The End (for now)

So this is a bit delayed in the writing but I just haven't been all that motivated to write. I don't remember exactly what day it was but I drove up to Katahdin and met UV at the base of the mountain. Once there, I got a lean-to at the Katahdin Stream Campground since I didn't know if the park would like it if I stayed at the campsite that thru hikers use since I came in a vehicle. This actually worked out rather well since the lean-to was right on the trail and the thru hiker spot was a 1/4 mile away. It was odd camping out of my car instead of my backpack. I had just tossed a bunch of things into the car so I had quite a bit more stuff than I needed, so strange.

The next day we slept in late since it was a rather cold day. After finally working up the drive to crawl out from the blankets, we started up the mountain. The day was just about perfect for this time of year. I was able to hike the whole mountain in a t-shirt and just my kilt. Once we hit the summit and I stopped moving, I had to put on a windbreaker but there aren't that many days late in the year where such clothing would be sufficient. While at the top the view was great, as it usually is. I was able to test out taking panorama photos with my phone a bit.

So the journey for this year is over. I am completely happy with the whole experience. I feel like I was able to have the feeling of being a thru hiker even though technically I am not one. I haven't even calculated how many miles I actually did; it just doesn't matter to me. This is an unusual mental outlook to take for people that consider themselves thru hikers but it fits me perfectly. My goal for the summer was to go out into the woods, experience what it is like to live in those woods for an extended period of time, and have fun. It was a resounding success on all counts.

It did surprise me a bit that so much of the trail experience had nothing to do with the trail itself, though. The community and people you meet on the trail is what makes the AT what it is. To get in the same mental space as the people you meet, you have to have spent some time in the woods but the trail itself seems to almost take a backseat to the people. This is something that would be interesting to compare with the other long distance trails in the country since the they are more sparsely populated. Many people have told me that I should do the PCT next or even the CDT. I don't know what journey I will be undertaking next in my life but I envision some sort of long distance hike to happen again. I would like to start at Springer Mt again at some point but I don't know if that would be the next journey or after something else. Whatever it is, this summer has infused me with a love of backpacking that hopefully stays with me forever.

Off Trail and Some Wrap Up

On the 9th, we did 6.2 miles and camped at Redington Stream Campsite. On the 10th, we zeroed there. On the 11th, we did 10.4 miles and camped at Spaulding Mountain Lean-to. On the 12th, we did 6.2 miles and camped at the Crocker Cirque Campsite. On the 13th, we did 7.3 miles to Route 27 and got off trail.

This section of trail was nice, it had some amazing scenic views especially over Saddleback. The trail itself was nice as well. The best part of this section was the information packet in the Poplur Ridge Lean-to. The caretaker started trail maintenance in 1956 and build the lean-to in 1961. He has compiled questions left in the trail register at the lean-to and answered them in a laminated booklet.

Apparently this one guy has maintained the lean-to and his section of trail virtually by himself for the last 45 years. It is amazing to think of the amount of time he must have spent on the 5-10 miles that he maintains. It is a bit hard to believe really. What makes it even harder to believe is that one of the questions is if he had ever hiked the trail. He hasn't even hiked all of the Maine section. It is amazing that someone has been so involved with the trail for so long but hasn't hiked most of the trail.

So during this section I made the decision to get off the trail. It just seemed like more time on the trail was no longer enhancing my enjoyment of the trail. I wanted to make sure to stop being on the trail while I still was having a great time but I could sense that that might change soon. If I hadn't had to jump ahead I would have definitely kept on to finish since I was still having fun; but, without that drive, I didn't want the trail to lose its greatness in my mind. I figured much of my sense of the trail would be made by the way I finished and I wanted it to be good.

As it is now, I think this summer has caused me to have a lifelong love of backpacking. After making this decision I have been thinking of what my future on the trail might look like. I was surprised to realize that I think I want to start at Springer Mountain again at some point. It won't be next year but this whole experience has been so good that doing it all again seems like it would be a ton of fun. In the closer future, I think I will just work on doing the sections that I skipped. I look forward to spending more time in the woods.

After getting off trail, UV was convinced by people she talked to that she should go back and do more of the trail. This didn't make sense to me since we weren't finishing everything so what does a few more miles mean. I think after contemplating why I felt this way it is partially due to the fact that I've already hiked Katahdin many times. I have also hiked a lot in Maine so I think it just didn't mean as much to me and didn't offer the sense of closure that doing Katahdin for the first time would. Originally I was going to drop her back off on trail Sunday morning but she kept pushing it back until I dropped her off on trail yesterday (Wednesday). She didn't seem like she was looking forward to it at all but she was convinced it was something she should do. Doesn't make sense to me but hopefully she enjoys herself doing the 100-mile wilderness.

The end of the trail will be me going up to Katahdin and meeting UV when she gets there and doing the mountain with her. It should be a great conclusion of the summer, if the weather is nice. That should happen in roughly a week. I will post something showing that hike and probably do a few entries as I adjust back to normal life. I am terrible at getting posts up in a timely manner, though, so we shall see.

Finally Maine

On the 2nd, we did 6 miles and camped at Dream Lake. On the 3rd, we zeroed there due to the beauty. On the 4th, we did 7.4 miles to Carlo Col Shelter. On the 5th, we zeroed there since it never stopped raining that day. On the 6th, we did 7.2 miles and camped at Bull Branch at the north end of Mahoosuc Notch. On the 7th, we did 5.7 miles and camped roughly halfway down Old Speck Mountain. On the 8th, we did 3.8 miles and jumped to Rangeley and camped at Piazza Rock Lean-to.

So we haven't picked up our pace. It is just how things are working out. Besides, we keep hitting beautiful campsites that seem like they just have to be camped in by us. It doesn't seem right to not do what these locations clearly want. Otherwise, it has been another nice section of the trail. The trail just keeps going straight up and down, which is tough but enjoyable. There are also great views everywhere.

Two major events stand out since the last blog entry. They came on the same day but both stand out quite nicely in my mind. The first one came while hiking down Goose Eye Mountain. I guess the first thing to do with this story is to explain a bit about high elevation hiking in New England. If there are things that resemble flat areas they are probably very marshy. These areas are usually traversed with the help of rustic bridges that are just two boards between two logs. These work quite well but are almost always slightly run down. There are so many of these bridges, trail maintenance clubs can't keep up. When run down, the muddy ground has usually partially engulfed the bridge.

So Goose Eye Mountain has a ton of these bridges as you move between the east and north peak. Usually when I get to a run-down bridge I use my trekking pole to see if the bridge is just below the mud and stable. If it is just barely below the surface and stable, I use the bridge; if my pole sinks a few inches or more, I work my way around the edge of the muddy area. This usually works; sometimes working your way around the edge is a bit difficult but otherwise everything goes fine. Except this once.

I checked the submerged bridge, solid and just below the surface. In my head I was thinking that I was getting sick of trying to work around edges so the solid bridge was a relief. I hopped to the bridge. Suddenly things went wrong. Before I knew what happened I was thigh deep in mud. As I assessed my situation I quickly figured out what had happened. My hop had been accurate, sort of. I had hit where the bridge was but the two boards that made the bridge were farther apart than most of the bridges. I had gone right through the crack.

UV quickly made her way past me, dropped her pack on dry ground and returned to help. She got my pack off of me and took it to dry ground. Once she got there, I told her to get out my phone and document this with pictures. She had gotten a photo of it all with my pack on but photos on my phone could be put on my blog and I figured it would be appreciated. As I tried to get out, I realized that my right knee was just a bit wider then the crack in the bridge. With the force of my hop and the added weight of my pack that hadn't stopped me going thigh deep. Now I was trying to pull my entire leg out of the suction of mud. Not nearly as quick and easy. As I was struggling, all I could think was: I wish I hadn't decided to put on never-before-worn socks this morning. After a bit, I finally extricated myself from the bog and stood on dry land once again. My leg was completely covered in mud and if I looked close a bit of blood mixed in around my knee. Luckily, mud is good for cuts, right? We hit a stream in about a mile and I washed off, and you couldn't even tell what had happened but I doubt I will ever forget.

The other stand-out event was a bit less spectacular but was quite impressive in a different way. Later on the day of the mud pit of doom we hit Mahoosuc Notch. This is described in the guidebook as the most difficult mile on the AT. It is a narrow notch between Fulling Mill Mountain and Mahoosuc Arm. This section of trail basically makes me think that giants were up on the cliffs to either side cleaning. This crack in the earth probably seemed like a convenient place to sweep all the rocks that were messing up the cliff tops. The AT makes its way through this. It is roughly a mile long intense boulder climb.

I personally didn't find it extremely difficult, like the book said, but I did find it fun. Hiking is much more entertaining for me when it involves some amount of thinking. The journey through the notch took us about two hours. This seems like it is probably about average. We met people going south that said it took three and a half hours and someone who said they did it in one and a half. Everyone said it was fun, though. Our two-hour trip ended just in time since we got out of the notch and to the campsite right on the other side as it was starting to get dark enough to have to use headlamps. It was a great end to an interesting day.

So, based on our outrageously slow pace and lack of dedication to miles, we decided it made the most sense if our next resupply was at Grafton Notch and involved jumping ahead to Rangeley. There wasn't any section of the trail between that I really wanted to see and this puts us at least in shooting range of doing the hundred mile wilderness before I want to start readjusting to real life before work starts. My dad picked us up and drove us to Rangeley. Resupplying went smoothly, except the Leki dealer couldn't fix my poles and said I had to call them, and I was able to get a good charge of my phone at the IGA.

Mid afternoon, we got back on trail and headed off into the woods for what is hopefully a beautiful section. Saddleback then Spaulding mountain with the Crockers after that and then the lovely Bigelows. It is clearly a good section because the shelter two miles from the road has a two-person privy with a cribbage board! I've been looking forward to this for a while. UV even humored me and played a full game with me. :)

White Mountains

On the 25th, we did 6.4 miles and camped at the Nauman Campsite. On the 26th, we did 7.9 miles and camped at the Tuckerman's Ravine Shelter. On the 27th, we did 5.4 miles and camped on top of Wildcat Mountain peak D. On the 28th, we did 4.1 miles and camped on top of Carter Dome. On the 29th, we zeroed on Carter Dome. On the 30th, we did 6 miles and camped at the Imp Campsite. On the 31st, we did 6.1 miles and camped at Rattle River Shelter. On the 1st, we did 5.5 miles and camped on top of Mt Hayes.

So we got back on trail and started hiking in the rain, straight up. While it was actually kind of nice to be back in terrain that I consider mountains, it was not easy. The fact that I had just taken a week off and UV had taken a little over two probably didn't help either. Despite that, up we climbed. We went quite slowly and it was a lot of work but I found the trail much more enjoyable then the relatively flat and easy trail I had left. The downside of this was we had to do some night hiking to get to the campsite. There we had to pay to camp... not an outrageous concept to most people but after five months of free lodging it was surprisingly galling.

The next day we hiked up Mt Washington. The hike was nice and the weather was great. It was a little overcast but warm enough to sit on the peak of Washington in short sleeved shirts without any concern about temperature. On the way to the top, we cleaned the fridges at Lake of the Clouds hut for a great free lunch and six pieces of chocolate cake. Our speed of hiking, slow, combined with the long break for lunch and then the long break on the top to soak in the view (and eat more food) meant we weren't going to hit our target. The other option was a hut that would cost a ton and we wouldn't get there in time to get work for stay. To solve this problem we decided to take a bit of a shortcut.

On the AT, Pinkham Notch is 14 miles from the peak of Washington. I knew that, via Tuckermans Ravine, the notch was only about 4 miles from the peak and there is camping halfway down. This worked out perfectly. The caretaker even offered us work for stay if we went around and picked up trash.

During this day of hiking I came to the realization that the one aspect of hiking that doesn't directly increase my enjoyment is miles. Everything else about being out here is just great... miles not so much. The following days I embraced this ideology and didn't even care about hitting specific campsites. We just walk until we are tired or find a great place to pitch a tent. This is technically against the rules of the White Mountains but we do it in a way that is low impact and environmentally friendly.

The day after Washington had us climbing Wildcat. This is the hardest climb I've done so far on the trail. It was incredibly steep and just kept going. As a result we got to the second peak of Wildcat and found a great little sheltered campsite about .1 miles from the top of the gondola. It was a great day. Some amazing views, hard climbing and a decent lunch at the Pinkham Notch Lodge. The next day was a very short day to the top of Carter Dome. There we found the best campsite we had in a long time. It was right next to the trail but behind a thick screen of evergreens so no one even noticed us and we were at 4800 feet with an amazing view. It was so nice we just stayed there all next day. From there, we just did some short days and got down to Route 2 where we met Cassie with our food drops.

Originally we had planned to meet Cassie at Grafton Notch, but it was early in the week when we realized that we were going to be a few days short of getting there. We could have made it past Route 2 easily considering we took a zero and did a few easy days at the end. The trouble was there are no roads between Rt 2 and Grafton Notch. While normally this is actually a nice thing about a section of trail, it made meeting Cassie a bit tough. I guess when the consequence of something being "tough" is taking some really enjoyable easy days in the White Mountains, things are going pretty well. The actual act of resupplying was the best yet on trail. It was great to have a ride all lined up and someone that was just willing to make a stop at a store without question. It was also quite nice just to eat lunch and chat with Cassie.

After everything was taken care of, we got back on trail. We climbed to the first peak and found a great view and a flat rock... good spot for a tent. We should hit Maine tomorrow and maybe we will pick up the miles a bit but, then again, maybe we won't. I am not really concerned with anything except having a great time in the woods with UV. Maybe we will do all the miles in Maine and maybe not. I don't think I overly care. We will keep moving; one of the things I enjoy is camping in different new places and exploring, but I do so without concern or great ambitions. Just to spend time in the woods.

Back on the Trail

On the 14th, I did 19 miles and camped just after the South Highland Rd. On the 15th, I did 22.2 miles and camped at the Morgan Stewart Shelter. On the 16th, I did 20.6 miles and stayed at the Ten Mile River Shelter. On the 17th, I did 15.7 miles and stayed at the Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter. On the 18th, I did 2.6 miles and got picked up by my mom at the Dawn Hill Rd crossing, we stayed at a state park in Massachusetts that night. On the 19th, we drove to Gardiner and I stayed there until the 25th.

So I meant to write a post when I got picked up to get off the trail and then another as I was getting back on the trail but things came up; I was lazy and/or busy and I am just getting around to writing one now.

I learned that New York was tricky. Last post I was talking about how interesting the trail in New York was turning out to be. This did not remain the case. Apparently the state starts out with a really interesting section of trail that has a fair amount of steep sections and keeps me guessing on what is coming up. After that beginning section, the trail becomes rather boring. It transitions to mostly just a dirt track through the woods like the other states I've been in recently.

I did meet some great day and section hikers in this section though and had some great conversations. This is a good thing since, besides that, there was not much to make the trail entertaining. So, all in all, the last few days on the trail were uneventful.

On the night of the 17th, I looked at the guide book and started thinking that I didn't really feel like walking 10 miles the next day. I had been doing a fair number of miles fairly consistently and I was ready for a little break. I called my mom and arranged to be picked up at the road 2.6 miles from the shelter instead of 10. This made the last day on trail great. I got up late, slowing packed things up then hiked two miles and sat beside a river for three to four hours and just enjoyed myself. It worked out great, I felt better and the road crossing worked quite well.

Today we are getting back on trail at Crawford Notch, which is just south of Mt. Washington. This allows us to hit some of the nice mountains in New Hampshire as well as the whole of Maine. We plan on taking it relatively relaxed and have a great final month on the trail. This is also the one section of trail I feel like I might have bad cell reception. I don't know for sure but it is the most remote we get on the trail. Whatever happens signal-wise I will post something in a bit with some pictures of real mountains!

Miles != Smiles

On the 9th, I did 24.7 miles to Brink Road Shelter. On the 10th, I did 19.6 miles to High Point Shelter. On the 11th, I did 23.9 miles to Wawayanda Shelter. On the 12th, I did 19.2 miles and camped on the edge of Little Dam Lake. On the 13th, I did 15.6 miles and camped at West Mountain Shelter.

So doing a lot of miles is not overly enjoyable. There is a sense of accomplishment to some extent but, besides that, I can really only see net negatives. My feet hurt more than normal and I definitely miss some of the trail experience. I suspected this was going to be the case but I figured the states of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut were going to be boring sections of trail so I might as well plow through them.

So far, this has not been the case at all. I did a lot of miles (at least for me) to get through NJ in basically three days. It was not fun and I still can't really remember much of the trail. I just moved along and miles passed by. This was exacerbated by the second day being incredibly rainy and overall miserable.

The trail in New York so far has actually been awesome. It is harder than I expected but not outrageously tough. There are a ton of quite steep ups and downs but they are all short. This makes the trail interesting and fun without the grueling climbs of the larger mountains in other states. This has forced me to slow down a bit. It is hard for me to sustain a good speed while doing steep climbs over and over again.

In addition to forcing me to slow down, it has also caused me to want to slow down and actually experience the trail. This doesn't mean that I am doing like ten miles a day, but it has caused me to do a couple days under twenty miles. I still basically walk from 8am to 8pm but I take more breaks and move slower. It is a beautiful section of trail but doing it solo means I might as well walk most of the day. I will still definitely make it to Conn. but I don't think I will make Mass. and I don't think that I want to seriously try anymore. I don't want to push miles through NY and miss what is turning out to be an awesome section. If the trail gets boring I might up my mileage but we shall see.

The End of PA

On the 31st, we did 5.7 miles to Windsor Furnace Shelter. On the 1st, we did 9.6 miles to a campsite half a mile past Eckville Shelter. On the 2nd, we zeroed at the campsite. On the 3rd, we did 12.9 miles to a campsite at the power line two miles after PA 309. On the 4th, we did 11.9 miles into Palmerton. On the 5th, we did 15.6 miles to Leroy A. Smith Shelter. On the 6th, we zeroed there. On the 7th, we did 13.8 miles to Kirkridge Shelter. On the 8th, we did 6.5 miles to Delaware Water Gap.

The trail leaving Port Clinton was quite monotonous and relatively easy. Our mileage was at least partially controlled by where there were water sources. I have heard many people complain about the rocks of Pennsylvania but it was the water sources that I found most annoying about the state. Rocks aren't even my second least favorite thing about PA, that belongs to the trail itself. I don't really remember a single interesting part of the trail for the 220 miles in this state. The rocks probably do make it in at number three, though. But back to water, it is typical for PA to have 12 to 15 miles stretches without a water source. This limits the miles I am willing to do since I find it much more enjoyable to camp at a water source. If I hit a water source 12 miles into my day, and there isn't any more water for 10 or more miles, I guess I just go 12 miles. I find that better than having to carry a ton of water or being sparing with what I do carry. I sweat a rather impressive amount and on a typical day of hiking I can easily drink 4 liters of water. Hopefully water troubles are less as I move north.

The next relatively interesting thing to happen after Port Clinton was going into Palmerton. We hadn't planned on going to this town but it turns out there isn't a laundromat at Delaware Water Gap and it needed to be done. The whole town experience didn't start well; we couldn't get a hitch. After trying for a bit, we just decided to walk into town--roughly 2 miles. The place we were going to stay was a free hostel in the basement of one of the town's municipal buildings. After checking in at the police station, we went to check it out. It was a damp basement with a large pile of paint cans in one corner and some wooden bunks along the back wall. It was far from the nicest place, but the price was right. It also succeeded in the task of providing a shower and laundry.

Leaving Palmerton was a nice rock scramble up the side of a mountain and then a four-mile trail redirection to go around the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund site. I guess PA wasn't happy with being a boring, rocky, dry wasteland, it had to go further. There also wasn't water for 16 miles and that water source was .6 miles off the trail. It is frustrating to know that after you hike most of the day you still have over a mile to go just to get water. Hopefully these sort of days are behind me as I hike over the river and leave PA behind.

By far, the most interesting thing to happen in PA came the evening before Delaware Water Gap. As I was hiking, I heard a scream up ahead of me. I came around the corner to find a woman laying face down in the jagged rocks of the trail. I went up to her and noticed blood on the rocks. She had smashed her temple into the rocks (causing a gash to the bone), hit her knee pretty good and basically scraped and cut most of her body. As I helped her sit up, she said she had some rib pain and it hurt to take deep breaths. After a 911 call, it was deemed that they would send a crew into the woods for her and I should stay with her until they showed up. In my mind this wasn't a huge operation--just follow the white blazes from the road. I was wrong. UV caught up and she went ahead to meet the rescue crew. When she met them, they were confused and apparently didn't understand the blazing system and thought they were going to get an ATV all the way to us. A rather large rock formation was between us and the road so that wasn't happening. The attempt to use a helicopter to locate us was an utter failure; no surprise, since we were under dense canopy cover. After 2.5 hours, they got to us and I could move on. I was warned before going that it was dangerous and the rocks were "really bad"; after all, the rocks helped cause this "clusterfuck" as the member of the rescue team pointed out. I assured them I would be fine and moved on. After the rock formation, I met UV at the ATV and other rescuers and they insisted on escorting us to the road "for our safety." We got to the road at about 10 o'clock at night and happily waved to the 3 fire trucks, 2 ambulances, and 2 search and rescue vehicles while we went back into the woods to the shelter half a mile further on. Quite an eventful evening.

Well, that's PA done. Tomorrow it is on to New Jersey. UV is getting off the trail here to go back to DC for wedding things and I won't see her again until we meet up in Maine for the New England part of our hike. Over the next 9 days I'm going to really push miles and see what I can do. 18 miles a day gets me to Connecticut and 22 miles a day gets me to Mass. I'm very confident in the 18 and we will see about the 22.

New Twists

On the 21st, we did 14 miles to Darlington Shelter. On the 22nd and 23rd, we zeroed at the Darlington Shelter because UV felt really bad. On the 24th, we did 7.3 miles to Cove Mountain Shelter. On the 25th, we did 14.4 miles to Table Rock--one mile before Peters Mountain Shelter. On the 26th, we did 14.3 miles to Yellow Springs Village campsite, an old coal mining village. On the 27th, we did 9.3 miles to a campsite before hitting PA 72 for the second time. On the 28th, we did 12.8 miles to 501 Shelter. On the 29th, we did 15.1 miles to Eagles Nest Shelter. On the 30th, we did 9 miles to Port Clinton where we are sleeping in the town pavilion.

Heading out of Boiling Springs, I was feeling pretty good. It was going to be incredibly flat for a while and I had just showered and done laundry. It was a good start. Clearly the trail needed to put me in my place a bit.

About midday, I checked my phone signal and noticed two emails, two texts, and a voice mail from my bank--not a good sign. I went ahead and called them and there was apparently some fraudulent activity on my debit card. So I got that card canceled and had a new one mailed to me... and by me I mean my dad's house. This is not overly convenient but the best option I had. So for probably a little over two weeks I had no debit card. Also, I had spent quite literally the last of my cash in Boiling Springs. That evening I counted my change. I had $2.90.

It was actually quite an interesting feeling knowing that I basically had no money and yet I also had nothing I could do about it. I was still in the middle of the woods and still had to hike. While it was not the ideal scenario, I actually came to realize that I'm glad it happened. I had never before felt truly hobo-like. I always joke with UV that I think hikers are hobos but now I was one in truth. I would soon be smelly, disgusting and, for the first time on the trail, broke so I couldn't do anything to alleviate the first two conditions. I decided that I should just embrace the whole experience.

One would think the trail had done its job of putting me in my place. One would be wrong. Two days out of Boiling Springs, I ran out of Aquamira (my water purification method). UV had some but not enough to do all of our water until Port Clinton. I decided it didn't make sense for us both to risk bad water so I would just risk it and UV could keep treating water. So for the hike between Duncannon and Port Clinton not only was I quite accurately playing the part of hobo but I was also risking my stomach's happiness with untreated water. I tried to do it as smart as possible, sticking to higher elevation springs when possible and not getting water from streams and, so far, it seems like I made it through okay. Besides zero money and potentially drinking liquid poison, the hike has been about the same. A fair number of rocks and UV is feeling better but, all in all, about the same.

Port Clinton has turned out to be the greatest trail town yet and it's all thanks to Ed. While trying to figure out how to get the three miles to Cabela's he pulled up and asked if we needed help. After hearing what we needed, he gave us a ride and told me to call him when we were done and we could get a ride back too. When I called him, he informed us that he and his wife were taking us out to dinner. After that, he took us to a specialty candy store and bought us a bunch of handmade chocolates and fresh roasted peanuts. All I could say was, "Thank you." It didn't feel like enough after everything he had done but he cheerily dropped us off and we thanked him again. The trail community once again makes me feel special.

So the plan to skip a section of trail is fairly solidified at this point. On August 19th, my mom will get me off the trail and I will stay in Gardiner until roughly the 22nd. UV will get to Maine via a bus to Portland and I'll have to figure out a way to get her; the day of that is still unknown but probably the 20th. Since I will soon (in 2-3 weeks) be hiking in New England and many people have said they wanted to hike with me, I figured I would discuss it.

People that want to do day hikes don't have to worry that much about planning, just give me a few days heads up and I should be able to have a road crossing available for a suitable day hike. Some people have expressed interest in a few day or even longer stretch. I am quite amenable to such a thing occurring but first discuss with me, via phone, text or email, about gear and the whole plan in general. There are some things you won't need since it would be repetitive with things I have and two isn't necessary and I have extras of some things if you are going to have to buy some gear. Don't be daunted by mileage or whatnot; that will all come rather naturally and since you are only out for a few days, it is honestly easier to push your body mileagewise. In an extended hiking trip you have to take it easy at first so you don't get burned out but if you are only on trail for a few days that isn't a big concern. Anyway, whether you want to hike for a few hours, a few days, or longer, just let me know and I'm sure we can work something out. Hiking the trail is an amazing experience and I am more than willing to share it with people.

... Living on a Prayer

On the 14th, we zeroed at Tumbling Run Shelter. On the 15th, we did 12.2 miles to Quarry Gap Shelter (beautiful shelter). On the 16th, we did 7.4 miles to Birch Run Shelter. On the 17th, we zeroed in Birch Run Shelter. On the 18th, we did 6.2 miles to Toms Run Shelter. On the 19th, we did 10.9 miles to James Fry Shelter. On the 20th, we did 12.2 miles to Boiling Springs and got a room at the Allenberry Resort and Playhouse.

Hiking the last week has been about the same as before. We make what miles we can and just keep trekking. The last few days, UV has started to hike at more of her old pace, which is quite encouraging but she is still fatigued quite quickly. Hopefully this is just the first step and over the last week of medication she will start feeling better in all aspects. One good thing is all the nasty side effects will definitely be done in another week.

Besides that, the last week has been distinguished by relatively easy terrain and rain. It has just about constantly rained for the last three days and five days ago we had a huge thunderstorm. Everything has been pretty much soaked since then. Due to this, when we got into Boiling Springs we decided to split a room at the Allenberry Resort instead of stay at the hiker campsite in town. The 13 bucks a person (woohoo for hiker rates!) was well worth the ability to do laundry, take a shower, and get dry. Especially since it had been two weeks since we had done the first two of those... and it's been pretty hot.

We have done some thinking about our future on the trail. Given the situations we have encountered over the last six weeks, we are much further south then originally planned. This leaves us with three options that I see. One, we keep hiking north and hopefully finish the trail but if we don't most likely it will be a section of Maine that remains unhiked. Two, at some point we find a way to skip to Katahdin and start heading south. This allows us to do Maine and utilize our entire time available to us. If we don't finish, the part unhiked will be somewhere in the middle. Lastly, at some point we just jump forward on the trail and continue hiking north. This allows us to hike Maine (what I'm most excited to do on the whole trail) and keep moving north, which just has a different vibe than going south.

Of these three options, if we decide to take one, I think it will be option three. The decision point is going to come somewhere in mid August. UV has a wedding she is going to be a bridesmaid in on the 18th of that month so she is getting off trail for something close to a week for that. I was invited and planned on going but now I think I will stay on trail and try and push miles during that week to get more done. If some sort of skip needs to occur, it seems like a natural time for it to happen when UV gets back on trail. It will just mean she gets on somewhere else and I find a way to jump forward.

If that needs to happen and people want to provide some sort of vehicular assistance to either of us it would be awesome. It seems like UV will probably try and get a bus or train or something to somewhere around Boston or Portland and I will be somewhere on the trail between New York and New Hampshire. I recognize that the window for where I'll be is huge but I just don't know currently. Both of us will surely find transport to where we need to be since there are a lot of shuttle people in the AT guide but if people want to volunteer that might make things simpler. More details on what will be happening will become available as we get closer to that date.

Back to the Trail

Wrote this a few days ago and ran out of power while publishing. Then had no sun but here it is.

On the 4th, we stayed in Chevy Chase. On the 5th, we did 3 miles and camped along the Potomac River. On the 6th, we did 4 miles and camped at the Ed Garvey Shelter. On the 7th, we did 9.1 miles and camped at the Rocky Run Shelter. On the 8th, we zeroed at the shelter to avoid the heat and thunderstorms. On the 9th, we did 7.5 miles and camped at the Pine Knob Shelter. On the 10th, we did 8.2 miles to Ensign Cowall Shelter. On the 11th, we zeroed there. On the 12th, we went 10.5 miles and camped at Falls Creek a mile after the Pennsylvania state line. On the 13th, we did 7.6 miles to Tumbling Run Shelter.

On the 4th, we went down to the mall, wandered around a bit and then watched the fireworks from the lawn outside the Lincoln Memorial. The fireworks were impressive, enjoyable and served as a nice capstone to the visit to DC.

We got back on trail after stopping at the ATC and getting our photo taken, since we hadn't done any Harpers Ferry things when we got off trail. I am apparently thru hiker number 866 which is basically the back of the pack but that is what I had assumed. After a couple of hours in the heat we decided it was a good idea to camp along the river instead of continue on and leave the water. This turned out to be a great idea for comfort but a relatively terrible idea for making miles. The next day we sat in the river until about 4:30 in the afternoon to try and beat the heat. The incredible temperatures completely zap me of energy. In addition to the lack of energy it also vastly increases the amount of chafing that I am experiencing. Thankfully at the last outfitter I visited I found an extra large stick of body glide.

After that, the heat kind of became a little more normal and bearable. The days have sort of settled into a sort of rhythm. We wake up in the morning and UV takes some meds. This is followed by a minimum of 1-2 hours of nausea. We then at some point following that are able to make 5-10 miles before the fatigue makes it too much and we stop. This isn't exactly the fastest way to make miles but it is more than not moving at all. Some people might wonder at the intelligence of being on trail in those conditions but I've raised such thoughts and here we are. So we walk some everyday unless UV just feels terrible and then we don't.

There a few consequences to traveling in such a way. One, it makes planning food supplies a bit difficult. We had to stop today and get some food and hopefully the mileage evens out a bit and makes it more manageable. On the note of us stopping, we got an awesome hitch from a guy named Dennis. He was going the opposite way we were, turned around and took us to Walmart. He decided to wait around and give us a ride back to the trail after resupplying. Great hitch all around.

Another consequence of this method of hiking is my phone is constantly out of power. Somewhere in Virginia I got UV to start listening to the Wheel of Time series on audiobook. It is a nice little form of entertainment while in camp. When we are in camp this much there is a lot of listening going on. I try and utilize my solar charger as much as possible but most camping spots are surrounded by trees and the good charging places are at views where it is all rocky. This is one of the reasons I have been so slow at writing this entry; battery conservation has become more of an issue.

Lastly, this method apparently makes me make questionable decisions to try and make UV feel better. For example, yesterday I decided to slack pack UV. This is usually done with a vehicle but I just decided it was a good idea to carry both packs. While the logistics of this wasn't easy I got it all situated and then was "very stubborn" and did it. It was tiring but I could tell UV felt better. We made the best time we had made in weeks and went farther.

Hopefully UV starts to notice some effect from the meds soon and we can start making some more miles.

Roughing It in DC

On the 28th through July 3rd I stayed in Chevy Chase, MD.

So we plan on getting back on trail in Harper's Ferry on Thursday. This allowed UV to get some things done and start feeling better. It also allows us to experience the 4th in DC which seems like a good thing. It should have nice fireworks.

Conveniently we arrived in DC in the middle of a horrible heat wave. It has been reliably in the high 90's or low 100's. To try and avoid some of the heat we went to go do some monument sightseeing on the evening of Friday. People that have been following the news realize that that might not have been the best idea. Everything was going quite well, we got a parking spot right next to the FDR memorial and decided to go counterclockwise around the tidal basin. We got to the World War II memorial at about 9:30 or 10. While there, the wind started to blow. Moments later, it was blowing quite strongly and there was debris in it. Then it started pouring. As we walked backed to the car, it was like walking through a hurricane. Large branches and trees were coming down all over the mall and the rain was blowing horizontally. We passed a line of porta pottys on their sides; hopefully no one was in them at the moment of tipping. After dodging a tree that landed six inches from us, we made it back to the vehicle.

Although the storm was letting up by that point, the journey home was harder than expected. While navigating through downtown streets with traffic lights all out and littered with branches large and small, we continued to come to roads that were completely blocked by downed trees of significant size. After detouring two or three times, we finally found a route home to discover the entire area was without power. This didn't cause me to pause overly since I'd been living without power for three months and, being from Maine, I have experienced power outages frequently enough. What surprised me was how accepting natives were to it. Since this is now the 5th day without power I guess I see why...

With so many people around here expressing their displeasure with the utility, it is surprising how long people routinely go without power. Where I'm from in Maine, if you lose power for multiple days it is a pretty big deal. The last time I remember widespread outages that lasted for any real length of time was the ice storm that happened in '99 or something like that. While I understand there are far more people affected here than in Maine storms, Maine residents are usually more spread out. Wouldn't a utility company that employed a similar ratio of employees to customers have an easier time in a more urban area than a rural one? I'm sure there is some reason for it, but it is a bit amazing.

The other major high point was going to see a play by the Shakespeare Theater Company. The play was Servant of Two Masters written by Carlo Goldoni. It was remarkably good and entertaining. It helped to make it feel like we are really back in the normal world. It has been nice to come back and experience things that normal people do but I am about ready to get back to the woods. The woods are calm and peaceful and quiet. You don't have to hear traffic, sirens and the neighbor's rather loud generator. Your days are an interesting combination of planned out yet completely open. The downside is, in the woods, you can't decide to walk and get ice cream on a whim or go and watch talented Shakespearean actors. All in all, the woods are amazing. It is nice to escape from them now and again but such escapes just reinforce in my mind how great they are. Ending the trail could be a rough transition...

Off the River

On the 23rd through the 26th, we camped somewhere along the river. I can't do a whole lot better than that. We got to the take-out spot mid afternoon on the 27th and made it into Chevy Chase, MD that evening.

So... Aquablazing is not quite the relaxing ride down a river that everyone makes it out to be. During the course of the 150 miles, I paddled for somewhere close to 80-85% of the time. It wasn't always rigorous paddling, but I couldn't stop either. To some extent I think this is due to relatively low water in the Shenandoah River. For miles, the river consisted of a multitude of rocky ledges that formed an impression of rapids. Once actually traversing these you realize that it would be more accurate to call them small naturally-formed dams. Usually these have one small little spot where you can make it by without scraping or getting stuck but recognizing that location can sometimes be challenging. As the days went by, I became far more adept at this but even on the last day there were times when I had to push the canoe over ledges.

Another result of this is the fishing in the river is supposed to be amazing. Over the weekend I saw hundreds and hundreds of people on the river. Many were fishing from canoes or kayaks and some were fishing while just standing in the middle. We also passed many large flotillas of people in tubes and kayaks just floating. Even in tubes, people were scraping over many of the ledges, though. I was glad when the weekend was over so the river would feel a bit more remote. It was strange seeing so many people on a river in non-motorized craft, though. Since the river is so shallow, even at the "deep" spots only 4-6 feet, there are virtually no real boats. There are a few small fishing boats out and in the dam backwaters there were a couple jet skis but almost everyone was in a canoe, kayak or tube.

When you combine the shallow water and the fact that for the last three days the wind has been blowing rather strongly in our face I think the 150 miles by river was probably harder than just walking. That doesn't mean I'm sad I did it. I enjoyed the experience and it was a nice change of pace. It gave my hurting feet a nice rest and allowed UV to take as many naps as she required. I just feel like it was described as an easier alternative to this section of trail and that is not entirely accurate. I would probably recommend the whole experience to someone else, but I would be a bit more honest about what the whole journey entails.

The end of the journey went quite smoothly, the guy showed up and took everything away and gave us money and then shortly after that UV's faux mom showed up and gave us a ride into DC. Once there, I saw myself in a mirror for the first time in a while... I have a lot of hair, facial and otherwise. Another three months should really finish off my mountain man appearance nicely.