Yesterday I finally told my supervisor about my intention to hike the AT this year. I had previously checked on options for a leave of absence, and learned that wouldn't be acceptable to management. So my only option is to quit my job. My finances are fine, so that plan was acceptable. I do have a medical issue that I need to work on, so my start date is still not pinned down. My expectation is that I will start the AT within a couple of days of 21 April 2015.
I've been collecting equipment for about the last year. And I've been researching the AT for the last four or five months. I checked out most of the equipment over a couple of week long treks and a bunch of overnighters.
I've got some minor equipment trade-offs to complete, and I still need to determine what I want to do for mail drops. I will also have to make arrangements to get to the trail head. I plan to go northbound (NOBO) from Springer to Katahdin.