Trek Dirty to Me: 62 days until I start climbing and descending Everest 16 times, and I'm all about routines today!

No, not my old song and dance routines from my show choir days in the Martinsville High School Flashin’ Fascination. I’m talking about those routines we had back in summer camp (Scouts, YMCA, some very random weird ones) that let you freely move from activity to activity and task to task from “Sun up” to “Sun down.”

I decided to take a ‘zero day’ from my Appalachian Trail thru-hike research, training and prep today to just give myself a rest. I felt the itch to get back to business though, and while I resisted, I realized that I have created a routine in the three weeks that I have been diving into this here in India. The general rule of thumb (though not very science-based in today’s research) is that it takes 21 days to establish a new habit or routine. Again, while this may not be sciency, this seems to have held pretty well for me.

Coincidentally, I have come across many stories of thru-hikers who have had different experiences with routines. There are those who quit the trail completely because the monotony of repeating the same thing every day gets to be too much and too mundane, while there are others who have taken advantage of the trail to establish new habits, or break undesired old ones.

I personally love a routine if I feel like it is pushing me towards something. The AT is a perfect opportunity to focus on building a positive routine. I love the challenge of hitting all my marks and make it a game. My routine here in India is so complete, that I rarely have time to do anything that is not related directly to the AT. Hence my ‘zero day’ today.

So I reached back to my fairly ancient Scouting, YMCA and family hiking, backpacking and camping days, and put together this daily routine for when I am on trail and camping along the AT. I inserted journaling (podcasting, vlogging, blogging), some mindfulness work, and a whole lot of focus on injury prevention and staying limber as new habits that I would like to build while I am on the AT.

AJ AT Daily Routine (on trail)

1. Wake

2. Dress (if not dressed already)

3. PeePee/Poo

4. Meditate (15 mins)/Legs Up (if possible)

5. Journal

6. Get Yo Bearikade

7. Shake Shake Shake Yo Huel

8. Drink Drink Drink Yo Huel

9. Rinse Rinse Rinse Yo Huel

10. Prep Lunch/Next Huel

11. Refill Water and Hygiene is Fun

12. Pack Yo Snax

13. Pack Yo Bag

14. Pack Yo Tent

15. Pack Yo Pack

16. Stretch Bod from Top to Toes

17. Go Go Go

18. Hike 5 Miles

19. Break/Refill Water

20. Hike 5 Miles

21. Break/Lunch!

22. PeePee/Poo

23. Shake Shake Shake Yo Huel

24. Drink Drink Drink Yo Huel

25. Rinse Rinse Rinse Yo Huel

26. Prep Dinner/Next Huel

27. Journal

28. Siesta/Meditate/Legs Up (if possible)

29. Refill Water

30. Hike 5 Miles

31. Break/Refill Water

32. Hike 5 Miles (if needed)

33. Break/Refill Water (if needed)

34. Hike 5 Miles (eek!!! If needed)

35. Find Camp!

36. PeePee/Poo

37. Unpack Yo Pack

38. Unpack Yo Tent

39. Unpack Yo Bag

40. Shake Shake Shake Yo Huel

41. Drink Drink Drink Yo Huel

42. Rinse Rinse Rinse Yo Huel

43. Prep Breakfast/Next Huel

44. Refill Water and Hygiene is Fun

45. Cache Yo Bearikade

46. Journal

47. Meditate/Roll Massage/Legs Up (if possible)

48. Push Ups

49. PeePee/Poo

50. Sleep

-AJ

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