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...