Most of our time out here is spent climbing and descending the many mountains and hills that make up the Appalachian Trail. But as the trail can be pretty harsh on the body and we have a wedding to prep for, every once in a while we need a day off or a “zero” in trail speak. Typically Jess and I only take zeros every week or two, but what we’re going to do on our next zero is a daily topic for us and the rest of the hikers out here. Remember how excited you were as a kid when summer was approaching? Yeah, that’s how we feel about zeros.

What we do on our zeros:

Eat food

If our ever shrinking waist lines are any indication of our need for calories, getting high calorie meals on a zero is a top priority. On trail I burn 6000+ calories in a day of hiking and Jess isn’t far behind at 4000+. Jess’s favorite zero day food so far is Bo-tatoes (hash browny things) from Bojangles, but other food staples include pizza, sparkling water, and kombucha.

Rest and relaxation

The trail is nice and all, but who doesn’t like a nice bed and a dip in a pool every now and then. Today for instance, we were supposed to start hiking again, but there’s a pool at the hotel we’re staying at and it’s hot outside. Can you say zero?!

Errands

It feels like we spend about two hours at the post office every time we have a day off. The USPS gets us food resupplies, new gear, and our bounce box (a box, almost like a trail closet, that we send from town to town so we don’t have to carry clippers or laundry soap).

Wedding tasks

It turns out that wedding planning takes time and requires the i n t e r n e t these days. Zeros give us a chance to get online so that we can finalize our wedding website (almost done as of today), figure out guest addresses, and make sure we have everything running smoothly so that we’re ready to go at the end of October (yeah, it’s going to be tight, but as they say “Winter is Coming”).