face mask

No-See-Um jacket with face shield

Polar Fleece jacket

Polar Fleece sweatshirt

Polar Fleece sweat pants

Polar Fleece Socks (sleeping/in camp)

Polar Fleece baklava (hat/scarf) (lost in ME/NH area)

Nylon Jacket Shell ($9)

Ex-Officio Nylon Pants

3 Pair of Smart-Wool Socks

Pack lined with garbage bags to ensure water-proofness

Dining Room:

Plastic Permaware Spoon (Size = Big Mouth)

1 Quart Flexible Plastic Bowl

1"Spiderco Knife (rusted after 1 week) 2

2-Liter Soda Bottles for water (stronger than Platypus)

2 Plastic Bottles filled with Chlorine Bleach

(5.25% Sodium Hypo-Chlorite) re-labeled for water treatment

Zip Lock bags

Hygiene:

Soap

Toothpaste

Toothbrush

Toilet Paper

Plastic Mirror

Emergency:

1 Mini-Mag Flashlight

4 AAA batteries

Duct-tape (small, re-rolled length)

Bic lighter (signal fire device)

50-ft Nylon Cord (see above)

Knife (see above)

Plastic Mirror (signal device)

Whistle (signal device)

Compass (to ensure the stars are in the correct location and entropy hasn't reversed)

2 spare Garbage bags

First Aid Kit:

Ibuprofen

Benadryl

Imodium AD

Multivitamins

HydroCortisone Ointment

Triple-antibiotic cream

Water Purification Tablets

Alcohol wipes

2 Cravats

Adhesive Tape

Band-Aids

Duct Tape

Steri-strips

4x4gauze

5x 9gauze

Tweezers

Nail clippers

Insect repellent

Sun screen

Repair Kit:

Sewing needle

Thread

Duct tape

Office:

AT Thruhikers Guide

AT Databook Notepad and pencil

Pre-Addressed Postcards to Journal Author

Stamps

Tarp Structures: Click here for other fun with tarps.

No Cell Phones!

Well, after doing the research, and looking at everything, I concluded the following: It would be less work to call home at every payphone and check an answering machine. The inexpensive phones weigh 1/2 pound. It will cost a minimum of $20/month to carry the phone and never turn it on. (They can stay in standby for about 2 days without using them.) It will take charging time to charge the battery at least once/week. This will have to be done for a few hours so I'll have to rent a hotel room or something to charge the phone. The phone service will cost $1.21/minute to use.

The contracts they advertise on the web site have a 1 year subscription rate and a $175 back-out of contract fee. That means I would have to pay more money for a monthly service because I'm not guaranteeing them income for a long time.

The alternative is for me to get a couple of new battery packs for my ham radio and lug it along with me.

I prefer the weight of a couple of telephone long distance calling cards that give me near 10 cent/minute rates.

If we need help, we blow on the whistles, flash with mirrors and flashlight, or light a bonfire to get attention.

Cell phones only cover the populated areas since nobody wants to use them in the wilderness areas. If they don't work in the wilderness areas, what's the point of having it?

Digital phones don't cover anywhere outside of New England and a few select cities across the country, I'll never use it again.

Hikers walk past every section of the trail every day that we'll be hiking so we don't have to worry about getting hurt and not getting help. They're a waste of money, pack weight, and time. I'm not bringing one.

Source: Bell Atlantic Mobile

2/23~New Tripoli, PA (mile point -750)

In an impressive demonstration of awesome strength and superb coordination, Arctic Sven today hefted his pack before a crowd of admiring onlookers and a video camera. He tossed the pack over one shoulder, let it fall gently to the ground, and then lay on it with his hands and feet in the air. After repeating his feat several times for posterity, he was assisted into a van and departed for Georgia. He expects to start his Appalachian Trail thru-hike tomorrow about noon. With nine days of food and 2 liters of water, we estimated his pack weight at 40 to 45 pounds. He is well supplied with potato flakes, appropriately. Cooking utensils consist of a Tupperware bowl with a tight cover and two plastic spoons.

We persuaded him that he should have the second spoon but that he did not need four credit cards. In accordance with his plan, he purchased the food at 2 AM and packed until half an hour before leaving. Having spent the previous day and night moving out of his apartment, and the night before that working on the emergency squad, his glazed eyes were barely balanced by adrenaline. We predicted that he would be asleep within the first mile. His driver, Harley Newman, promised that Sven would *not* be allowed to drive on the 750-mile trip to Georgia.

His trail partner, Jim Newman, dropped out a week before departure due to several family crises. They hope to get together for a few weeks in Virginia. (This entry written by Jim Newman.)

• • •

Reflection: Harley Newman, Jim's brother, drove me to the trailhead in Georgia. On our way, we stopped and slept in his van. He had built a shelf in the back of his van on which he put a mattress. He is a performer who calls himself a professional lunatic. He has been on several late-night talk shows doing various things like dangling a bowling ball from his eyelids using fishhooks, laying on the world's smallest bed of nails: four nails, and escaping from a ball of saran wrap, from inside the ball. During his travels, he found it easiest just to stay in his homemade camper. When we woke up in the morning, there was snow covering everything. I love the sound of the world covered in snow. It's much quieter than without the snow. Everything is brighter. Everything smells better. But when you wake up at the side of the highway about ready to put on hiking boots and hike 2160.4 miles, snow is not the thing you are hoping to see.

When I got to the ranger station at the base of Springer Mountain, I debated hiking up the mountain like many others do. There's about a 10 mile segment of side trail that goes from the ranger station to the top of Springer Mountain. Technically, the Appalachian Trail doesn't start until the top of Springer Mountain. There is a large plaque at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, and that is where I chose to start my hike. However, driving up to the top of the mountain past all the other hikers felt a little bit shameful. That may be the reason I hiked past every single white paint blaze on the Appalachian Trail without missing any, except when I went over Mount Washington instead of around it. I didn't like that feeling of somehow cheating. By the time I finished, there were plenty of side trails I never hiked. And my original shame seems silly. I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail without missing any of it. I really don't care what it looked like on the way up to the top of Springer Mountain from the ranger station.

2/24~Springer Mountain, Georgia (mile point 0)

2 PM

Starting temperature 30 degrees Fahrenheit with 1-3 inches of snow. Harley dropped me on the the trail at about 1:30 PM at the parking lot on USFS 42. I met Dino, a ridge runner hired by the Georgia ATC. He pointed me in the correct direction toward Springer's Peak. On my way to the peak, I met Melly and her dog. By the time I got to the Peak, I was sweating with my fleece pants and T-shirt so I changed to wearing the nylon swim trunks and polyester T-shirt. (and 1 pr nylon socks and 1 pr heavy wool socks and Solomon sneaker/boots). Apparently this looked cold in the 1 degree C temperature with melting snow on the ground. I tried taking a few photos on top of Springer.

After the photos, I set off to cover 10 miles my first day. I walked with MG(Melly) and her dog for a while. Learned quite a bit about dog hiking supplies. Maybe I'll try this with Sandy (my dog) for a while in the Mid Atlantic area. After stopping to chat with MG & Dino at Stover Creek Shelter, I decided to continue on for Hawk Mountain Shelter by myself. I thought I lost my way two times and backtracked one mile each time to find the previous AT trail blaze.

The first time was just after the Three Forks (USFS 58) along Long Creek Falls. The second time was just after the logging road. The first time I confirmed I was on a trail that was poorly worked and continued up the falls with diamond markers instead of the standard rectangular blazes.

The second time I missed a double blaze that turned sharp to the left. I think the snow must be covering many of the blazes. I arrived at Hawk Mountain Shelter at

6:30 PM

and stayed with Tom Horn, Crash, and Scoobie. Tom has thru-hiked about 6 times and told me my 5000 cal/day diet was unrealistic, that few people could eat that much in a day, let alone carry that weight.

Since we walk through towns very often along the southern and Mid Atlantic sections, I will be sending my excess food ahead to Erwin when I reach Hot Springs. My pack weighed 57 pounds, including the warm clothes I packed, 2 liters of water, and about 25 pounds of food. I will not fill my water bottles before my departure today. I'll drink a lot of water at breakfast, eat my pasta meal (the tubetini and acini de pasta work great without cooking). Then add the water to my pasta lunch just before I leave. The pasta rehydrates in the Tupperware within a few hours in the freezing temperatures in which I've been hiking.

I took 10 photos this first day on roll 1 of the disposable cameras. I'll plan to buy cameras along the trail, but I think having a few (3-4) in each mail drop will be a good plan.

Harley reminded me to take my two rocks to Katahdin. I remembered to put them in the pack. One rock will stay at Katahdin. One will stay with me afterward. (This gives my thru-hike it's whole purpose for those who wonder why I'm hiking this distance. I'm carrying a rock from Springer to Katahdin to change the slope of the Earth.)

I believe I'm allergic to mice. I stuffed up and began sneezing with watering eyes once they came out to dine on past hiker food.

• • •

Reflection: I joined the Boy Scouts when I was 11 years old. My father was an Eagle Scout and his father before him earned life Scout. In fact, my grandfather set up one of the first scout troops in the St. Louis area. I used to listen to my dad talking about pioneering projects that they did and hiking trips at Philmont Scout Ranch. By the time I turned 11, I was ready to join and do all those great things.

The thing I liked most about the Boy Scouts was the sense of comradery with the other kids. We were able to play with fire, cook, build things out of sticks and rope, shoot rifles, shoot arrows, carve things with knives. Now that I think about it, what I liked the most was probably the idea of living like Huckfinn. My mother read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to us when I was around eight years old. She had a way of censoring the book for us but we got the gist. I would