Santa Likes Cookies Too

I'l be home by Christmas

I will be home for Christmas but I am leaving tomorrow. At 8 am in the morning neighbors Don and Lois Gerhardt are giving me a ride to Damascus VA and by noon I should on the Appalachian Trail headed northeast to Maine. The second post(March 10) that I made on this blog has a good interactive connection to a good National Parks Service Appalachian Trail map. My pack with food and water weighs 39.5 lbs. and includes my tent. My mail forward box weighs 50 lbs. but it has lots of food in it.Have a good spring, summer and fall. Cookymann

April Fool's Day Start

I still plan on starting my hike on April 1st. Intend to post a longer message before I depart. Cookymann

Cookymann's Contact and Itinerary Info

To all,

On or about April 1st I am beginning what I hope will be a spring, summer and fall hike of the entire Appalachian Trail (AT). To do this I am adding gmail as my primary email service. I transferred my entire contact list from roadrunner to gmail. For those of you with no interest in this email please disregard it.

I will still have my Road Runner internet address, but I will not be at home to read it. While on the trail I will use the following address ldwobker at gmail dot com

At the urging of my younger, hip friends I have created a blog. Larry Wobker's AT Hike-2009 URL http://ldw-athike-2009.blogspot.com/
I will update it on some regular basis and friends Alli and Daniel Walton will update it off snail mail I send them and phone calls I make.

My cellphone # is 336-816-3973. To save battery power it will be off most of the time. However, you can leave a voice mail.

To follow my progress,the National Parks Service has a good map of the Appalachian Trial. In my correspondence and my logs I will try to use places that are on this AT map.

I will now post a possible itinerary that shows me getting to Mt Katahdin, ME around Aug. 20th. I may not make it by then, but I think I can get there by Sept. 10th. After reaching Katahdin I will then plan on hiking the VA to NE GA section in the fall. Weather wise I can hike this section in Oct.and/or Nov., but it would be to snowy to hike the ME section.

DATE LOCATION AT Mile Marker as listed in "The Thru-HIker's Handbook"

• Apr. 01 Damascus, VA 463
• Apr. 08 Parnership Shelter, Hwy VA 16 6 mi. E of Marion, VA 527
• Apr. 15 AT crosses US 21/52, 2.5 mi. W of Bland, VA 583
• Apr. 22 27 mi. N of Pearisburg, VA 653
• Apr. 29 10 mi. N of Roanoke, VA 730
• May 06 Montebello, VA 814
• May 13 AT crosses US 33 6.4 mi. E of Elkton, VA 897
• May 20 15 mi. SW of Harpers Ferry, WV 990
• May 27 10 mi. N of Fayetteville, PA 1080
• Jun. 03 AT crosses I-81 W of Lebanon, PA 1170
• Jun. 10 10 mi. S of Wind Gap, PA 1260
• Jun. 17 2.5 mi. N of Vernon, NJ 1350
• Jun. 24 Pawling, NY 1440
• Jul. 01 Tyringham, MA 1530
• Jul. 08 Green Mountain NF near Glastenburg Mt. VT 1620
• Jul. 15 5 mi. W of Woodstock, VT 1710
• Jul. 22 AT crosses I-93 in White Mt. NF, NH 1800
• Jul. 29 10 mi. N of Gorham, NH 1890
• Aug. 05 10 mi. S of Stratton, ME 1980
• Aug. 12 10 mi. N of Monson ME 2070
• Aug. 19 Katahdin Stream Campground, ME 2173
• Aug. 20 Hike to summit of Katahdin Mt., ME 2178

If any of you might be near some of these places when I am, I would love to see you.

Wish me luck! Cookymann (trail name)

First Post. This is to state in writing that I intend to hike the entire Appalachian Trail(AT) in the year of 2009. On or about April 1st I intend to depart Damascus, VA and hike northeast to Mt. Katahdin, ME. In the late summer or fall after reaching Mt. Katahdin I will then hike the Damascus to Springer Mt., GA segment. Before I depart I will post other information that I hope will be helpful to family and friends. Wish me luck. Cookymann