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Possible Junk Lies Ahead:
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The Appalachian Trail Journal
By: Ben Corr
The journal has landed
Hello All (by which I probably mean Billy and my mother as I can't see this
log having a huge following),
Billy has kindly set up this Blog thing for me. Not much generally happens in my
life that would warrant a running commentary, so this space is probably going to
be used to publish my journals from our 2003 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.
I kept a journal fairly consistently throughout the trip and am very glad I did
so. Together with Billy's excellent photos, they provide me with a wonderful
memento of a glorious trip.
I shall be posting entries as I transcribe them. The quality is somewhat mixed
as my writing generally took place in the evenings when I was quite exhausted. A
lot of it is also barely legible so it may be a slow process to get it all
written up. While I am going to have to perform some minor editing of the text,
this is purely to improve the readability of hurried entries. The basic content,
good or bad, should remain essentially the same.
Postings should begin soon, so try to contain your excitement.
Ben
Note: Text in Green is Billy's comments to
the Appalachian Trail Journal.
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Thursday, April 03, 2003
Total Miles: 7.6
Miles: 7.6
Well the start of the trip has mostly gone to plan. Flying to Atlanta was
predictably dull but uneventful. Hotel was mediocre but ok. Bus to Gainesville
was on time. The only hiccups were the result of a chain of events beginning
with finding another hiker on the bus with me. Of course I suggested we share a
cab; and sure, we’ll go with this Hispanic guy waiting at the bus stop. Had I
been on my own, I probably would have hung out in Gainesville until I was sure I
had everything sorted (i.e. gotten fuel, food and posted my summer gear on to
Will). As it was, to cut the story short, I ended up without fuel, but with all
my excess kit and an indifferent selection of cold food bought in a hasty
supermarket dash. As a result, my pack was much heavier than planned for and I
could feel it. However we made it to Springer ok despite a slightly hairy ride
up a forestry road in a ropey Chrysler Neon piloted by our man Sanchez. A brief,
one mile, backtrack brought us to the start of the trail having happily bypassed
the nine-mile approach trail. An easy 7.6miles has brought me to Hawk Mountain
Shelter. Camping out tonight. A lot of people here, as might have been
predicted. I haven’t deemed it necessary to talk to any of them. Seem fine
though, bar one guy who could do with being beaten to death with his own boot.
Seen a couple of fat people hiking, which is always good for morale. One is
overweight AND carrying a seventy-five pound pack. Good luck to him, though I
guess if you have six cans of Spam, you don’t need luck.
Still a little jet lagged having gotten up at 4am, so I am back in ‘bed’ at
6.30pm. Truthfully, the main reason is that I can’t be bothered to talk to the
masses tonight. Perhaps some other time when I am better disposed, probably
after I get rid of my second rucksack of equipment that I really don’t want to
be carrying. That ought to be the day after tomorrow. Got a long (20mile) day
tomorrow, then, the next, I should hit the outfitters at Neal’s Gap. After that
I should have food, fuel, a better camp mat than the pathetic piece of foam I’m
using. My pack should also be 10lb than it is today. The kit all seems to be
working well, though it is hardly being tested by the bone-dry, 80 degree day
we’ve had. Hope it lasts, as I don’t fancy trudging in rain until I’ve settled
into life here again.
Anyway, tired now. Hoping my jet-lag will aid me with an early start tomorrow.
Top of the page
Friday,
April 04, 2003
Total Miles: 26.6
Miles: 19.0
Heard some surprisingly good blues guitar and singing last night. Unfortunately
I had been asleep for half an hour and wanted to hear no singing or playing of
any quality. People were kinda noisy til late – or at least late for me, but
then I did insist ongoing to bed with the sun still high in the sky. Not a great
night’s sleep. My back hurt and wasn’t helped by my inadequate camping mat
arrangement. It is both too narrow and too short, but I can’t really tell if I’m
on it or not – I guess it is too thin as well then. Hopefully, the outfitter
tomorrow will carry some nicer ones.
Was out of camp at 6.15am, which was more a result of waking up early and being
uncomfortable than some irresistible urge to get up and hike. Still, did a
decent job of it if I do say so myself. Walked over twenty miles including
getting to/from shelters and water. Terrain was pretty hilly, but nothing that
bothered me too badly. Passed a lot of people today, many of whom expressed
wonder and awe at my mileage today. Made me feel good, but expect that I shall
be paying for every impressive foot of it come tomorrow. Staying at Woods Hole
Shelter tonight. Had the option to go on another 2.2miles tonight to get to the
next shelter, but it is at the top of a big mountain (highest in Georgia).
Figured I’d call it a day at 3.20pm, which I think is a plenty long day. Going
to sleep in the shelter tonight. It’ll be full, but I got in early and bagsied a
side spot. Eaten already and think I could be in bed even earlier than
yesterday. I have bothered to speak to a few more people today. Some are ok,
though I have met a new person that requires a beating. Just started raining
hard. Glad am in the shelter now.
Top of the page
Saturday, April 05, 2003
Total Miles: 34
Miles: 7.5
Rained very hard last night. Awoke shortly after five, but didn’t even consider
moving until the rain had lessened a little. Set out around 7.15am in moderate
rain. During my ascent of Blood Mountain the rain got heavier and heavier and
there was more than a little lightning. Being at the highest point in the state,
carrying an umbrella in the midst of a lightning storm is not very relaxing.
Waited out the worst of the storm in the shelter at the summit and began my
descent towards Neals Gap. Going down proved to be even worse than going up. The
trail became a not inconsiderable stream over slippery rock. Made it down
without incident and happily entered the outfitters.
Picked up a new sleeping pad (a Z-rest), some fuel, food and a few bits and
pieces. Managed to resist the many shiny attractive and expensive bits of kit on
offer. Now have a Data Book so I can do a better job of planning my stops and
resupplies. Also posted my spare junk back to Will – all nine pounds of it. Pack
feels a lot nicer now. Decided against staying at the hostel at the outfitters.
Legs a little tired and definitely lacking the energy I had yesterday. Days
worked out nicely though. Decided against staying at the next shelter as it is
over a mile off the trail. Instead, picked up water at a spring and hiked until I
found a nice spot to camp. Have excelled myself on that front. Found a beautiful
spot on a peak. It has obviously been used as a campsite in the past. It is nice
and grassy, not far from the trail, but it is over a small rise so it is out of
site. Have an incredible view off to the South-East over the mountains and
foothills. Hardly been a cloud in the sky since lunch and I enjoyed sitting in a
little rocky outcrop eating my mac-and-cheese, watching the birds-of-prey circle
over the valley. Expect I’ll have place to myself tonight, except for these evil
biting fly things. Have just noticed that I’ve caught the sun - hopefully not
too badly.
Am no longer alone: ‘Short-Legs’ and ‘Psycho-Heiko’ have joined me for the
evening. Glad to have someone to talk to as was getting bored trying to make
myself sleep while the Sun was still high. Seem like nice people. Sun down now –
me sleep.
Today I started, my adventure of the Appalachian Trail,
a 2,172.6 mile trail in 2003. My father drove me from our lake house in
South Carolina to the mountains of North Georgia. The car ride entailed
mountain roads that were both unfamiliar to my father and me. It was a
cold rainy morning, and my father had little time for any human errors, for he
had to return to the lake by lunchtime to start cooking for a neighborhood
party. After wrongs turns, and North Georgia College cadets consuming the
road with police escorts on their Saturday morning jog, my father and I made it
to the Amicalola Falls State Park. I signed the register here. The
register asked where I was finishing...I found it hard to write down "Maine".
I just did not want to write "Maine", for the reason- I may not make it there.
I had the intention of hiking all of the Appalachian Trail, however, I was not
willing to tell others how far I was going to hike. The registry book made
me reveal my secret. If asked, I would tell others I was attempting to
hike the entire trail, and for those who did not ask, I did not tell.
Saturday was a cold and rainy morning, and on the 8.8 mile trail to Springer, I
only passed a few hikers, who did not seem to be on the Appalachian Trail for
the long haul. When I got to the top of Springer, there was no view, and
there was an A.T.C. ridge runner taking statistics about hikers on the
Appalachian Trail. Asking questions to fellow hikers about where they were
going, as well as, questions about their Leave No Trace practices on the trail.
I did not want to be a part of the "questionnaire", so I quickly passed and
headed down the trail. Days later, I overheard others commenting about
their encounter at the top of Springer with ridge runner, Gizmo. I would
later have run-ins with this ATC ridge runner. The first nite out had me setting
up my homemade tarp tent and camping away from others.
Top of the page
Sunday,
April 06, 2003
Total Miles: 48.5
Miles: 14.4
Awoke to wonderful sunrise over my fine vista. Got up and hiking for eight
(clocks went forward last night). Had lunch at Low Gap Shelter with my friends
from last night. Seem to hike at a similar pace so expect to see more of them.
Chatted a little with ‘Baltimore Jack’ whom I had met at Neal’s Gap yesterday.
He is on his eighth consecutive thru-hike. He doesn’t look as though he could
hike to the shops mind. Seems to dodge the salad and smokes and drinks a lot as
he hikes. I wasn’t entirely surprised when he pulled up at Blue Mountain Shelter
(where I’m staying the night) and produced a bottle of Jim Beam.
Two British guys showed up tonight. They are doing a big charity event for
Cancer Research (http://www.northamericanchallenge.com/).
They cycled 4000miles across Canada, Kayaked 2000miles and are just finishing a
southbound thru-hike which they have done over winter. Chatted to them for a bit
about the usual sports results etc., then they carried on South.
It is very cold here tonight. The guidebook warns that this shelter is infamous
for the icy wind that blows up out of the valley. It’s not a word of a lie.
Three others are staying in the shelter itself. A woman who was at Wood’s Hole
Shelter - Heiko and I made suggestions of stuff she can dump to lighten her load
- and a father-daughter pair out for the weekend. The daughter is only fourteen,
but is hiking almost as fast as me and carrying a big external frame pack.
I’m considering doing the eighteen miles tomorrow to get to Dicks Creek Gap,
where I can hitch into Hiawassee. Shall see how I feel as there are big hills in
the way. If not, I shall stay at the shelter fifteen miles from here and go in
Tuesday morning. If I do that, Baltimore Jack says he will split a motel room
with me. He looks like he might smell though. We’ll see.
7pm – must be time to try and sleep.
Top of the page
Monday,
April 07, 2003
Total miles: 50.7
Miles: 2.2
Turned out I could hitch into Hiawassee from Unicoi Gap, just 2.2miles from the
shelter. Caught a ride in the back of a an aggressively driven pick-up. Sharing
a room with Baltimore Jack and a pair of brothers from Maine. John and Dennis.
Nice guys. John looks like Jerry Garcia. All smoke constantly. Jack annoyingly
flicks through tv channels, pausing only to hurl abuse at anti-war types in the
news or check out whatever mullet-wearing cracker spawn are on CMT. Had dinner
at Daniel’s Steakhouse. Didn’t have steak, just the ‘salad bar’. Fried chicken
is salad here, so I got a decent meal for $8. back at the room now, where we are
watching a fine comedy-western with Mel Gibson. Some of Jack’s acquaintances
were at dinner. They are true hardcore trail types like him. They all seemed to
have strong opinions about various trail-related matters. Fascinating. Hoping
for an early start tomorrow to make up the ground lost today. Oh good the CMT
awards are on. Kill me.
Top of the page
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
Total miles: 63.3
Miles: 12.6
Didn’t sleep too well last night. Not sure why as was comfortable enough in bed
and peoples’ snoring could have been worse. Haven’t slept well all trip – must
need more exercise. Got up at eight-thirtyish. Had a pleasant continental
breakfast at the hotel and set off to the post office. Mailed home some bits and
pieces I haven’t been using. Took a while to catch a hitch back to the trail.
Eventually a guy in a beat up Beretta stopped for me. Very nice guy. He fits
vinyl sidings to houses for a living. Had a pleasant chat about game shooting.
Back on trail at nine-forty. Stopped for lunch at Tray Mountain Shelter after
hauling myself up a couple of long climbs. Had some of the ‘flatbread’ I bought
at the supermarket. To my deep joy, it is exactly the same as nan bread. Weather
alternated between drizzling and pouring. Not very inspiring. Finally arrived at
Deep Cut Gap Shelter after another long hard climb. Was soaking wet and cold.
Ate a good meal of whole meal pasta with olive oil, garlic, green chilies and
parmesan. Hungry for more now. A few section hikers are here tonight. Only
thru-hiker is a guy called Charles, whom I met on Springer Mountain. Young guy
in his 3rd year of an english literature degree. He’s up on the second storey of
this fancy shelter with me. Have been talking books, music, university etc.
The bad weather is set to last to the end of the week at least, with night time
temperatures forecast to fall to around freezing. Have a choice of fifteen or
twenty miles tomorrow. Guess I will play it by ear. Weather may be the decider.
Twenty-one is not out of the question as I am feeling really good out on the
trail. Moving faster than everyone I’ve seen and the hills are not causing me
any problems. Downhills are the only issue – wet rocks and slippery mud making
life hard.
Top of the page
Wednesday,
April 09, 2003
Total
Miles: 78.4
Miles:15.1
Yesterday’s deep joy at finding delicious, life-giving nan was transformed into
deep hatred of rodent-kind upon discovering that mice had eaten all my bread
during the night. Weather hasn’t really improved much. Remains damp and cool.
Visibility hasn’t risen above fifty yards for days. Crossed the first state
boundary of the trip. I am now in North Carolina. As soon as the border is
crossed, one is confronted with a series of evil uphill slogs. Had to pause a
couple of times.
At Muskrat Creek Shelter tonight, though it is full so I am tarping outside.
This will be the first test of the tarp in the rain – nothing like good
preparation. Lot of people here tonight. Not sure I care for all of them. They
sound as though they are a lot slower than me though, so should shake them off
soon. Tomorrow is likely to be another tough day. There is a big two mile climb
up to Standing Indian Mountain. Really want to do the nineteen to Big Spring
Shelter. That will put me handily to do a mini-resupply at Rainbow Springs
Campground. They allegedly have internet access there, which would be very
welcome.
Top of the page
Thursday,
April 10, 2003
Total Miles:
90.9
Miles: 12.5
Well, if I was poorly prepared as far as rain-testing was concerned, it was
nothing compared to how poorly prepared I was for the snow-storm I awoke to this
morning. My bag got a little wet on one side in the night. The tarp worked fine,
mostly, but some small puddles formed outside and as big drops fell into them,
surprisingly far-reaching splashes were produced, covering me and most of my
possessions in a wet, muddy film.
Hiked on through the snow, which was fine, but slippy. Worst part of it was
dodging the snow-laden branches and trees that leaned onto the trail under the
weight. When I made it to the shelter, I was soaked. I foolishly had worn all my
clothes because it was so cold, and thus had no dry clothes. Genius. Arrived at
two-thirtyish and spent from then until now (seven pm) trying to get warmer and
dryer. Ate a couple of hot meals and made a few hot water bottles. Am in my bag
with two of them now. Also have my survival blanket wrapped around me. Hopefully
shall survive the night.
Still very cold and I expect it will get colder as night falls. Am either going
on to the campground or town tomorrow. People at this shelter are nice. Met some
of them before. One works for Corning, designing oscillators for SDH/SONET type
stuff.
Forgot to write yesterday that I saw in the register that ‘E-Z-Does-It’, a hiker
we met last year, is just a few days ahead on another thru-hike. He is a retired
prison guard from New Jersey. I have witnessed people hike on an extra eight
miles at dusk to avoid him. Joy.
Top of the page
Friday, April 11, 2003
Total Miles:103.7
Miles:12.8
Well, I awoke, which is something. Didn’t actually sleep as badly as I have
done. Some mirth in the night as people fought-off pillaging mice. Corninig
bloke struck one that was on his food bag, launching it the length of the
shelter.
Was up and out by eight. Fifteen minutes down the trail, I realised that ‘d left
my sleeping bag back at the shelter. Joy as I got to walk that stretch back to
the shelter and out again. Got close to the campground at about two-twenty. En
route there was more snow trudging. Was around freezing when I got up, but a
little after nine the sun finally popped out and the weather has got steadily
better since. Had to ascend Albert Mountain. It involved a gradual two mile
climb, then half a mile of steep, steep clambering. That was ok. Worst part of
the walk was fighting through snow-laden rhododendrons that blocked the trail
for about a mile. Each deposited snow and ice about my person in a most
unpleasant manner.
As I neared the campground, a guy in a pick-up full of hikers stopped and I
jumped in the back. Lots of people were heading into Franklin, so I went in too.
The guy drove us the twelve miles for $5 a head. Staying in the Microtel (think
Travel-Tavern) with two guys I met yesterday at the shelter. We went out and got
Maccy-D’s, did laundry and went food shopping. Might go and get a bit more to
eat in a minute. Truck guy is picking us up at nine am to take us back to the
trail.
Top of the page
Saturday,
April 12, 2003
Total
Miles:123.0
Miles: 19.3
A very good day. Up early after a decent night’s sleep. Scott, Vagabond and I
then went for breakfast at Shoney’s. AYCE bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes etc -
cheap and cheerful. As usual at American breakfast buffets, I attempted to forge
a ‘breakfast bap’ using the closest thing I can find to bread – in this case it
was ‘biscuits’, and as usual, it was less than pleasant. I really must stop
trying. Finally managed to phone home. I had to get a new calling card after
using my $10 up on reaching answer phones. Didn’t have time to try Will again
though – maybe tomorrow at NOC.
Late start on the trail (nine-forty), but kept a good pace in the perfect
weather on moderate trail. I think most people stopped around fifteen miles in
and camped. Passed Steamer and two Wellesley College girls, now called the
‘Rock-Stars’. Met couple of new people too. A guy called ‘Shankadelic’, who was
‘chilling’ in the sun all afternoon, and also Billy with whom I walked for the
last part of the afternoon. He is doing similar miles to me and I get the
impression he wants someone to walk with. Seems to be even less of a people
person than me, so we get on fine. He also makes his own kit and is obviously a
big fan of the Jardine book. We shall see if he turns out to be a psycho or not.
If he’s ok, it would be good to have company.
We walked a little past the (slightly skanky) shelter, which I had no intention
of staying in as ‘Rumbler’ was there. Anyone who has gained a trail-name based
on the voracity of his snoring is not someone I wish to stay with. Stopped at a
nice enough little spot and are both tarping. Billy has a fine hand-crafted
luxury tarp. I am experimenting with mine to find a more effective way of
pitching it. Got twelve miles into NOC tomorrow. Apparently you can get a good
lunch there. It is then seven to the next shelter.
Forgot – saw my first bobcat on the trail today. Mottled grey thing with a short
tail. Wasn’t unduly frightened by my presence, just calmly trotted off ahead of
me.
Today I met Ben. I have been passing
other fellow hikers along the way. The only hiker that was hiking the same
daily distance as myself, was CloudWalker. We met a few times at nite
around shelters, as I had to interact with others, because this was my place of
water for most nites. I, however, was ahead of CloudWalker at this point,
because he and others had stayed in town because a snow storm had come, and was
still present. I had heard about Ben along the way. I seem to be the
only one carrying an umbrella. So when people started asking general
questions, they would point out that there was a guy in front of me from Britain
who was hiking lite, and carrying an umbrella. That afternoon, prior to
reaching Wayah Bald, on an ascent, I came up behind a hiker heading north. This guy
did not seem to want to let me pass. All others had no problems with
letting me pass. Occasionally, I may have gotten a sly remark about my pace, but I
was not one to ask others to move over. Soon Ben let me pass, but then he
continued to walk my pace. I thought, "what is this guy doing?". I
think I even asked if he wanted to pass me back. I started talking to him about
gear and the trail. I am sure he was a little frightened about how much I knew
regarding him. When Ben stopped just shy of Wayah Bald to collect some water,
I continued on. As I was taking photographs from atop the stone
observation tower, Ben came up. Shankadelic was already present at the
tower, chillin' in the sun. He told Ben and I his story about how he got
to the Appalachian Trail. Ben and I soon hiked on. Before nitetfall,
Ben and I passed Cold Spring Shelter, a dingy shelter. I told Ben I was
not going to stay in the shelter since someone else was there. He noted
about the hiker's known characteristics. We collected water, and then we
left.
Top of the page
Sunday,
April 13, 2003
Total Miles:
141.0
Miles: 18.0
Another fine day. Excellent weather again, though a cold night (30s). Hiked a
brisk twelve miles into the NOC to be there for twelve-thirty. Phoned home again
and tried Will without success. The centre is on the river, which has some good
white-water rafting. Bought some thermal underwear at the outfitter (to replace
the set I had already shipped home) in preparation for the Smokey Mountains.
Also got some food, fuel and, finally, a lighter (my matches haven’t worked for
days).
Billy and I had lunch at the restaurant there. Probably the best food of the
trip so far – fries and burger topped with chilli, cheese and bacon. Squeezed in
a huge brownie and ice-cream for dessert too – all for $15 with tip. Left NOC
bloated. Bumped into the guys I had met the other night. They were all staying
the night at the centre. All gave me warnings about the steep uphill section out
of the valley, which I chose to roundly ignore. Six miles and over 3000 vertical
feet, I had barely kept my lunch down. Would have been a hard climb at the best
of times, but quite evil with the mass of undigested food in my gut desperately
trying to park itself by the trailside.
Staying in Sassafras Gap Shelter tonight. It’s a very nice two-storey one.
Sharing with a father-daughter combo out for spring-break. Billy is working out
to be a good person to walk with. He is a little faster than me uphill and a
little slower than me back down. I have attributed this to the fact that we are
similar height, but he is 50lb lighter than me. Got another twenty miler
tomorrow to get us to Fontana Dam. Should be easier than today.
Top of the page
Monday, April 14, 2003
Total Miles: 161.7
Miles: 20.7
This good weather is getting a bit much. It is too hot and I’m sweating and
gulping water like Will at his best [Will is a very sweaty man when hiking]. The
easy day I predicted never arrived. There was a lot of up and down, much of it
uncomfortably steep. Still, made very good progress, especially considering we
set off at eight-forty and were done by five pm. Passed a lot of people today.
Seems to be more and more hikers recently, which is weird.
When we got near Fontana there was a handy information board with all the info
about accommodation – double room at motel was $31. Bingo. There was even a free
phone to a free shuttle. Our shuttle, piloted by true Southern Gal Charity,
arrived promptly and took us to the complex.
The Fontana Village Resort is just plain weird to me. I shan’t even try to
describe it here. Billy and I took our leave of Chastity (as I embarrassingly
called her by mistake) and checked in. The room is a lot better than you might
expect for £10/person. Quickly showered and headed to the $10 AYCE buffet. Lots
of chicken, beef stew, rice and salad - a bargain. Tomorrow I shall hopefully
get to use their internet connection and finally mail everyone. Went to the
games room and played pool, table tennis and, best of all, Iron Man Stewart’s
Super Off-Road Racing.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
April 15, 2003
Total Miles: 176.6
Miles: 14.9
Awoke after a very good night’s sleep in a comfy bed. Took a half-zero day. Ate
at the burger buffet and got plenty in me. Finally, got to use the internet and
email. Didn’t get back on trail until three pm. Got to look at and walk over the
dam, which I liked – being an enthusiast for big, obsolete pieces of machinery.
Two miles on we entered the park. Planned to do an ambitious 10.9 miles to the
first shelter, skipping the campsite. There had been a lot of talk about the
climb out of Fontana – 5 miles and 3000ft of it – but it turned out to be
nowhere near the ordeal of climbing out from NOC. Had an incredible view from
the top of a fire-tower on a mountain. Finally got to the shelter to find it,
and the surrounding area, heaving with people – maybe twenty in all. I might
have stayed had I been alone, but Billy likes people even less than I do, so we
went on to the next shelter – another 2.5 miles. It was getting dark as we
arrived. We’ve eaten and decided to eschew cover for the night and sleep under
the stars. This may be very good or very foolish.
Top of the page
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Total Miles: 187.0
Miles: 16.4
Sleeping uncovered turned out to be a wise decision. Not chancing it tonight
though. Staying in a shelter. Billy and I have had to lie at an angle on the
sleeping platform as it is not built for people over six foot. Not much
excitement to report. Going remains steadily tough. Got Clingman’s Dome tomorrow
morning. After that, it gets a little easier. Had some beautiful views today at
Rocky Top.
Turns out the shelter we’re staying in was the place that two hikers were killed
by lightning in the Eighties. Can’t say I’m worried though. Hunger has gotten
progressively worse since the beginning of the trip. I must be losing weight.
Billy’s mother is meeting him on Sunday. I’ve been invited to go to dinner with
them - sounds good to me.
Top of the page
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Total Miles: 197.8
Miles: 10.8
We had every intention of doing a 20+mile day today. (Un)fortunately events
conspired to drag us into Gatlinburg for the night. We had toyed with the idea
of hitching in for lunch, but we were undecided. However, when we reached a
car-park around lunch-time and were offered a ride within seconds, our minds
were made up. Some former thru-hikers were doing ‘trail-magic’, giving rides and
free sodas and we just had to let them drop us off at their choice of pizza
place. We both ordered 16” pizzas (mine a double-anchovy beasty) and got some
garlic rolls to boot.
It quickly became apparent that we would never be able to hike another 11 miles
with our guts full of cheese, dough and pungent fish. Got our (few) leftovers
wrapped to go and headed for the cheapest motel in town ($37 the double). Had a
pleasant afternoon watching Flight of the Phoenix and eating bowls of Frosties.
Sent some time discussing plans for our own wood burning cook-stove. We hope to
build one as a project on the trail.
Picked up a book left at the shelter – John D MacDonald – seems good. Think
Raymond Chandler in Fort Lauderdale. The introduction by Carl Hiaasen sold me.
Top of the page
Friday, April 18, 2003
Total Miles: 221.9
Miles: 24.1
Late start back on the trail. We were slow getting going and it was a tough
hitch. Eventually, a slightly rough couple from Ohio stopped their Taurus and
let us in. At ten-forty we were walking on from Newfound Gap. Made good time -
aiming for a shelter. Finally rolled in at eight-thirty – just as it was getting
dark and having walked 23 miles. The place was rammed. Shelter full and all the
designated tent sites gone. Decided to hike on and stealth camp. Pitched Billy’s
tarp off the trail at Low Gap. It’s a hilly site, but at least it isn’t crowded.
Tomorrow we should be out of the park. I’ll be glad - although it is beautiful
here, it will be nice to return to the relative freedom outside of its rules and
crowds.
Finally saw E-Z-Does-It today. He is the same.
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Saturday, April 19, 2003
Total Miles: 244.7
Miles: 16.8
A long downhill section took us out of the park. We passed several horses on the
way. No idea how they are going to pass some of the wind fallen trees blocking
the trail that were difficult for us to climb under. Once out, we had a three
(non-AT) mile round trip to Mountain Momma’s Kuntry Kitchen. Had cheeseburgers
and Freedom-fries (the same as French fries, but anti-french feeling is running
that high out here). All good. Got some food to last us until tomorrow when
Billy’s parents can take us to the stores.
Had a long uphill slog in oppressive heat to get out of the gap. Another of
these 3000ft in five mile jobs. Passed some of the time discussing the AT hiking
[computer] game I must write when I get home. It’ll take 5-months to play and
feature lots of animation stolen from Hyper-Sports.
Some beautiful scenery again today. Was nice to have some greenery when we were
down at low level – the trees in the mountains are still bare. Together with all
the dead leaves on the ground, it gives an autumnal feel at odds with the 80
degree heat.
Tonight we are camping out without cover. Fingers crossed on the weather…
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Sunday,
April 20, 2003
Total Miles: 256.2
Miles: 11.5
Weather fine as usual. Plenty of climbing this morning to get to Max Patch Road.
Billy’s father was waiting on the trail for us. Both his parents are extremely
nice. They took us out to Hot Springs for lunch. I had deep fried chicken
livers.
Town had a good outfitter. I changed my tent pegs and rope for lighter stuff at
a total cost of $15. Bumped into the guy I shared a cab with to the trail. He is
now hiking along with Heiko and another guy I met at Springer.
Billy’s parents had kindly brought us enough food that we didn’t need to
resupply. Billy received an Easter basket of goodies (for it is Easter). Seemed
to be a high Disney content. Guess he must like that stuff.
They dropped us back at the trail after a scenic drive through rural North
Carolina – a lot of buildings in ruins, but looks pleasant enough. We hiked the
mile to the summit of Max Patch to find Billy’s father waiting for us again.
It’s very nice up there – a grassy, open summit, obviously popular with locals.
People were paragliding, or whatever its is called – fancy hang-gliding – and
landscape painting, picnicking or just enjoying the view (not all at the same
time sadly).
Said another farewell to Billy’s father and hiked on to the shelter to find it
horribly busy. Got water and went on a few minutes more to this nice camp spot.
Staying in Billy’s tarp again. He ditched his hiking poles earlier, which he had
been using solely to support his tarp. There’s more space in here without them.
Back to Hot Springs tomorrow.
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Monday,
April 21, 2003
Total Miles: 270.9
Miles: 14.7
Awoke at 6.30am by rain. We had the awning of the tarp open so had to adjust.
Had rain on and off all morning. Not enough to bother us with putting up our
umbrellas. Made good time with just a couple of short breaks, one of which was
at a most weather–exposed privy I have ever enjoyed – I regretted not taking my
umbrella.
The motel in town was, irritatingly, shut. The owners had gone on vacation and
shut-up shop. We’re staying at the Bridge Street Café instead. It’s mostly a
restaurant, but they do B&B too. Sadly they’re not doing breakfast tomorrow. The
restaurant is only open Thursday-Sunday, which is a shame as it looks especially
good.
Spent a long time doing laundry – Billy really doesn’t like dirty clothes. Ate
at the pub – service courtesy of an ever-smiling, yet oh-so-surly waitress. I had
1.5lb of baby-back ribs, which were so-so. We were distraught upon leaving to
discover all the stores shut and ourselves unable to buy our usual bedtime
snacks/milk/beer. However, in a flash of inspiration, Billy remembered a
campground store down the road – we got there just in time to fulfill our
requirement – a six-pack of Bud for me, milk for Billy (he doesn’t drink).
Have checked our resupply plans up to Damascus. Got a 3-5 day stretch next.
Might settle down with my book and beer now – life remains good.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Total Miles: 282.5
Miles: 11.6
Spent morning finishing off laundry, sending stuff on to Will, and buying
buying/eating breakfast. No chance to get on the internet at the outfitter – you
have to book it and it was jammed until 4pm. Had good lunch at the diner –
double cheeseburger and fries, followed by apple pie with ice cream and coffee.
Headed out of town a little after 3pm. Are supplied up to Erwin, TN 3-5 days. I
am carrying 12 donuts to sort me out for breakfasts. Also discovered I was
carrying 2 cans of beer I had failed to dispose of before leaving town.
Had two beer and donut breaks on the trail. Made it to the shelter at dusk to
find it full – this is becoming a recurring theme. There were some tent sites
left, but they were too exposed to the icy wind that howled in over the hills.
We elected to hike on to find a more sheltered spot. Have ended up in a not too
bad spot. Still a little windy, but it was a trade-off between wind protection and
ground flatness. Billy isn’t feeling too good tonight – his stomach is playing
up. It’s cold tonight. Glad I just sent home cold-weather stuff – again.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Total Miles: 303.1
Miles: 20.6
Cold morning delayed our start until 10.30. Typically, my legs were cold in the
night. A fine decision to send home my tights. At least I have got rid of enough
stuff to fit my sleeping pad inside my pack. I look quiet the sleek hiking
machine now. Fairly uneventful day today. A couple of great views of the
foothills and plains. Hunger is a problem at the moment. Just seem to be able to
eat and eat. Wishing I’d bought a little more food.
Staying in Flint Mountain Shelter tonight. Couple of section hikers here – one
of which used to play soccer with Billy’s uncle. Guy we met in town is here too.
He’s called ‘Pez’
Clear sky, lots of stars – so bound to be cold.
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Thursday, April 24, 2003
Total Miles: 325.3
Miles: 22.1
Out at 10 this morning. Time went fast today. Hunger was terrible the whole way.
Some big climbs in the afternoon. Billy tells me I’m going up them faster now.
Probably true, I feel a little fitter and am hauling a little less weight, one
way or another.
Tonight we are spending a lot of time debating whether we should stop the night
in Erwin. Doubtless we will, but we are debating nonetheless.. They have AYCE
Mexican food and the Super 8 has laundry. Sounds like heaven. They even have a
library, which probably means internet.
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Saturday, April 26, 2003
Total Miles: 338.8 / 355.3
Miles: 13.5 / 16.5
Forgot to write my journal yesterday. Must have been too cozy and full of pizza
in the Super 8. Got to Erwin by noon. Phoned the Super 8 from the outfitters.
Within minutes, comedy asian people had come and collected us in a lovely
Mercury Grand Marquis. Had lunch at the Sonic in town. It’s a fast food place
designed exclusively for drive-thru. We had to give our order over speaker-phone
and sit outside. Had a good shop in the Food Lion, and Billy got to post some
more stuff back. The library was good – 7 computers! Ordered pizza to the motel
and watched a terrible film about a hijacked plane full of priceless works of
art. Phoned Will – he was drunk. Neither Billy nor I could sleep so we ended up
watching a fly-on-the-wall documentary about guys who make custom motorcycles.
Finally slept at 2am.
Today got out of room at 11am and checked out. There was a minibus waiting
outside that turned out be be ‘Miss Janet’s’. She was extremely nice (living up
to her trail-legend status) and was happy to give us a ride to the trail. Back
on trail at noon.
Some sun, some rain – well, rather more rain than sun. Not much visibility
towards the end – just walking in mist. Shelter full as usual when we got there
at 8pm. Tarping out again.
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Sunday,
April 27, 2003
Total Miles: 375.1
Miles: 19.8
Very hard day terrain-wise. Morning had reasonable ups and downs, but the
afternoon’s ascent of Roan Mountain was a toughie – 2000ft in 2.5miles. I was
sweating like a faucet. The views have more than made up for the expended effort
though.
Visited the highest shelter on the AT (6275ft), but are staying at Stan Murray
Shelter, which has just two other occupants.
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Monday, April 28, 2003
Total Miles: 393.8
Miles: 18.7
Nice easy hike to US 19. At the road we finally met the two English girls we’d
been hearing about. After several minutes chat with Felicity and Foxy we set
about trying to hitch to Elk Park for a resupply. We were quickly picked up by a
lady in a convertible Mustang. She drove us to the grocery store at an admirable
pace.
We decided to leave shopping until after lunch and walked half a mile to the
Times Square Restaurant. It wasn’t very good, but it was cheap. We returned to
the store to discover there was no cash machine in town and they didn’t take
plastic. Thankfully a friend of the owner was happy to drive us the 12 mile
round trip to the next town.
It is evilly hot today. We’re staying the night at a very crowded camp spot,
having arrived late as usual. Met a guy called Overshot who is attempting to
hike the trail in 3 months. Trail relocation in the area means that the trail is
two miles longer than advertised and as such we don’t really know where we are.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Total Miles: 414.2
Miles: 20.4
Up and out before 8am. Feels claustrophobic here – too many people and kind of
marshy with no views. Stopped at a shelter for a break and idled about there for
some time in the occasional sun. Finally got up and headed on to the road and
get a second lunch at the Laurel Fork Hostel. Had good burgers, severed to us by
friendly owner John, before heading outside to lounge in the sun some more.
Eventually we got ourselves moving around 5.30 to knock off the last 6 miles. We
hadn’t expected the very sudden change of scenery that awaited us. Now all was
rocky canyons and white-water. Stopped and larked about at some nice falls for a
while, then had an evil 1800ft climb to get here. It was so steep at times that I
got back ache. Got a good spot just off the trail where two other guys are
staying. They’ve got a good fire going and we are sleeping under the stars yet
again – our luck is held up to now…
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Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Total Miles: 25.4
Miles: 439.6
Out by 8am again – this time encouraged by the thought of a second breakfast at
Hampton. We got to the road in an hour and managed to get a hitch in minutes
with a woman in a double-cab pick-up. She was good enough to let us ride up front and even gave us a critique of local diners.
The first diner we went in didn’t look overjoyed to see us – the waitress looked
at us disapprovingly and informed us that they weren’t serving that morning. We
took this as a snub and headed next door to enjoy a truly excellent meal. I had
the ‘Grandpa Special’ – three eggs, sausage, fried apples, and two vast
pancakes. I washed it down with lots of coffee then went shopping at the Dollar
General opposite. It was a surprisingly good place to resupply – though I am not
sure about my wisdom in buying a tin of smoked oysters from a shop with the same
fast-food cachet as Pound Stretcher. Got a hitch back to the trail in the back
of a single-cab.
The trail wound its way around the circumference of a big lake, which had picnic
areas, swimming areas, etc, so we hung out there in the sun for a while. Just as
we were getting truly comfortable, thunderstorms blew in. We started back
walking at 2pm and have mostly been walking since. Billy had the crazy notion of
us getting to Damascus by walking all night, but we are instead stopping at
11.30 and sleeping under the stars. It is a good night for it as there are still
some storms in the distance periodically lighting up the sky.
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Thursday, May 01, 2003
Total Miles: 458.9
Miles: 19.3
Knocked off the miles by 2pm – this meant that we had walked 42 miles in 24
hours. Feet were very sore by the time we had finished the descent into
Damascus.
The town is nice, though without the choice of lodging we’d like. We ended up in
a B&B run by Miss Suzy, a lady from Georgia. She is very Southern and very
friendly. She drove us to get some Bar-B-Q. I had never truly understood what is
meant by ‘southern Bar-B-Q’ until Billy enlightened me. In essence, it is smoked
shredded pork in Bar-B-Q sauce to be eaten in rolls. The sauce varies with
region, some using vinegar, others mustard. It was served with excellent baked
beans that were more meat than pulse, and some good ‘slaw. We got email and
laundry done. Tomorrow we shall tackle the outfitters, grocery store and
anything else that comes to mind.
Spent time chatting to Pez and a guy called SPG, who was possibly the World’s
Gayest Hiker. He is designing his own range of fashion hiking clothing and
showed more earnest interest in the contents of Vanity Fair than any man should.
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Friday,
May 02, 2003
Total Miles: 468.3
Miles: 9.4
Had a fine breakfast of bacon, eggs, grits, pancakes, melon, strawberries and
kiwi at the B&B. Went to the outfitter and took the plunge with a new pack. I am
now the proud owner of a Golite Breeze. It weighs just 10oz, but carries my (now
very small) load fine. All my possessions now weigh less than 10lbs, 20 with
food and water. Held off buying new shoes – mine are still just about ok. Ate at
an Italian place and had calzone. A thunderstorm broke the perfect weather, so
we took refuge in an ice cream place and ordered huge sundaes and coffee.
We set out some time after six and reached the shelter in the dark.. Only two
people in the shelter, but we don’t want to wake them so are sleeping out again.
The trees are dripping on us, so it may not be the best idea. Plans are working
out for getting to Will’s. We shall be picked up by Billy’s friend Nicky on
Tuesday. We’re staying in Atlanta Tuesday night then I’m taking the Greyhound to
Savannah.
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Saturday, May 03, 2003
Total Miles: 487.3
Miles: 19.0
Trees dripped on us all night so am a little damp this morning. Sluggish start
then stopped at a shelter for lunch and to chat with Overshot and Cloudwalker,
whom we know better than most out here. Thunderstorms were coming in so we
decided to wait them out at the shelter. We both had naps and got out late
again., meaning we are camping in the dark again. Tarping amongst a large crowd
of what can only be described as weekend-hiker-douche bags.
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Sunday, May 04, 2003
Total Miles: 506.0
Miles: 18.7
Awoke among weekend-hiker-douche bags. A late start out, but enjoyed listening
to the WHDs talking amongst themselves. Loads of people out at this popular
state park as it’s the weekend and mostly sunny.
Nice easy hiking here, though the ground is hard on the feet. Lots of pleasant
scenery and big rocks and boulders to climb around on. Tomorrow we head into
Troutdale for food.
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Monday,
May 05, 2003
Total Miles: 508.0
Miles: 2
Billy woke me at six to inform me that it had started raining and as such it
might be a good time to get moving. We quickly hiked the two miles to the road
an began hitching. The rain never let up and it was cold. Most of what little
traffic there was happened to be dump trucks that covered us in spray as they
thundered by. It took 45 minutes of hungry frustration before a slightly scary
guy in a pick-up stopped for us.
Troutdale seemed to consist of a single diner/grocery store primarily. The place
looked less than beautiful inside, but the food was good and plentiful. I had 4
eggs, 4 toast, 2 pancakes and plenty of coffee. Billy ended up with an obscene
two plates of food – one a huge mass of biscuits and gravy. Over breakfast we
came to the conclusion that getting off the trail a day early may not be such a
bad idea.
Billy made the necessary arrangements with Nicky to get us picked up ASAP (230)
and we killed as much time as seemed reasonable at the diner before heading
out to check out the hiker hostelling facilities at the church. The planned
hostel is not yet complete, but there was a pavilion where we could shelter from
the rain for a couple of hours. We headed back to the diner for lunchtime
burgers and afterwards settled on the porch with ice cream to await Nicky. She
duly arrived in a brand new Honda Civic, greatly exciting Honda enthusiast
Billy. Nicky is an extremely nice girl – somewhat more outgoing and people
friendly than Billy.
Our request for an early pick-up had thrown a spanner into the works of her
preparation for the Florida triathlon. She drove us to Winston-Salem (after a
couple of hours meandering, lost, through Virginia) as she had to attend a
meeting. Throughout the journey, Billy and Nicky bickered near constantly – this
seems to be the norm for them. While Nicky planned triathlons, Billy and I went
to the mall. We were delighted to find silicon-impregnated bags and
sweet-looking umbrella in the dollar-store. We couldn’t stay in Winston-Salem as
the TV weather girl with whom Nicky lives was sick. We did take showers and do
laundry there though as Nicky didn’t fancy the prospect of sharing a confined
space with us for a few more hours, reeking of the trail as we were. After
loading the car with masses of luggage and bikes, we headed to Charlotte to
spend the night with Nicky’s very hospitable family. The next day
we finally made it back to Atlanta, with only one minor road accident to show
for ourselves. We did some more shopping in Atlanta and I finally replaced my
shoes with some New Balance 806s to match Billy’s. Spent a pleasant night at
Billy’s family home then headed over to the Greyhound station in the morning.
The locale of the bus station – as in all American cities – was truly
terrifying. I am now on my merry way to Savannah and the one-man-party that is
Will.
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Sunday,
May 18, 2003
Total Miles: 512.0
Miles: 4
First day (hour and a half anyway) back on the trail after our lengthy break.
Felt strange getting back on and was reluctant to wave goodbye to Nicky (and her
car) earlier. However, am already feeling back home here, especially now we are
housed in our new ultra-roomy 10'x12' tarp. Some angelic soul had even left a
cooler of beer by the trail to ease my pain.
Doubtless, our time off
could have been spent more productively than it was, but it was fun nonetheless.
Billy's and Nicky's families were hospitable to a fault and all fine people. I
got to meet one of Billy's cousins from Baltimore who's letchery and humour kept
me entertained. From Atlanta I took a Greyhound bus to Savannah. While waiting
for the bus, I made the mistake of going for a wander around the neighbourhood.
Within moments, I was deep in Cracktown with toothless prostitutes leering at me
and me feeling like a big pink target with my swim-shorts, floppy hat and
backpack. Savannah was of course fun - it is always fun around Will. We drank
plenty of PBR and ate too many Krispy Kreme donuts. I spent the time Will was at
work enchanted by his Nintendo. For reasons that still elude me, we also ended
up volunteering at the Savannah Highland Games. I discovered that no amount of
homesickness can make you eat a scotch pie.
Anyway, back on the trail now
and have to stop writing as the bugs are gonna drive me insane so long as I
have this light on.
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Monday, May 19, 2003
Total Miles: 535.9
Miles: 23.9
Surprisingly chilly last night, which at least gave Billy's new sleeping bag an
early test. Not out til after ten. Went by the very nice Partnership shelter -
it has hot and cold running water, a shower and an odour-free concrete privy. It
is also only 100yds from a ranger station with snack shop. There is even a
phone, and pizza hut will deliver. Sadly we weren't staying there. We did stop
for dinner in the Dairy Queen at a truck stop on I81. This was a mistake. The
food was nasty and we didn't really need it. It is now not agreeing with Billy's
stomach awfully well. We're tarping a mile or so before the shelter - mostly due
to Billy's need to make an emergency khasi-stop.
Easy hiking today with
nice terrain. Got a few more hills tomorrow though. Met an english guy earlier -
he was obvious due to his stack of inappropriate British-style kit. He
worryingly failed to spot my accent as British. I hope I haven't spent so long
with Billy now that I talk like him.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Total Miles: 555.3
Miles: 19.4
Out early. Terrain was surprisingly tough today. Got a little past the half-way
point and decided to take a nap to allow lunch to settle. Slept from 3 til 5 then
had to get up and tackle a steep hill. Was far too groggy to consider enjoying
that.
Camping on top of the hill with a fine view of a ridge in front of us. A huge
spotlight periodically sweeps the sky. Very tired and still hungry after dinner.
Top of the page
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Total Miles: 575.6
Miles: 20.3
Not our greatest day. Awoke at 0030 to the sound of rain. Awoke again at 0230
when the tarp collapsed. We ran around in the rain, half-asleep, trying to
resurrect what, in hindsight, was a shoddy erection of sticks and nylon, secured
ineffectually by rotten slivers of wood. A further collapse at 0600 and
persistent leaking from the unsealed ridge-seam conspired to give us a wretched
night's sleep. Thoroughly demoralised, we didn't strike camp until 12.
We had stopped early the night before because we were sleepy and believed the
shelter to be several miles away. Imagine our joy at discovering that the
shelter had been only 30 minutes easy hiking away the entire time. To make
matters worse, it was a particularly nice one and looked to have been empty the
previous night. Discovered that during the night's activities, my container of
parmesan exploded, covering everything in my food bag with damp grated, pungent
cheese. Everything smells of feet /vomit now. I also broke the nose-piece of my
glasses, so now a sharp piece of metal is jagging into my nose.
It drizzled constantly until 6pm. Hiking was a chore and I felt lethargic. We had
set out too late to get to Bland as planned. This was bad enough, but we didn't
really have much food for an extra night. It was all rather disheartening. After
six though, the weather perked up. The trail crossed a single creek twelve
(twelve!) times in the space of 2 miles. It involved lots of jumping from
boulder to slippery boulder to wobbly rock. Tricky stuff. I have no idea how
(even) less athletic people get across. I can only assume they get
wet.
Our mood improved further when we got some trail magic - bottles of
ice cold apple juice left by the same guy who had left the beer on Sunday night.
We are sleeping out 3 miles from Bland Road. The water we were expecting to find
on the way here never arrived, so we don't have enough even to cook what little
food we have left. We are nonetheless buoyant at the prospect of a town
breakfast. Looking forward to reaching Pearisburg on Saturday to stay the night
and eat a lot of pizza.
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Thursday, May 22, 2003
Total Miles: 591.8
Miles: 16.2
Our luck mostly got better. It didn't rain on us in the night and the hike to
the road was easy. It only took 7 minutes waiting at the road for a guy to stop
and let us into the back of his pick-up. Upon exiting the vehicle, the owner's
dog leapt from the cab, ran round and bit me on the rear. Only my pride, my
shorts and my arse were injured. It really did hurt and if the guy hadn't just
done us a favour, I may have beaten his dog to within an inch with my umbrella.
I'll need o sew up the gaping hole in my shorts sometime.
Bland didn't have the rich variety bustling restaurants and cafes I'd dreamed of during my
enforced fast. We ended up eating at a Dairy Queen again. Their breakfast is
marginally better than McD's. The supermarket in town was pretty good. We bought
their entire stock of pre-packaged Bar-B-Q pork. Got a lift back to the trail
with a young guy, probably drunk and/or high. He was a friendly
idiot.
The rest of the afternoon went fine, for me at least. Billy is
still not best friends with his digestive system. Ate Bar-B-Q sandwiches for
dinner. Very nice indeed. Would have been better if it had been in 'red-sauce'.
This was Virginia style with slaw and vinegar. Good, but not as good. We've got the same again for lunch
tomorrow.
We are tarping again. This time we have created a beautiful and
robust shelter of kingly proportions.
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Friday,
May 23, 2003
Total Miles: 615.1
Miles: 23.3
A fairly uneventful day. Out sometime after nine. Easy hiking for most of the
day, which is what we had been expecting for the last few days only to be
disappointed. The Wingfoot guide seems to have been lying by omission about the
hills. Stopped for lunch by a pond and ate Bar-B-Q. Billy tried a different
Bar-B-Q product and it was a little rank. We then hiked up a 1000ft climb, doing
all we could to hold onto our stomach contents. Stopped at the Wood's Hole
Hostel to get Coke and chocolate. It's a great place run by extremely nice
people, but we decided to hike on to the shelter so we could be a little closer
to Pearisburg. Sadly the shelter was full, so we have carried on a couple of
miles and are just laying on the ground again, hoping the rain holds off.
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Sunday,
May 25, 2003
Day 40
Total Miles: 621.1
Miles: 6.0
Day 41
Total Miles: 628.4
Miles: 7.3
Failed to write last night as seems to happen in town. It did rain the night
before last. Billy did a fine job of erecting a makeshift shelter around
midnight. Got to town before 10 and ended up staying at the plaza motel. $45 and
not very nice. I slipped in the ropey shower and smashed my ribs against the
side of the bath pretty hard. It still hurts.
Pearisburg is probably not the nicest place on Earth. There were some scary
people in the laundromat. They reminded us of the Osbornes, but without the
money or success. We did get an AYCE chinese buffet for $4.95 which was ok.
There were good supermarkets in town and even a Walmart that we visited today.
Found supplies of Cadbury Dairy Milk finally. It's made by Hershey under license
so is probably horrible. I bought a Simon Says electronic game to play. It makes
me happy.
Had a lucky run of TV scheduling, getting to watch The Rookie, Running Man,
Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Seinfeld. We even got to watch Tremors
before leaving in the morning. Bought too much bulky food and our packs are very
heavy. Sweated a lot in the 7 mile jaunt to this shelter. Nice weather today
that ended in heavy rain just after we arrived at the shelter.
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Monday,
May 26, 2003
Total Miles: 653.4
Miles: 25.0
Awoke to dense mist outside. Julie, a girl we had chatted to some, left before
us but returned to the shelter shortly after so she could follow us and not get
lost in the mist. Hiking through the fog was slightly surreal, especially passing
through a herd of cows that stared at us as we passed. Terrain is mostly flat at
the moment, just the odd climb onto or off of ridges.
Billy is looking comical, dressed in the skirt he bought at Wal-Mart. He looks like a kind of
scary Norman Bates character, an effect enhanced by his decision to carry his
food bag in his hands (to lower packweight), giving the impression he is
carrying a handbag.
We got to the shelter late, but only one other staying here. Sleeping in, but am
unable to lie on my front as my shower injury hurts too much. Expecting another
poor night's sleep.
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Tuesday,
May 27, 2003
Total Miles: 672.1
Miles: 18.7
Out late (10ish) after a sound night's sleep. Enjoyed reading the book I picked
up in the shelter yesterday (Ken Kesy's Sometimes a Great Notion). Two big
climbs and some heavy rain made the day uninspiring and slow. Had some extremely
soft going as we passed through farmland. At one point I thought Billy was going
to sink into the mud up to his knees. I enjoyed watching him fall on his arse as
we clambered over rocks on the ridge.
Met Vagabond at the shelter, having not seen him since NOC. Shelter and surroundings packed so we hiked on 1/2
mile and tarped.
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Wednesday,
May 28, 2003
Total Miles: 694.4
Miles: 22.3
Toughish day today - partly due to the terrain and partly due to foolish food
choices.
Had a couple of big climbs in the morning as we stove to reach
the grocery place 15.5 miles from the campsite. The weather was good and I
sweated a treat on the ups. We had a stop to visit the Dragon's Tooth - a big
rocky out croppy thing. I climbed as far up it as my fear of heights and common
sense would allow. Had slow-going for a while after that as the trail ran up and
down some very rocky stuff that required the use of hands and a willingness to
take risks.
When we finally made it to the grocery place, it was nearly 4pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We had only been spurred on by the
guidebook's insistence that the place served breakfast, lunch and dinner. This
was a lie - it was just a gas station with second-rate grocery facilities. In
our hunger we ended up impulse-buying a meal. This approach failed to provide me
with a balanced and nutritious lunch. I ended up with the following: a sack of
crisps, nearly a 1lb of french onion dip, 1 pint of chocolate ice-cream, a
chocolate bar and half a gallon of milk.
The remaining 7 miles of the day were spent in deep concentration, trying to keep a cap on both ends of my
digestive system. We got to the shelter at 930, in the dark, to find it had been
demolished. Tarping.
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Friday,
May 30, 2003
Day 45
Total Miles: 713.0
Miles: 18.6
Day 46
Total Miles: 718.0
Miles: 5.0
Too busy drinking beer and watching the Bill Murray marathon to write last
night. Awoke to rain yesterday morning and had to hike in it for a few hours. I
don't like rain. Climbed McAfee Knob which had fine, if partially obscured views
of Virginia. We took photos of ourselves on the outcrop which is the
traditional, if terrifying, thing to do here. By the time we got to Timker's
Cliffs, the weather and views were much better. Got to check out the Aldie
Murphy monument - his is a very good story.
Did make good time in the afternoon to make it to the I81 interchange at Troutville. Got a room at the
very pleasant Best Western. A short and hazardous stroll down the highway got us
to McDonalds where we enjoyed fine dining in elegant surroundings. I didn't
fancy hiking on today, but couldn't convince Billy to zero, so we ended up
leaving around six. Not sure what we did to kill so much time between checking
out and leaving town. Must have spent it between shopping in the Kroger, eating
lunch at a BBQ restaurant and looking in the outfitters. I want to go to a
system of carrying a homosexual-travelers-bum-bag instead of a pack. They had a Mountainsmith one in the store, which may well have done the job, but it was $80
and I wasn't sure enough.
Tarping at the first shelter we got to this evening.
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Saturday,
May 31, 2003
Total Miles: 744.8
Miles: 26.8
A big mileage day. Felt pretty easy despite some very changeable weather. Had a
mix of sunshine and ferocious thunderstorms. Terrain was fine today with only
one longish climb towards the end. Tomorrow we'll start off with a 300ft, ten
mile one. Got to an extremely nice shelter late. Sleeping on the floor of the
porch.
We saw Drew at the shelter. Drew is basically a
fresh hiker and is doing pretty good sized miles for just having started the
trail recently. Drew couldn't start the trail as early, so he started in
North Carolina. Drew is from the Asheville area, so we had something to
talk about both having lived in North Carolina. Ben and I strolled into
camp just before dusk. The huge multi level shelter was full of hikers, so
Ben and I quietly cooked dinner, while talking to Drew, and did the usual and
made our spot away from the crowd. Laying down on the wraparound porch
where no one else was staying.
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Sunday,
June 1, 2003
Total Miles: 768.3
Miles: 23.5
The 3000ft climb turned out to be rather more, but we knocked off the miles
easily to give us one of our earliest finishes yet - in to camp by six. We got
to check out a big radar dome on the top of the mountain, which I found pretty
exciting. We hiked a while with a guy named Drew, whom we've met a few times. He
seems ok and Billy will even chat to him despite misgivings about his liberal
leanings.
The bugs are becoming a problem and I am obviously going to
regret getting my bug netting sent to Harper's Ferry [300 miles away] rather
than somewhere closer. Tried playing in the stream by our campsite, but the
water was way too cold. Had hoped to wash off some of my trail funk before
heading into Glasgow tomorrow.
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Monday,
June 2, 2003
Total Miles: 780.2
Miles: 11.9
Well I really want my bug netting now. I am covered in bites all over my face,
hands and neck. There are some mosquito bites, but they are mostly from tiny
black fly things that leave big marks when they bite.
We got to Glasgow
after a hitch with a guy in a decrepit Chevy Blazer. He looked rough - chewing
tobacco making his teeth appear even worse than they were. He was a nice enough
guy though. He had just finished a 15 hour night shift laying piping and he
looked tired. His brakes were clearly defective and I didn't feel confident as a
passenger. We arrived safely somehow.
Glasgow is a nice town in many
ways. There is a nice park and the library was good. We had breakfast in a small
deli (the only place in town). Had sausage/bacon/eggs in biscuits - breaking my
cardinal rule about breakfast baps in foreign countries. We spent a couple of
hours in the library sending mail and researching bum-bags. Ate a good lunch of
a sub sandwich and devilled eggs. We got a hitch back to the trail with an
extremely nice couple. We only had time for 12 miles in the end. Tomorrow kicks
off with a big climb. Joy.
Hitching was always a big deal for me, even this far
north. I always commented to Ben on our chances. I would look at the
road surface, see if any commercial buildings were in site, and the bends in the
road. We always kind of placed a bet on how long it would take to get the
ride into town. The hitch to Glasgow I thought would be a tricky one.
Not only did the road curve right where the trail comes out of the woods, but
there was a couple that had made it to the road along with us. The couple
was a boy and a girl, which usually automatically gets them picked up quickly.
I was doubting that they would be willing to help us though once they got their
hitch. So I got Ben to get away from them and head where the road
straightened out so we could be in better view and the cars would have a place
to pull over. We did wait a while, but the hitching gods were on our side,
and we miraculously got a hitch before the couple. But Ben and I for some
reason had hearts this morning and asked our driver if they would take the
couple in to town as well. He agreed.
The ride back to the trail happened to be in a Grand
Cherokee, leather seats, with an older couple that were visiting Glasgow and are
hiker enthusiasts. They enjoyed our achievements and wished us well.
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Tuesday,
June 3, 2003
Total Miles: 804.8
Miles: 24.6
Slept a little late today. Hiked a mile down the trail before realising we were
heading South and turning around. The weather has been uniformly foul all day -
cold, wet and windy in contrast to yesterday's blazing sun. Still managed to get
the mileage done despite all this - possibly helped by the weather not inspiring
us to take any more breaks than necessary. Sleeping in a shelter tonight in the
hope that it will help us to leave early tomorrow.
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Wednesday,
June 4, 2003
Total Miles: 825.3
Miles: 20.5
Succeeded in getting out by 7.45 which is pretty good for us. Weather was ok
until late afternoon when it rained on us. Had to walk the 1.5 miles to our
resupply as hitching wasn't going to happen. 'The Tea Room' wasn't exactly what
I was expecting. A shack run by a hillbilly was a far cry from the image of
blue-rinse old folk and doilies I had gotten from the name. Managed to find
enough there to stock up and even had microwaveable stuff for us to eat for
lunch. The owner ranted about the influx of city-folk to the area and about the
land they had owned that had been taken by the government. We discussed beef
cattle briefly. He owns some of the least healthy looking cows I've ever seen -
passers-by frequently report them to the police as a case of animal neglect. He
gave us a lift back to the trail.
Hiked up yet another 300 footer in the rain. I have some nasty chaffing issues and it hurts mightily. My anti-chaff
shorts won't dry because they're 92% cotton. My back is also hurting at the base
of my spine, on the right. It's never hurt there before. I'm hoping it'll fix
itself soon. Going to shoot for Waynesboro tomorrow. Should be easy terrain, just
hope that the rain stops and my body stays together.
The 'Tea Room' was a family run farm in which they had
turned the main parlor into a small grocery store. The store was
reminiscent to what you see on TV when the characters visit the town grocery
store. The store had the bookshelves with packaged products, very few were
name brand products that I am always in search of (ex: I always get Velveeta,
here I had to go with Ben's usual of powered cheese, the Mac 'n Cheese brand for
$0.99). Upon entering the store, it felt as though the store had been
closed for weeks. I was worried that the products would be out of date,
but he even had milk that was before the sale date. As we walked the 1.5
miles to 'The Tea Room', I was thinking, why would a tea club want to
accommodate smelly hikers? We found the store in a boarded state. Luckily,
having empty stomachs and backpacks, we hung around long enough that the
owner's son asked us what we needed and he opened the store. It turned out
the owner, his mother, was in the hospital...I'm sure she added a soft touch to
the store, but this guy was as Ben put it, a hillbilly.
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Thursday,
June 5, 2003
Total Miles: 846.5
Miles: 21.2
Froze our asses off last night, to use Billy's turn of phrase. It was very cold
and we didn't get 100% dry. My tactic of drying out my shorts in the foot of my
sleeping bag was a dismal failure. A wet, cold mass by my feet all night wasn't
what I needed.
From an unpromising start, it turned into a glorious day. It would have been a great hike, but for my back. It is killing me every time
I
walk. Not sure what to do about it if anything. Had a bit of a go at stretching,
but to no avail. Stretching hurts my ribs as well. Taking ibroprofene is the
best help I've found. We got the miles done, but it wasn't fun. Had a good lunch
stop at some rocks and laid around in the sun for an hour.
Made it to Rockfish Gap at 6.45. Hitching was going badly despite a lot of traffic.
Eventually a guy in a pick-up stopped for us. He had no idea we were hikers,
which is invariably a bad sign. He drank as he drove and didn't bother with a
seat-belt. He was kind enough to demonstrate the accelerative power of his
trucks, which reassured me no end. Some miscommunication and more ill-judgement
later, we were dropped off by our boisterous, bad toothed, sweary friend several
miles the wrong side of town.
The hike back to the centre was long and miserable. We eventually made it to the YMCA
before 9. An extremely nice place -
they have a site down by the river for hikers to stay for free. Ordered
Papa-John's pizza and gorged - I am going to regret that. Got some more
Cadbury's so I am happy. Going to sleep out and hope the weather holds for us.
Our miscommunication with our hitch was mainly my fault.
I talked to the guy as if he were a local. Asking him questions about where to
stay and eat. The area he was staying in was built because of Interstate
traffic (i.e. motels and restaurants at the exit). However the town was
two miles east of the Interstate. It ended up that our hitch was only in
town for work and had been residing in a motel that was near the Interstate and
was not familiar with the town's amenities. So he told us where we could stay
and eat, but where he was suggesting took us way out of town, and I didn't have
the guts to ask him to drive us back. So Ben and I walked back, Ben
hurting the entire way. Probably, in the end, it would have been best to
just walk into town, rather than hitch.
Top of the page
Saturday,
June 7, 2003
Day 53
Total Miles: 846.5
Miles: 0.0
Day 54
Total Miles: 864.9
Miles: 18.4
No writing last night as usual. Awoke at the campsite at 5.30. Didn't have a
sound night's sleep due to a stomach full of pizza and a very loud train that
went by several times. Went to the Y early and showered - Billy was very happy
with the communal showers. Managed to check in to the Quality Inn by 7.30. This
gave us 25.5 hours in the room (for $55), and also two free continental
breakfasts.
Went and did laundry at a Laundromat with a Pang machine. I
enjoyed that immensely. Ate at McD's for lunch and strolled to the outfitters.
Spent hours trying on a Mountainsmith bum bag. All my stuff fits in it and I may
have bought it, but I still had doubts and it was expensive. I did get me a
Frogg Toggs rain jacket just like Billy's at the hunting store though. Spent the
evening watching TV, drinking wine&beer/milk and eating chinese
food.
Today, went to the post office and library. Got a lift back to the
trail with a guy outside the Kroger. Back on trail at 2.30. We're camping a
couple of miles South of the shelter, having stumbled for hours in the dark with
our pathetic new dollar-store flash lights.
In all our wisdom, Ben and I decided to lighten every
ounce possible. Shopping at the dollar store in town brought us the idea
to purchase those key chain lights that produce a red glow to them. The
lights are used to see where to stick your car keys into the door...we somehow
thought they would produce enough trail light to hike on at nite. Besides,
they only cost a $1. We were now headed into the Shenandoahs.
Government park, means more regulations.
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Sunday,
June 8, 2003
Total Miles: 887.8
Miles: 22.9
Late finish yesterday meant a late start this morning. Had been encouraged by
the thought of a cooked lunch, but when we got to Loft Mtn Campground I
remembered the deal from last year- the grill was a mile away down the road, so
we didn't bother and just ate food from the camp store instead. I at least got
beer with my lunch.
My attempts to phone home were thwarted by the good people at AT&T. I shall be able to try again tomorrow.
The rest of the day was fairly gloomy with mist all about. There are no views and it is
extra difficult to navigate in the dark. The only upside to the day was the first
bear sighting of the trip. Heard a rustling in the undergrowth and saw the fella
about 15yds from us. He ignored us. The shelter only had two people in it and
all the camp spots were taken, so we have had to disturb the occupants a little
and stay inside.
Top of the page
Monday,
June 9, 2003
Total Miles: 907.8
Miles: 20.0
Slept like a log for the 2nd night running. Enjoyed crazy dreams. The other two
guys didn't seem at all bothered by our late arrival. Apparently there was a
huge storm in the night with thunder and lightning and torrential rain. This was
news to Billy and I. One of the guys had a mousetrap. He barely had time to step
away from the thing before he had his first catch. He ended up with a haul of
six, from which he made a mound of dead rodents for all to admire. The other guy
was carrying a pack that would make a sherpa weep.
My back hurt a little more than it had done for a while. It eased off after an hour or so before it
suddenly started to Really hurt, and I had to slow right down. I sat on a rock
despondently for a while. Eventually limped on to Lewis Campground. Ate junk
there for a while and spent an hour arguing with 15 different AT&T
operators, trying to charge my phone card. I gave up and bought another card.
Spoke to my mother who has, of course, been researching my ailment and
prescribed some stretching exercises. They seem to have helped a little and I
shall endeavour to do them every time we stop.
Our buddy Drew bought a camp-pillow in a fit of gayness - six ounces of Hollofil junk. I got slightly
carried away myself and bought a travel chess set. I still felt justified in
mocking Drew.
Eventually hiked on to Big Meadows, where we dined at the lodge. I had pasta and salad. It was very average and quite pricey. I did drink
my weight in Coke though. We're sleeping out tonight near the complex after a
welcome change in the weather. We bumped into Charles, a guy we had both met
weeks ago. Saw lots of bears and baby deer - jolly exciting. Tonight, we have
gas.
The Shenandoahs put regulations on hikers to stay at
designated campgrounds. We have only been in the park for 3 nites now, and
we have violated the rule twice. Its hard for us, mostly me, to just stop
because there is a shelter. I want to feel as though something was
accomplished today, so I always asked Ben to hike a little further. We
didn't want to pay hotel prices at the lodge, so we are camped in the woods mere
yards from the resort. We used the resort's resources- hoping to get an
upscale meal to reward ourselves, but instead we got a pricey dinner, that
sucked, had horrible service by some douche, but we tried to make the money back
by drinking coke and eating all the bread they would serve.
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Tuesday,
June 10, 2003
Total Miles: 927.0
Miles: 19.2
It was a good night to sleep out. Had an acceptable breakfast at the grill and
bought some overpriced groceries. Got distracted at Skyland, where I bought some
more overpriced junk food.
Have had more issues with my back. I'm
wondering what to do about it. My insurance doesn't look like it'll cover me
for anything. I did feel pretty good for the last hour of hiking though - the
pain changes unpredictably and my mood usually follows it. I am worried I may
not make it past Harpers Ferry.
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Wednesday,
June 11, 2003
Total Miles: 950.6
Miles: 23.6
Back hurt for most of the day, but not so much while hiking. We had a terrible
value and plain nasty meal at the Elkwallow Wayside. Met two people from Bristol
there. Uneventful day.
Staying at the Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter, having just left the park. Shortly after setting up in the shelter, a thunderstorm blew
in just like last year. Guess we're heading in to Front Royal tomorrow, though
we are not sure exactly why. The timing to get to Harper's in time to make the
post office is looking tricky.
The shelter has filled up. People all seem decent - a married couple we've seen a few times and two other hikers,
apparently called Sprint and E-Dogg. Circuit Rider and Sherlock (hiking
God-botherers) are tenting. I wonder if they will be spared being crushed in
their sleep by a falling tree as so nearly happened to a couple on my last
visit.
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Thursday,
June 12, 2003
Total Miles: 970.9
Miles: 20.3
Up early after an uncomfortable night's sleep. Billy had an awful time of it,
being cramped (my fault) and kept awake by snoring (me again). The hitch to
Front Royal happened very quickly. One of those nice older fellas that seem to
love picking up hikers at every opportunity. He told us about the Smithsonian
Zoological Park we were about to walk by. It had been used to raise cavalry
horses during the civil war and was now used to breed endangered
species.
We did our grocery shopping and ate breakfast at McD's. I am growing worryingly attached to the franchise. I bought some shorts at Big K to
replace the ones I got (which sucked) to replace my torn Speedos. We didn't even
need to try to hitch back to the trail. A guy saw us strolling along and picked
us up. 'Hiking Mike' was a teacher who had hiked all but 140 miles of the trail.
He was very friendly and vaguely interesting.
Our plans to reach Harper's Ferry for Saturday morning are looking a little optimistic, but we are going for
it anyway - the alternatives are all too irritating to consider. We stopped for
lunch at the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter - one of the nicest on the trail. A
south-bound section hiker was the only person there. He lectured political
science at George Washington University. He and Billy discussed US foreign
policy while I enjoyed the misleadingly advertised 'warm-water shower'. We got
stuck there for a while waiting out a thunderstorm. This brought both a welcome
respite from the heat and an equally welcome group of soaking wet female
hikers.
We hiked on for a while before stopping at a picnic table.
Suddenly Harper's by Saturday didn't seem like such a good plan and we then
frittered yet more time away playing chess. Much of the trail had been submerged
by the storms. Another came in as we walked, making it even worse going. Most of
the trail now stood under an inch of water, parts became bubbling streams. We
made it to Dick's Dome shelter, where we bumped into the married couple from
yesterday heading out - we did likewise.
Night hiking with these shoddy key-ring lights is near-impossible, so we are tarped at a trail intersection
just inside a state park, having failed to make it to Rod Hollow Shelter. We
have to do pushing 30 miles tomorrow to stay on track.
We are very inconsistent when Ben and I plan to walk every
day. We just think we might want to head there, but there are so many
variables that we never make a decision until it is practically putting the odds
against us. One variable that always played havoc on any type of planning
was our unwillingness to start every day at a reasonable time, nor finish
either. So instead of pushing on, we would stop and contemplate all the
variations of any possible conclusions. In this case we sat down and
played chess...until it finally hit us that we could indeed make it to Harpers
Ferry, but sh**, it's probably too late now. Let's try it anyhow. It
started to rain again, pouring sometimes, we were completely soaked. If
you were not wet from the pouring rain today, you were soaking inside your frogg
toggs from your sweat. Some parts of the trail are similar to walking a
creek bed. The Appalachian Trail in some areas plays a drainage ditch for
the rain, therefore, you must walk in inches of running water, never allowing
your shoes to dry. Being Appalachian Trail friendly, I was not willing to walk on the
outside of the trail, so it meant I had to walk the ditch the Appalachian Trail had created.
The shelter was full again, so we headed north. Once again tonite we are
illegally camping in a park.
Top of the page
Saturday,
June 14, 2003
Total Miles: ?
Miles: ?
Failed to write last yesterday. Out by 6am and knocked off the miles to the
first shelter quickly. Grabbed a bite to eat then entered the 'Roller Coater' -
a long stretch of constant up and downs. It was too hot and I couldn't filter
water as my water container had sprung a leak. Those miles came slowly and very
thirstily. Finally made it to the spot by the road where Billy was waiting as
patiently as he ever does, and hobbled off to lunch. The Horse Shoe Curve
Restaurant is a small bar with good food. We ate enjoyable meals, I drank beer,
and we went to settle the bill. It transpired that a section hiker called
'Artful Dodger' hadn't been able to make it to the trail this year, so had
instead sent money to the place to pay for hikers' meals. Our $20 tab was taken
care of by this kind stranger and set out to finish off the last 10.5 miles.
I had developed some nasty chaffing as well as an incurable thirst and a
very sore back. I eventually resorted to hiking without shorts, only my
transparent sil-skirt for modesty. The nature of the chaffing was such that the
only way to alleviate it was to 'clutch' myself with one hand and hold up the
front of my skirt with the other. I was terrified I would encounter a
south-bound group of girl scouts. Despite this, I made decent time until
nightfall. Then, the combination of rocky ground, inadequate light and a very
delicate back made for slow progress. The last half mile took me 40 minutes,
most of which was spent thinking I had passed the shelter in the dark and that I
was somehow going to have to sleep on the trail with no shelter and no water.
Was very happy to stumble into camp to find Billy waiting for me with water ready. He had even saved me a space in the shelter (at Drew's expense). Lots of
girls there. I think they survived the ordeal of seeing me in my nylon skirt
back-lit by a hiker's head-torch.
Everyone was up and out by six. The girls : Strappy, Big Red and Zero were also in the shelter. The miles into town
were straightforward and we made good time. I had agreed to meet Billy at the
bridge into town, but there was no sign of him. I waited for a while, before
engaging in a long search of the town for him. After a lot of fruitless
wandering, I came across him at the Appalachian Trail Conference Centre on my
second pass of the building. Turned out he had gone into town to buy Cokes for
everyone and we had just missed each other at the bridge.
All lodging in town was full due to there being a craft show on this weekend. Charles was keen
to share a room with us so we went to lunch and explored options. Sat with the
phone book and the restaurant's phone on our table trying to find somewhere with
rooms free. We managed to get a lift with a hiker named Tadpole and her visiting
mother to Martinsburg. We are staying at the Econolodge here. Ate pizza, drank
beer, watched TV. Billy was kind enough to spend his evening walking back and
forth to the truck stop doing our laundry.
I had everyone in the shelter worrying about Ben's
arrival. I was contemplating whether or not to return to the trail to go
and find him. I was worried that he may have stopped for the nite, or
accidentally taken a side trail. Eventually Ben's lite could be seen coming
round the bend and I went to greet him and tell him of the good news- "The girls
were at the shelter!" The "girls", Strappy, Big Red, Zero, always had
company around them. Meaning there were always male hikers trying to hike
with them. Ben and I didn't hang around any other hikers, but it was nice
to see girls on the trail, and these three were about the only girls that were
thru hiking that we had the chance of seeing continuously. The Appalachian
Trail has
its own society, and the "talk of town" for miles was Strappy.
She was the hottest hiker for many men for hundreds of miles. The only
problem, she has a man on the outside. Our hurry to make it into Harpers
Ferry was to get our packages before the post office closed on Saturday.
However, arriving Saturday wasn't worth it. Harpers Ferry wasn't too hiker
friendly today with places to stay, and did not allow hikers to camp around
town.
Top of the page
Wednesday,
June 18, 2003
Been a few days since the last entry. Awoke early on the 15th to what I assumed
were the usual effects of a large pizza and ten tins of cheap lager. My back
continued to be very painful. We shared a taxi back to Harper's Ferry - Billy
and I got dropped by the library, while Charles was heading on back to the
trail. It was Sunday and the library was shut. We ate a good lunch at the same
country diner I had visited last year. I like it and the friendly
waitress.
Our plan had been to do the few miles to the West Virginia / Maryland state line and then attempt the Maryland Challenge [to hike the length
of the trail in Maryland - 40 miles in a single day] the next day. With my back
in the state it was, this already looked to be a long shot, but I now also seemed
to be coming down with something. My digestive system was rebelling and I could
feel a temperature coming on. Our plans slowly evolved from hiking on, to
staying the night in town and going to the doctors the next day, to getting on
the next available train to Baltimore to go stay with Billy's
cousins.
The next train was not scheduled until the following morning, so we needed to figure out a place to stay overnight. Initially we figured we'd
just stealth-camp on the outskirts of town. We spent a while scouting out
possible sites - they all sucked- during which time I was becoming progressively
more unwell. We gave up and returned to town to loiter. After an hour or so sat
on a wall , a local ranger started taking an interest in us. He asked us what we
were doing and Billy panicked - telling him that we were about to hike out of
town. From then on, Billy lived in fear of seeing the guy again and having his
deception uncovered - we didn't need a night in the cells on vagrancy charges.
We finally made the decision that there was no way I was going to be able to
sleep rough somewhere in my state, so buckled and booked a hotel
room.
Hilltop House was a nice place - no TV, but I passed out as soon as I got to the room anyway. I was awoken several times in the night by the need to
sprint/limp to the lavatory. Other than that I mostly slept in a semi-delirious
stupour.
This day I would visit the lavatory pretty much every hour so it was unfortunate that our train was 3 hours late. The AMTRAK was rather more
luxurious than a British train. Spent a while transferring at DC - in all the
the journey took seven hours.
Kevin and his wife Jodie picked us up from Baltimore station in a shining Audi. They took us to dinner and then on to
Keith's, where we were to be staying. Keith's house is not kept very clean or
tidy. It is like Jamie's flat in its heyday, but with a feral cat living amongst
the carnage. I got the sofa, Billy the floor.
The "friendly waitress" was a tall brunette. Very
pleasant to us, but we left it at that. Just imagining she would indeed be
attracted to two smelly hikers. Keith was nice enough to let us stay at
his place, so I was nice enough to help clean up a bit. I even got Ben
involved. Throughout the week, we were able to straighten a few things,
including alphabetizing the thousands of DVDs Keith owns, fixed the downstairs
toilet, and even vacuumed a little. BBC-America happened to be playing a
marathon of the first season of "The Office" each nite of the week. This
was the finding of what became a lifestyle for my cousins and me.
Kevin let us borrow his ol' jetta , which I adore. We pimped the VW around
town to local hiking and sports shops, the grocery store, to get Ben's haircut,
and even to the doctor's. Keith, Kevin, and Jodi dropped what they had
planned for the week to make us feel welcome, even though we basically made them
take us in to recuperate.
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Tuesday,
June 24, 2003
Back in Harper's Ferry after spending a very enjoyable week in hospitable
Baltimore. Ate a lot of good meals, watched a lot of TV (The Office was on all
week!), did some shopping and generally relaxed and recuperated. I saw the
doctor, who prescribed me some painkillers and gave me some tips. He thinks I
have bruised a disc, for what it's worth. I have wimped out and bought a
Thermarest (my third). I also have a new light, shorts, T-shirt, shoes and
rain jacket.
Keith and Kevin are both excellent sorts and proved wonderful hosts for our stay. Sadly our week had to end eventually. We ate a last lunch
with the guys and took the train back to Harper's. We ate again at the pizza
place in town, before hiking over the river a mile into Maryland to stealth
camp. Tomorrow we shall get up early, retrace our steps and attempt to hike the
length of Maryland. I'm not really looking forward to it being my first day back, and
while still not 100%.
Getting back to Harpers Ferry meant we had to stay another
nite in the town. I had grown more "manly" in Baltimore, I guess, and was
willing to stealth just across the river in Maryland. We laid down at dark
behind some historical stone walls that were used as a reservoir inlet in
Harpers Ferry's barging heyday (the walls today are for tourist to look at).
There is only 50 yards between the Potomac River and the railroad tracks that
Ben and I took to Baltimore. This meaning that we didn't have much room to
stealth camp...and the train tracks were 75 feet above our heads on the
hillside. I worried a train may derail in the nite. Trains did come
thru at nite, awakening me, but this meant I was sleeping lite and would get us
up early before people would see us
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Wednesday,
June 25, 2003
Total Miles: 1048.6
Miles: 40.6
Awoke before 5 yesterday and back-tracked to the border. We started the
challenge at 5.30. The terrain was pretty decent for the most part and we knocked
off miles at a good rate. I was surprised how good my back felt. Still fairly
queasy, I struggled to eat much real food. I mostly fueled myself with chocolate
and pain killers. The painkillers are not helping my stomach either.
We had some luck with conveniently placed vending machines and water spigots. With
20 miles down by our early lunch, we even had time to check out the original
Washington monument and the Annapolis rocks. All was going well until we
stumbled across three lost kids. They were part of a church group. They had
little idea where they were supposed to be going or where they were. We figured
out where they were likely supposed to be going, turned them around and
gave them directions to a shelter a couple of miles away where we hoped the rest
of their group would be waiting.
We pushed on to find their supervisors. We got to the road just before the shelter to find Lion King and another hiker
with Smiley - a hiker that had to drop out with knee problems and was now
supporting a friend's attempt at the challenge and providing trail magic to
hikers. Billy went off in search of the supervisors. I gladly took a 7-Up from
Smiley. Billy tracked down the 'leaders' of the group and discovered that they
had indeed lost three children and weren't doing very much about finding them.
Billy headed off South again to find the kids again and help them to the shelter. He soon came bounding back with a pack, desperate kids in tow. The
children had panicked and started jettisoning their stuff as they went because
they couldn't stand the weight. I now headed back to gather up these possessions
that had been strewn over a half mile stretch either side of the only steep hill
of the day. The park ranger who had been alerted by the group leaders was not
awfully impressed by the situation, but was delighted with us. The price of our
heroics was a lot of wasted energy and time.
We pushed on a ways with my fatigue getting ever worse. Collapse at a road crossing for a while. Eventually
I gathered the will to tackle the last miles. Night fell with 3 more miles to
go. This coincided with the going becoming rocky and the trail hard to follow. I
struggled even with my shiny new light, so I have no idea how Billy got on
further ahead with his dollar store effort.
I reached the Pennsylvanian border 17 hours 7 minutes after setting out. I was as tired as I've ever been.
Smiley was on hand to give me much needed water. No sign of Billy for a while.
He eventually turned up, having gotten lost near the border. We camped just over
the state line and slept heavily. We're waiting in the park now for the food
stand to open. I ate only chocolate yesterday and not enough of that. I am still
queasy and don't fancy anything except hot savoury food.
The Maryland Challenge(40 miles). The challenge to walk the entire state of Maryland has
long been a hiker accomplishment that many attempt on their thru-hike of the
Appalachian Trail The challenge is a show of strength that a hiker has been building since
the foothills that began on top of Springer Mountain in Georgia. A persuasion
that entices many to say that they have walked an entire state within one day,
and becomes for many hikers their biggest one day mileage achievement of the
Appalachian Trail An attempt at the Maryland Challenge was something I strongly wanted to
accomplish. For Ben at first, it was just another crazy amount of miles I was
asking him to hike with me. Ben had just been laid up for a week for his bad
back, but still went for the journey.
Ben and I had done 3/4 of our Maryland Challenge before running into three kids
up on a ridge heading south. I do not talk to many passers by, but the three,
11 - 13 year old boys, seemed out of place and fatigued. So I asked them what
they were doing out here. At first they seemed a little standoffish. I would be
if I was them. Seeing Ben and I standing over 6 feet tall and asking you where
you are going...and you don't have a clue. But we struggled through the
conversation and eventually got the boys to admit they were lost. So Ben and I
did our best guessing as to where they thought they should be going. Having
just walked an entire day through Maryland we were very secure in letting them
know that they should not be heading south...there was no group camped below us.
At the time I thought the boys were slackers and misfits and the group leaders
were teaching the kids a lesson by letting the boys "think" they were getting
lost to teach them to follow instructions better. This being thought, I figured
a group leader and the group were just around the bend...and letting the boys
sweat a little until they gave up. So I felt confident in telling the boys to
turn around and head north. Ben and I would alert the group leaders in just a
few minutes about the boys arriving shortly. The boys were out of water and
hungry. I think Ben and I gave them water and offered our food. And I gave
them the usual Billy mantra of "walk it off." Telling the boys to suck it up,
you are so close to being there, just walk a little further.
Ben and I continued north. Always looking for a large group camped off the side
of the trail. Minutes turned into a half hour and still no sign of the boys'
group. I was definitely worried I had misinformed the boys and started to panic
mentally. Shortly after, Ben and I could hear voices from the road as we
descended off the ridge. We got excited that we could hear the boys' group.
But we thought, the boys still had a ways to hike. Ben and I hike like
clockwork at this point and time on the trail. 20 minutes means we have just
hiked 1 mile. So we knew the boys had over a mile to hike if not two, and they
would be lucky to get a mile an hour at their rate. Ben and I quickly descended
to only find a small group of hikers who knew nothing about the whereabouts of
the three boys. We quickly started asking them if they had seen any groups
today...It was pointed out that there was a group at the next shelter north of
here. I took off immediately to find how far the shelter was north of us.
Once arriving at the shelter, I asked openly if three boys were missing. Some
adults told me "Yes". I asked if anyone was out searching for them. The group
told me that two male adults had gone north to find them...and that the kids had
been lost for hours. No one from the group was willing to leave the other kids
to come back with me to rescue the boys. So I headed back south to meet Ben
again at the road crossing. I told Ben and the hikers of the news. I started
running back south to find the boys...I was worried that they could decide to
just wonder off the trail into the vast woods. I knew that many hikers are lost
on the Appalachian Trail because they for some reason get off the trail and cannot find their
way back. I ran back to get the boys and let them know I had found their group.
The three boys and I started heading north with me carrying as much of their
stuff as I could. The boys were getting desperate and had given up. As Ben
stated, the three of them had started dispersing their belongings along the
trail because they thought they could carry their belongings no further.
Ben had headed back south to look for me and I let him know about the kids' stuff
strung out along the trail. Ben went to collect as I lead the kids to the road
crossing. I made it back to the road with the three boys, just in time to see
the ranger arriving.
Ben and I didn't stay long and started again the attempt on our Maryland
Challenge. We took long breaks to make sure we would leave enough energy to
accomplish our goal. The last three miles were walked in the dark. Out of
those three miles I walked two of them without my dollar store light. The light
was actually making it worse for me. Because the terrain was descending over
large boulders, the light wasn't allowing me to gauge the depth very accurately.
I decided it best to not use my light and just walk blindly with the moon. It
is amazing how well your feet and mind become acquainted to what would seem very
near impossible steps on the Appalachian Trail with no light. The last mile I started to use
my light again in order to reflect the blazes from the Appalachian Trail I saw a car parked
in the distance and a trail led me in that direction. The trail ended up being
a side trail that took me into someone's back yard. I retraced my steps and
then had to head south on the Appalachian Trail until I could assure myself that I was again
walking the Appalachian Trail It is amazing how the multitude of blazes do not seem to be
available when you most need them. As I headed back south I started yelling for
Ben to make sure he had not wondered off the Appalachian Trail as well. I got no response
from shouting Ben's name, so I became worried that he had fallen or had not
succeeded this far yet. I started panicking for the second time today.
Eventually I assured myself that I was on the Appalachian Trail and saw my blunder. I
walked out of the Appalachian Trail into the park and wandered the park's facilities still
looking for Ben. Ben had passed me when I took the side trail, then later had
missed me in the park, because he went in search of me north of the trail.
Finally we connected where Smiley was hanging out and offered to take us into
town for a motel with a lovely bed. We opted out.
Ben and I were mentally and physically exhausted and passed out next to the
Mason Dixon Line sign and underneath the Pennsylvania sign. It was illegal for
us to camp in the park...so we laid down right next to the park's boundaries.
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Thursday,
June 26, 2003
Total Miles: 1063.5
Miles: 14.9
Extremely tired all day. Have not had enough rest after yesterday's ordeal.
Still feeling queasy. It transpires that the food stand no longer opens on
weekdays. At least there was a pizza place we could call and get strombolis to
be delivered. Being full of stromboli made me feel extra bad. Hope to be feeling
a little better tomorrow. Body felt weak all day as though we had already hiked
25 miles before heading out.
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Friday,
June 27, 2003
Total Miles: 1087.2
Miles: 23.7
A quick 3 miles in the morning took us to a road crossing from which it was just
half a mile to a convenience store. I breakfasted on melon and the very good
freshly made sandwiches they did there. We grabbed more sandwiches for our lunch
and headed on. It was only 0.4 miles before we were in Caledonia Park. We
lounged about and killed time until 2.30. I read my book (Moby Dick) and Billy
spent an eternity on the phone to Nicky. I called home to let my mother know I
had survived Maryland relatively intact. We finally hiked on.
I felt very much better than I had yesterday. We powered through to Pine Grove Furnace Park
in time to shop at the store. Once in the park, we discovered that we would have
to pay to camp. We are non to keen on paying to lie down on the ground, so we
had to hike on. I gave Will a call on the way out. He is setting out in an hour
or so to meet us. He shall be taking the bus to Carlisle, 6 miles from Boiling
Springs. I am looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.
We are camped just off the AT outside of the main area of the park. We managed to wake another
hiker by stumbling through her campsite in the dark, flashlights blazing.
Having just spent a week in Baltimore feeding our faces, we thought it was not a
good idea to attempt the Pine Grove Furnace Park store "half way" ice cream
challenge. There was a hostel/motel at the park we could have stayed at for
cheap, but I am not a fan in sharing with strangers. We attempted to stay at
the park that had lots of acreage of ponds and could hold thousands of
occupants. So we started to lay down tucked away in some trees, when
some dad from a boy scout camp group that had over 50 kids and had these massive
army type dining hall tents set up in the park, told us we couldn't stay here.
We tried to plead with the guy that we were only going to lay on the ground and
didn't need any of his space…but he was not having it and told us to go to this
other section of the park where hikers could stay. We walked the ¼ of a mile to
the other location in the park and as we wandered around, all we saw were RVs
parked in this location. We started getting curious as to where we were going
to stay, when we came across a park ranger in a truck and they instructed us
that we had to pay to camp in the park. We were not willing to pay, so we hiked
just outside the park boundaries to camp. The park's boundaries were not
clearly marked, so we had to guess where the line ended. As we were scrambling
to find a flat place off the side of the trail…we accidentally stepped over/on a
fellow hiker that was fast asleep! Whoops. We laid down mere yards north of
our fellow hiker and went to bed. We awoke to find the halfway sign mere yards
from our campsite. The marker is actually 100 miles south of the actual halfway
point of the Appalachian Trail
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Sunday,
June 29, 2003
Day 65
Total Miles: 1106.0
Miles: 28.8
Day 66
Total Miles: ?
Miles: ?
Failed to write last night. Woke to find we were within sight of the halfway
marker. We got up and had a mini-photo shoot. We met the person we had disturbed
the night before - a tiny Jewish girl hiking alone. We finally got hiking by
9.30.
It was easy enough going - the the last few miles were over flat farmland. Into Boiling Springs by 4. We hung around the ATC office. They have a
porch seating for hikers. Will rolled up in a taxi around 7. It was very good to
see him. We went for dinner at the Italian place in town. Picked up a 6-pack of
Yeungeling to welcome Will to Pennsylvania and headed to the campground where we
were to stay.
The campground is just a field of long (probably tick infested) long grass. Lots of hikers were
already there. Will, predictably,
hadn't brought quite everything he probably needed - notably he had no
groundsheet and had picked up my tarp rather than the sleeping bag. Our final
solution involved us sharing the tarp as a groundsheet and him using my Tyvek
groundsheet as a blanket. A lot of our fellow hikers were sectioners and some
very annoying. I kept hearing snippets of a painfully irritating conversation
one group was having. The fantastically noisy trains passed about 20yards from
where we slept remarkably frequently. Didn't sleep much.
Awoke early this morning in a poo of my own drool. Ate breakfast and used the facilities at the
gas station. We were out hiking at 8.15. It was flat farmland for 15 miles and
very easy going. We stopped at Scott Farm for water. While taking a break
there, a couple pulled up in a VW. They had cold beer for us. The girl was very
charming and all but flashed us an eyeful of her ample charms - I assume this
was part of the planned trail magic.
We had two reasonable climbs and some rocky stuff towards the end. Will was flagging some, but he made it - a
remarkable achievement for someone their first day out. We arrived in Duncannon
shortly after 5. No one was home at the Doyle 'hotel' and we had to phone the
owner at home. We got a single and a twin room - $13/head. Sharing with Will.
The rooms are even scarier than I remembered from last year. Ours is equipped
with a positive liability of a ceiling fan. Billy's shows no sign of having been
cleaned in recent times. All of the electrics in the building are antique and it
is in poor shape overall.
The Doyle's bar isn't open and the pub isn't serving food - getting into town on a Sunday sucks. Had to eat at the pizza
place. We sat in the bar there, watched TV and ate. We went for (excellent) ice
cream and then back to the hotel. The rooms are horribly hot and even a cold
shower didn't help. Shall be sweating all night.
Will arrives in the gang. Will adds an outside flare to our trio, having just
arrived from the civilized world. Will is a standup guy to be willing to put up
with me; or Ben had clearly explained to him that I love to do big miles and do
not do the social lounging thing very well, cause Will did not seem to mind my
standoffishness.
The site for hikers to camp in Boiling Springs was just a side section of
farmland sitting right next to a freight train line that ran all nite. The
grass was knee-high and was tick infested, only having a Portolet to use- hence
we used the gas station bathroom in the morning. I did not talk much to Will
and just let him get acquainted to the Appalachian Trail and the way Ben and I hiked by
spending time with Ben.
The Doyle is another Appalachian Trail monument. The Doyle is just something that you do not
pass up. If I had not met Ben…there would be no way that I would stay at the
Doyle. The Doyle has only one bathroom on each floor. You can not just walk up
to the front desk of the Doyle and ask for rooms. We had to walk around the
back and onto the entrance of the second floor porch and wait for the owners to
answer. I was on the main street side of the Doyle and had the window open all nite. I was not willing to use the sheets on the bed, so I was sleeping in my
sleeping bag. I did not sleep much and would frequently get up to watch the
goings on of the townsmen. The town is a small section of old row houses. I was
paying particular attention to a fat lady that was sitting on her front steps
most of the nite chatting to local neighbors or talking on her cordless phone
about her relationship or someone else's. It was rednecks living in the city.
Kids walked the streets all nite…even though there was absolutely nothing to do
in this town. The town was a place that looked as though trouble occurred
because people could not find something to do that would keep them out of
trouble.
The laundromat in town has one of the neatest scams. For every dollar
you place in the change machine, you are given 90 cents. That is 2 quarters and
4 dimes. The machines only take quarters! Also the detergent dispenser is for
looks only. Placing a dollar worth of quarters into the machine will only leave
you with no detergent and $1 less in your pocket. When Ben and Will went to the
laundry the next day…the owner happened to be taking the money out of the
machines. I asked him why the change machine was only giving 90 cents for every
dollar…he stated: "yeah that's right…I make money that way." I told him I lost
a dollar in the detergent dispenser, he said, "oh that thing, it's just for
looks."
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Monday,
June 30, 2003
Total Miles: 1145.5
Miles: ?
A hot night in our ropey rooms. Awoken at 5.30 by pressing need to run to the
lavatory - worried I was having a relapse of my stomach problems, but seem ok
now. Rolled out of bed late and put our laundry in. Ate at the diner - liver and
onions for me. Did grocery shopping - going to eat cold dinners for a while.
Stopped at the ice cream place again on the way out of town. A decent climb up
onto the ridge, then flat the rest of the way. Met female hikers Axel Rose and
Runaway at a view point and chatted to them briefly. Stopped at Peter Mountain
Shelter for water. It turned out to be one of the toughest water-runs on the
trail - I remembered it bitterly from last year. The water is a long way away
down a very steep slope. We're camping out 3 miles from the shelter. The
mosquitoes are terrible here.
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Tuesday,
July 1, 2003
Total Miles: ?
Miles: ?
Mine and William's attempts to use the bug netting together were wholly
unsuccessful. Our attempts at forging it into a hermetically sealed refuge were
a waste of time. Upon awaking I killed 6 mosquitoes inside the netting.
I
have no idea how Will survived the day. It was a lot of miles even for us, for
someone on his third day out (and still recovering from his first) it was
monumental. He is quite the trooper. His British-schooling has obviously done
its job. His legs are causing him agony with every step, but he scarcely
complains. He seems game to attempt whatever ludicrous mileage Billy suggests.
It is impressive. Hopefully he shall get some respite tomorrow as we are going
to spend a morning in town - McD's is calling.
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Wednesday,
July 2, 2003
Total Miles: ?
Miles: ?
We had a spot of luck this morning. Shortly before arriving at the the road to
town, we met and chatted to the caretaker of the 501 Shelter. He was heading
into town and gave us a ride. His job consisted of living in the house adjoining
the shelter, looking after the shelter and, occasionally, embarking on a
litter patrol of a two mile stretch of trail around the shelter.
There
wasn't much in town for us. McD's turned out not to be an option. We ate at a
pizza place - all choosing two slices of pizza and a steak hoagie apiece. I
guess
it was ok. Resupplied at the grocery store, killed time at a gas station making
calls and then headed out.
Back on trail by 4.30, we strolled ten easy miles and camped. We have put the tarp up for the first time in recent memory.
It's looking fine. Will is asleep already. Last night he seemed to sleep very
well, except for an incident at 12.30, when I was awoken by (the still sleeping)
Will crying out and sitting bolt upright. Alarmed, I asked him what was going
on, but he was still fast asleep. Slowly, he returned to a prone position. I can
only guess that his subconsciousness was responding to agony his legs were
causing him.
The ride out of town left me with an injury. We got a ride back in a truck that
had a bed cab and steel work boxes running down the sides of the bed. As I
closed the gate of the truck shut, I had no idea that there was no room for my
fingers to go between the gate being shut and the work boxes. I had forgotten
about the work boxes on the side and had my left hand placed too far wide and
ended up smashing the tips of my fingers between the gate and the truck. I was
rushed, and I knew the driver must be in a hurry, because as he was picking us
up, he started taking off before we had all settled in the bed of the truck.
The free hitch left me with one of my fingertip nails having a ridge run down
the middle of the fingernail. I did learn my lesson. This hitch ended up being
a bruiser for Will as well.
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Thursday,
July 3, 2003
Total Miles: ?
Miles: ?
Up and out early. The 15 miles into Port Clinton were uneventful. Will was a
little sluggish on the hills - he had hurt his knee in the back of the pick-up
truck we got a hitch back to the trail in yesterday. Had an excellent lunch at
the hotel - burgers and a huge plate of fries washed down with decent beer.
Chunkie, the lady that runs the place, recognised me from last year and even
remembered what I ordered then.
Bought jelly beans and chocolate buttons at the Peanut Shop sweet store. The buttons turned out to be made of cooking
'chocolate' and not nice. I bought another AT Data Book at the outfitter and
picked up a hammock for $20. The hammock is just to play/experiment with - I can
afford the extra weight while we are cruising along with Will. I shall probably
send it home eventually.
Tonight, Billy is sleeping out in his bug-netting, Will is in the shelter and I am
swaying in my hammock. The
other hikers in the shelter seem to be enjoying Will's affable company.
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Friday,
July 4, 2003
Total Miles: 1229.9
Miles: ?
Unusual night's sleep in the hammock. You have to lie on your back and that
doesn't agree with me. Woke up many times during the night and spent 10 minutes
coughing up phlegm upon rising. Will was up and raring to go before us, so we
sent him off down the trail while we took turns using the dangerously full
privy.
When we overtook two guys that had set off before Will and who had not seen him since, we could only conclude that we had lost Will. After some
time panicking, I was glad when Will was waiting safely at the rendezvous
point. The others hadn't seen him, because he had made a point of passing them
while they were distracted at a view-point.
We all ate lunch at the Eckherd shelter - another caretaker maintained one. This one is looked after by
a surly guy called Lazzee, who has been there 10 years now. How much was genuine
surliness and how much was down to dry-humour we'll never know. We enjoyed cold
drinks and I took a cool shower.
We stopped for dinner at an upscale restaurant. It left me $30 lighter, but also fullish of decent food - steak,
salad, rice, green beans and chocolate mousse cake, all washed down with
beer.
We hiked another half and hour before camping. We can hear the fireworks tonight, but can't see them. We had another bear sighting today - it
was a big one about 50 yards away from us. This should have spurred us to hang
our food properly tonight, but we are too lazy. Other highlights of the day
included Will licking three counties simultaneously - impressive
stuff!
Tomorrow we bowl.
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Saturday,
July 5, 2003
Total Miles: 1257.6
Miles: 27.7
Out by 7, but the walk to Slatington was slow. Will's ankle is now giving
problems. It was horribly rocky again - we shall be very glad to finish
Pennsylvania tomorrow. We got a hitch into town with three friendly lads in a
pick-up. We were sad to discover that the bowling alley had shut down, so we
just went and had lunch at a pizza place. Ate pizza, burgers and onion rings -
too much food.
Will was not in a fit state to hike on, so he decided to hitch to Delaware Water Gap. Billy and I changed our itinerary to arrive there
tomorrow lunchtime instead of Monday as previously planned.
It was an extremely hot day (90's) and, after leaving Will to try his luck with the
psychos and crazies, we began our ascent out of Lehigh Gap. The climb out is up
the mountain that has been famously deforested due to the proximity of a zinc
works. There was no shade and it was very rocky and steep. Hands were required
for much of it. Once on top of the ridge, the rest of the hike was pretty nice -
flat and the lack of foliage making for interesting views. We powered through 16
miles to reach the shelter as it was getting dark. The water source there was a
20 minute round trip down a slope. We had no choice - there had been no usable
water since town due to the pollution. Tomorrow we are going to knock of the
remaining 20 miles early and think of something to do to kill time until
Tuesday, when we hope to take a trip to NYC and meet up with Keith and Nicky.
As we walked into Slatington- I made it
to the last shelter before Ben and Will and decided to wait for them instead of
at the road crossing. As I was waiting in the shelter, this 'murderous' looking
guy showed up and started talking to me. I wasn't saying much, and was
praying for someone else to stop in. I had no idea where Ben and Will
were. This guy just wouldn't leave the shelter, and I was scared to leave
not knowing what lay north. I contemplated walking south because I knew
the terrain, but I was able to hold out until a family with small children came
30 minutes later. Some time later an older gentleman stopped in, all
visitors calmed my nerves. Ben and Will were over an hour behind me.
I had no idea of Will's troubles.
Having Will join the gang meant hitching would be a little harder. Asking
someone to pick up two male hikers by oneself seems risky. Asking someone to
take three strangers into their car would be overwhelming. Meaning our hitches
would be with more than one person in the car, leaving us less room and fewer
chances to get in and out of town. We lucked out getting all three of us
into Slatington. Getting out of Slatington we had to split and let Will take
the first hitch and luckily a few cars later Ben and I were able to score a
ride. Will was dropped off at the intersection at the end of the bridge, while
Ben and I were dropped off before the bridge. Ben and I walked the ¼ mile
bridge to part ways with Will as he had opted to take the "Hitch from Hell" and
Ben and I scrambled up a treeless mountain made of boulders. That nite we
stayed at a campsite with fellow hikers, even the great ridgerunner Gizmo was
staying here.
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Sunday,
July 6, 2003
Total Miles: 1277.8
Miles: 20.2
Out by 6.30 and set about knocking off the miles ASAP. It was very rocky still
and hard on the feet. I went pretty well until I used spectacularly poor
judgement when confronted with a four-foot drop to get down from a boulder.
Rather than take my time and climb down, I opted instead for what I can only
describe as a long-step/semi-controlled fall onto a piece of wood 18 inches off
of the ground. The wood was rotten and I passed through it without slowing my
momentum discernibly. I hit the ground awkwardly on one foot. My ankle was
pretty badly hurt and I was concerned about it - until Billy came back and
insisted I 'hike it off'. To his credit, this tactic worked ok, until I turned
it over again on a curb just as we got into town. This hurt a lot and I was
limping for a while - glad to be taking some time off now.
We met with Will in town. He had spent the night at the shelter behind the church hostel (as
we are again tonight). He had a
great hitch to get here, which hopefully he
shall describe in his own words soon [he did - and it's available to
view on
PureBound]. We ate at a diner - I had a donner kebab. Bought fruit for pudding
and ate it in the hostel. Got showered and changed there. While I was shaving, I
overheard Billy being hassled by Ridge runner 'Gizmo'. The guy wanted Billy to
stop playing Game Boy, look him in the eye and shake him by the hand. This didn't
go down well at all with Billy. Later on we got to hear this same guy tell us
how it is impossible for people to hike more than 20 miles/day without
destroying their bodies, before moving on to lecture Will on the inadequacy of
his boots. Annoying douche.
We ate at the pizza place where I got me another K-bab. Tomorrow we may go tubing on the Delaware River.
A ridge runner basically mans a certain section of the
Appalachian Trail for both safety and awareness to hikers and the environment. The
Appalachian Trail
ridge runner, Gizmo, does not deserve any type of credit or appreciation of our
Appalachian Trail thru-hike. I just see him as one of the ludicrous individuals that
passed by on our journey. Gizmo, unfortunately, thought he was a part of
our hike and told us how we should do it.
Top of the page
Saturday,
July 12, 2003
Day 74
Total Miles: 1294.6
Miles: 16.8
Day 75
Total Miles: 1315.0
Miles: 20.4
We never made it tubing. Instead, we got a cheap room at the Ramada ($14 each)
and lay around watching Comedy Central all day. The next morning we caught the
bus to New York City. Took under two hours to get to Port Authority. We met up
with Nicky and Keith at the Ho-Jo where they and Billy were staying. Will and I
took the cheap(er) option of a youth hostel. We spent no more than two waking
hours at our hostel and I'm sure we ingratiated ourselves with our fellow
hostellers by staggering in at 4am, steaming drunk.
We had a good time in the city. Enjoyed a night-time trip up the Empire State building; took a boat
trip out to the Statue of Liberty and saw the Seinfeld Cafe. In the evening
Keith, Will and I went out on the lash. I think Billy and Nicky amused
themselves with some more arguing. We had a lot of fun, but a mighty expensive
one. Beer is at least $5/US pint + tip. Got an excellent lunch at an awesome
burger place Keith knew about. It was tucked away behind a curtain in a hotel
lobby. Strange but very good despite my hangover.
Eventually we had to return to DWG and the comfort of our room at the Ramada. We slept well, enjoyed
an indifferent continental breakfast and went to resupply. We had time for a
final meal (yet another kebab for me) then loaded up with fruit, bread and
brownies, but not enough water, we headed out. Water is getting scarce on the
trail.
Hiked on until lunchtime, when we stopped by both the Washington Bakery and the Sunset Grill. Sadly we were too early to get the huge steaks we
wanted, so made do with burgers and beer and a play on the jukebox. A lot of
weekend hikers are out today. We chatted to one group (because it had girls)
for a while. Hiked out full and happy.
Stopped at the pavilion atop Sunrise Mtn. Will was suffering from the same chaffing issues that had troubled
me, so I urged him to change his shorts - this he did at the trailside while
I went on a little way and kept a look out. Despite our efforts, he came pretty
close to exposing himself to a poor couple. There was a parking lot by the
pavilion so we spent some time playing with our new frisbee. It was an awful
lot of fun and I thought we were surprisingly good.
We are staying near Mashipacong Shelter, which has a great privy, but no water - Billy went on
a quest to get some. We are sleeping out as the shelter (and the bear box) have
been filled by a co-ed scout group. I was pleased, but not surprised, to find
goodies left in the bear-box by Desperado. We met him last year. He looks after
several shelters up here and is a good friend of John Matthews who was so kind
to Pam and me last year. Most welcome was the provision of Gold Bond and lemonade
mix (not to be mixed up). Tomorrow we stop at Unionville to play some
basketball.
The ticks are pretty bad here.
The Mashipacong shelter, according to the Appalachian
Trail book, did
not have a water source. However, there were signs and the scouts in the
shelter had sent some people to fetch water. The trail to the water source
was close to a mile or so one way. The trail had you crossing a road,
going down an old forest service road, and then never told you exactly where the
water source is located. You just passed a still black pool of water,
asked yourself, "is this it?"- cause it sure is lacking the attributes of a
water source. Getting water took me 30+ minutes to gather and come
back...and I ran most of it, cause it was getting dark.
Top of the page
Sunday,
July 13, 2003
Total Miles: 1334.6
Miles: 19.6
Awoke at 3am and couldn't sleep for several hours. Out late. Hiked to the very
hispanic High Point State Park. We had a poor meal there of nasty burgers and
fried egg/bacon/ham/cheese rolls.
We hiked a very pleasant 9 miles to Unionville - the rocks have finally eased. We bought
sarnies and snacks in the
store and went to the park to eat them. We played frisbee for an hour. Billy is
remarkably good and knows all the fancy moves.
Carried on 6 more miles to the shelter. We had some swampy stuff on the way - the mosquitoes were disgusting
and hateful. Will amused all with a comedy nature tour as we went. It made me
laugh.
Vernon tomorrow.
I hiked ahead of Ben and Will through the mosquito
infested lands of Walkill National Wildlife Preserve. I was basically in
tears. The preserve seemed to only be preserving mosquitoes. The
Walkill Preserve is a former sod farm, now pond, that houses a large pond with
outlying overflow swamps. I do not like to use chemicals such as sunscreen
and bug repellent because of their smell. But walking thru this preserve
was pure screaming/crying torture. The mosquitoes were swarms that would
not leave, and you could never kill them all. I can live with mosquitoes,
but this was similar to the site of a dog imbedded with hundreds of fleas with
no way for the dog to get rid of them. Oh, how I wished, I had bug
repellent...the mosquitoes pure volume and fixated biting killed my ability to
just ignore them...and they got the best of me. Ben and Will had on bug
repellent thru this section.
Top of the page
Monday,
July 14, 2003
Total Miles: 1353.5
Miles: 18.9
We made it to Vernon fine. It took a while to get a hitch despite good location and plenty of
traffic. Eventually a guy picked us up for an agreeable trip to town.
We used the internet, showered and laundered at the church hostel
before heading off to lunch at an italian place. I made the mistake of
ordering the carbonara, which was as bad as I should have feared. We
would have had the hostel to ourselves had we stayed the night, but we
decided to push on.
Once back on the trail, we had another stretch of clambering over rock. It was
steep enough for the ATC to provide a ladder for one section. It made for slow
going and we have ended up camping in the middle of nowhere, without water. Our
food shopping was badly judged - Billy left himself short of supplies for
tomorrow. We may need to stop at a deli off of the trail.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
July 15, 2003
Total Miles: 1375.1
Miles: 21.6
Awoke covered in the now familiar mix of leaf-litter and giant ants. A little thirsty, but the
Wingfoot guide predicted plentiful water ahead. Wingfoot is a lying
toad. We found none until we got to the Wildcat shelter. The going was
tough all day - relentless up-and-down over rocks. Will and his legs
are holding up very well and he is just tired. We stopped at the deli,
which Pam and I had visited last year. I had forgotten what a nice
little place it is. The owner was very friendly and we chatted for some
time about alcohol licensing in NY state. We lunched on hot dogs and
cheese toasties and picked up sandwiches for dinner.
We hiked on over some more extremely tough stuff and rested by NJ17 where Billy
called home. While we were waiting for Billy, a guy in a pick-up pulled
up and asked if we were thru-hikers. He then forced two cans of cold
Coke apiece on us. He then gave us apples, water and cookies . His name
was Pat and he had dropped out of a thru-hike several years ago,
suffering with heel-spurs. He told us he had been doing trail-magic for
3 years running and that the reasons were 'a long story'. He mentioned
this fact several times, but Will and I had absolutely no inclination
to ask him to elaborate on it. He was very well meaning, but slightly
scary. His conversation was a little random and he seemed to answer the
wrong question sometimes, or at least ignore them and continue along
his own agenda. He informed us that James Earl Jones lived near a town
(W...?) further up the trail and that he got involved in
trail-maintenance - or at least he did until he had artificial knees
and a pacemaker fitted. We nodded patiently as he digressed onto the
subjects of Darth Vader and Whoopi Goldberg (who also lived nearby and
frequently broke down on this very road in her 'antique' car). We
finally managed to wave goodbye to Pat and continued on our way.
The terrain remained nasty, though we had fun going through 'the lemon
squeezer' [a very narrow passage though rock formations that makes up
part of the trail]. Immediately after negotiating this we were faced
with a sheer rock wall that could be either climbed or hiked around on
an alternate route. We went over, but though only 12 feet high or so,
it was a bit of a hairy ascent. I almost fell and shredded my finger
tips in the process of staying alive.
We pushed on to Harriman Park and went down to the lake to eat dinner and pick up water. There
were a lot of hikers gathered there. A particularly moronic one asked
where we were headed. We replied 'the next shelter'. He looked confused
and told us we were going the wrong way. We looked far more confused
and assured him we were going the right way. He asked us which trail we
were hiking and we replied that we were on the AT. He looked like he
was really mulling over this sensational information so we just walked
off.
Hiked on til dark and are sleeping out and praying that Pat doesn't murder us in
our sleep. Will has just insisted that I
document what he considers to be the most amusing incident of the day -
some particularly timely flatulence on my part as I made the big push
up a vertical climb with Will close below me. We were left precariously
clinging to the rocks as we both convulsed with laughter.
I almost forgot - earlier we found what appeared to be a another generous
bit of trail magic. A large cache of juice in mini-size cartons was
waiting near a road crossing. Unusually there was no message from the
kind soul responsible. Will and I grabbed some and we carried on
swigging the nasty faux juice as we went. We passed a lot of kids
hiking South - some of them pointed at us. It quickly dawned on us that
it was a school trip and we had stolen their juice rations. Straggling
way behind the others were the obligatory fat wheezy kid in flip flops
and a poor teacher desperately trying to spur this modern day Roland
into keeping up with the others. I expect the kid cried when they
reached the road to find the juice ration to be short by two cartons.
Top of the page
Wednesday,
July 16, 2003
Total Miles: 1386.9
Miles: 11.8
Again failed to get out as early as we ought to have. It was overcast and drizzly this morning and
definitely not what I needed with rapidly developing chaffing issues.
My legs look horrible - the chaffed area is covered in raised bumps
like hives or blisters. The terrain continues to be evil - the rain
again not helping. The treacherous rocky downs were made outright
malevolent by a little moisture. Each of us took a tumble. I added to
the lacerations on my hands and Will picked up the first of his trip.
Several potentially nice views were non-existent in the poor visibility. We did
find welcome trail-magic though, in the form of a cooler of Coke,
bananas and apples. We managed to escape the charms of the dubious
food on offer at Hessian Lake. We passed through the zoo [yes the AT is
routed through a zoo - admission free to thru-hikers]. We didn't hang
about there too long, but pushed on to Fort Montgomery. We got lunch at
a deli and sat a while to consider our strategy for the next week. We
ended up deciding to stay here and got ourselves a 3-bed room at Bear
Mtn Bridge Motel. $65 and we got CATV, AC and proximity to a garage
that sold beer. Will secured us a lift back to the trail by chatting
about sport to the UK born owner of the motel.
Almost daily we have been running into people/society. This has varying
opinions from a hiker: one, it’s great that we do not have to carry as much food
and water; two, the downfall in my opinion, we had to interact with people.
Walking thru the zoo, I felt as though I was in a foreign land. Our hiking
attire made us stand out like a sore thumb to the families, school children and
couples visiting the zoo. I noticed this because I held back to take photos of
Ben and Will walking thru the zoo. To me it was as though the three of us spoke
a different language from all these “city dwellers”. The dwellers were like
lemmings being pushed into the zoo, while the three of us towered over them and
cruised thru their swarms, taking in the zoo in only a few minutes, do to its
lack of nature’s best offering, because we “lived this stuff”.
Top of the page
Thursday,
July 17, 2003
Total Miles: 1400.0
Miles: 13.1
We had a late night. We watched TV, drank beer and ate ice cream. The motel guy banged on our
door around 10 this morning to drive us back to the trail. We weren't
ready so we lost the ride. We ate breakfast at the Bagel Cafe and read
the newspaper that Will picked up. It was very civilised, or at least
as civilised as egg, cheese and fried bologna rolls can be. Went to the
garage/deli to resupply. As we were hanging around outside the deli, a
car pulled up - it and the driver looked familiar. It was the same guy
who gave us a lift to Vernon last year. He offered us a lift back to
the trail, which we accepted gladly. He hikes sections of trail
occasionally, but mostly seems to just drive around and help hikers.
Apart from that lifestyle choice he doesn't seem too scary. He told us
about the trail up ahead and assured us that the rest of New York was
easier going than what we had just done.
At the bridge it was time for our team to, temporarily, split up. Billy was going to push on
to the Connecticut border so he can get some rest before his attempt to
hike the state in a single day. We shall arrive there the same day, but
he is doing a 20-20-10 stretch and we are doing a 10-20-20. Crossing
the Bridge was cool - it's an impressive piece of work with fine views.
I looked down and watched a train passing far below. The thing must
have been hundreds of carriage long and the thing just seemed to pass by endlessly.
Hiking was satisfyingly up and down, but not too strenuous. We decided to stop for lunch at the
Monastery Ballpark
Shelter. This is set in the ballpark of a monastery. It's a very nice
place and Will and I had a great time playing frisbee in the outfield.
I think the other hikers were impressed with our skills - they
expressed admiration for our boundless energy. Eventually a monk showed
up to tell us the deal with dinner. We hadn't intended to stay but it
sounded too good to miss. We walked up to the Spiritual Life Centre
which is a large five-storey modern building adjoining the old
monastery. We were taken up to the large dining room. Here there was a
table set aside and labeled 'hikers'. We were waited on by
down-and-outs from the St Christopher (I think) Centre next-door. Our
servers looked a little scary - one guy resembling a less fat Steven
Seagal, with tattoos and a pony tail - but they were diligent and
extremely polite. Dinner started promptly at five-thirty. Soup and food
were waiting for us. We had to be finished by six so that our servers
could return to their centre for counseling and AA meetings. We ate
our fill of mashed potato, green beans, meatloaf and noodles - all
good. There were a lot of other hikers there. We sat opposite a couple
of section hiking girls from NJ. They were out for 5 days and doing
about 8 miles a day. They were pleasant but dull. The monk offered
everyone a tour after dinner. We didn't have time, so made a donation
and excuses and left.
We finally got a glimpse of the NYC skyline and the Empire State Building. We
hiked on to a nice spot a little short of our nominal target. Dinner was well
worth the delay.
I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attempt to hike the entire state
of Connecticut in one day. I didn’t know if it had been done before or not, but
I thought that I could hike the 52 miles in a day. Ben was always an advisor to
my hiking capabilities. I am not one to notice the length, or the elevation
change that I am about to attempt. Hiking is putting one foot in front of the
other, until I’m tired. Ben, being an advisor, helped me establish a more
realistic hiking style that was compatible to his. He would read into the
challenges that lay ahead, while I just sat there imagining how we could go
further and faster. So we came up with a plan where I would hike a 20 today, a 20 tomorrow,
and do an easy 10 before I attempted the Connecticut Challenge. Leaving Ben and
Will behind was leaving my security blanket behind. I kept the tarp with me,
leaving Ben with his stove. I was on my own again, not having anyone to tell me
when to stop. That means I keep walking until I am tired, usually in a location
that was far past the norm, and left me no where near a water source or a
convenient camping spot. Fortunately, as nite fell, I was crossing a road to do
a climb, and ran into a day hiker who supplied trail magic to me. I ended up
sleeping on a ridge, with little water and just went to bed.
Top of the page
Friday,
July 18, 2003
Total Miles: 1421.1
Miles: 21.1
We were only 1.5 miles short of the camping area last night, but I think we were better off where we
stopped. The designated camp area was just a muddy field on a busy
road. The only thing going for it was the presence of a tap. Hiked
through to the shelter over some stiff terrain. The RPH shelter was
more of a cabin/bunkhouse than a shelter. We waited out the rain there
and read some of the decent books lying around and the copies of the
America Free Press - a newspaper specialising in conspiracy theories.
It contained 3-page adverts for books exposing Jewish plots for World
supremacy and similar. The rain outlasted us and we were freezing cold in
the cabin, so we hiked on to yet another town stop and yet another date
with a local pizzeria and deli on NY52. Both were good. We ate pizza
and read a newspaper, before heading next door to the deli for cookies
and coffee.
We got more drizzly rain and Billy has the tarp so we were praying that there would be space for us at the shelter. There
is no guarantee of that when you are getting in at eight-thirty on a
Friday night. Luckily there are only two people here and they are
tenting.
Top of the page
Saturday,
July 19, 2003
Total Miles: 1437.7
Miles: 16.6
Woke several times in the night and kept fighting my way out of my bug netting whilst having crazy
dreams. Got some bites on my hands and my face. One must have got my
lip as that was swollen this morning. We are under siege from both
mosquitoes and the nasty biting flies that inhabit the area. We were
out by 8.15, spurred on by the thought of hot dogs waiting for us
ahead. When we got to the road indicated by the guidebook, there was no
sign of the promised hot dog vendor. Not to worry though as it was only
7 miles further to the next deli where we stopped for a bite. Got a
breakfast bap and ice cream as well as picking up dinner and breakfast
supplies. It was yet another of the Boar's Head delis that have taken
over New York. There were a lot of freaky people there and it had one
of the most lavishly stocked pornography sections I have ever seen.
We got to the shelter before four and found Billy and a lot of other
people there. A couple who had thru-hiked in '99 had driven over from
Missouri to revisit the trail with their grandchildren and to feed this
year's hikers. They had burgers on the grill, home-grown tomatoes,
grapes, soda, ice and cookies for all. It was extremely nice.
E-Z-Does-It was there as well as a camp hiker we met in DWG. He had
been forcing Billy into conversation and I'm not sure how well he went
down with my curmudgeonly friend.
Billy had been having second thoughts about the challenge. He has finally done the maths I did two
weeks ago and realised it's crazy. To his credit, he's going to do it
anyway.
The grandchildren of the folks from Missouri have been a barrel of fun. I witnessed them all go and return from the privy
before going myself. Within seconds of getting comfortable I had three
urchins banging on the door insisting they needed to go. Later on we
let them join in our frisbee game. The amusement wore pretty thin
pretty quickly for us, but we had opened the gate to a heap of trouble.
We had to hide the frisbee several times from their clutches and the
eldest kept coming over to hassle us. Billy needed peace and some rest
before his ordeal and he didn't get much.
I never should have let Billy buy supplies on his own. For the challenge he was carrying a
jar of peanut butter, two jars of jam and a pound tub of marshmallow
spread (why anyone would want to spread marshmallow on bread I have no
idea). He had tried to transfer some of the mallow into a ziplock bag
to make room in the tub for the jam. The results looked indescribably
vile. I shall be carrying that unfortunate experiment out to a trash
can with me tomorrow as there is no way a man can actually eat it.
I am predictable about what I eat. I have my favorite foods, and rarely
choose something different. On one of my road crossings, there was a town a
little over a mile off the trail, so I walked in to get food for the Connecticut
Challenge. I was getting a little tired of peanut butter and jelly, and in every
prior grocery store had been seeing this marshmallow mix that comes in a jar
similar to a jar of jam. The grocery store didn’t have a large selection of
groceries. The store was more comparable to a large convenient store. I bought
the marshmallow mix thinking it would enhance my peanut butter/jam spread I was
going to put on my ritz crackers. I then had the idea to mix the three
ingredients to make it one spread that could be easily placed on my crackers
during the Connecticut Challenge. Thankfully, Ben was there to warn against me
carrying this heartache mess, and Ben had the heart to carry it out for me. This
left me with little supplies for the challenge, but at least I would eat
something (the crackers and peanut butter I had left), instead of being repulsed
and not willing to eat if I carried my “creation”. I tried to go to bed early,
but couldn’t. I was sleeping real lite and woke frequently to check my watch to
see if it was time to leave for the Connecticut Challenge.
Top of the page
Sunday,
July 20, 2003
Total Miles: 1460.6
Miles: 22.9
Woke early after the usual crazy dreams. Got Will up and headed out by 0730. I've no idea when
Billy left. After an initially charming introduction to Connecticut, we
started climbing big hills. It was tough going made harder by us not
having much water. Will had 1 litre and I had two mouthfuls - this for
13 miles of hills in hot weather. Time went by pretty quickly, but very
thirstily.
Kent was a surprise. Enormously busy (it's Sunday), it seems to be very popular as a tourist spot with wealthy New Yorkers.
Everything looked very nice and expensive. It was a very sudden change
entering New England. We stopped at a record store and was amazed by
the selection. I almost got carried away in the used vinyl section. The
bookstore was likewise impressive. Will bought Feynman's 'Surely you're
joking' for the trip home, on my recommendation. We went for lunch at
an italianish place. It was busy and we were ignored in the corner for
half an hour before Will went and grabbed someone. After our meal, they
forgot us again. We went to the counter to pay, left no tip and, after
leaving, gleefully realised they had incompetently failed to charge us
for our beer.
I said farewell to Will and left him to wait for his bus home. I was back on trail a little after five. CT is very
pretty so far. Had some more climbing to begin with, followed by an
evil descent down some steep blocks. After that though I hit a road. I
hiked along it for 5 minutes before getting excited and breaking into a
run. After about fifteen minutes, the perfectly flat stretch of road
turned into perfectly flat trail. I ended up running for 40 minutes,
which was perfect as I was chasing to make up the ground I had lost to
Billy.
I'm staying the night at a campground with a covered eating area. It's likely to
rain in the night, I have no tarp, and the next cover is 8 miles away. The water
from the old pump here is a little rusty, but very welcome.
The Connecticut Challenge. I think I left around 4.45 or 5 that morning. I
was still a few miles from the Connecticut border and made it there by sunrise.
I even passed another campsite early that morning with campers fast asleep in
their tents. Using your headlamp in the morning felt weird to me- as though I
was a stalker of the nite; however, I felt much more scared about what was
around the corner this morning then I did when Ben and I hiked at nite. I was
unfamiliar with the terrain, and Ben was not going to be behind me. My
adrenaline from being scared and my knowledge that I have little time to slow
down if I want to finish kept me pumping out the miles. I ended up walking over
3.3mph over the entire time. Hiking Connecticut was a challenge, but there were
two sections that were a breeze. My mind kept asking myself if this challenge
was even possible to complete as I walked…I’m twenty miles in…usually my day is
almost over…and I am not even halfway! The river bed walk (exercise trail) put
some positive promises as it seemed to continue on for miles- with no one in
site, except for the lady joggers every 15 minutes or so. There was also a
“nature trail” walk that was flat as a pancake, but annoying because of its twisty turns
to make the route longer for the average day hiker out to experience nature. I
only stopped 15 minutes to throw down some peanut butter and crackers. I stopped
at the gas station Ben refers to later, had a similar experience and bought an
overpriced coke there and saw a couple Ben and I ran into sometimes. The couple
had their young cousin with them for a visit…so they were slackpacking a large
portion of this section. The Appalachian Trail runs around a pond here, which walking wise
increases your trip length, but was not necessary. The pond was like walking an
entire grocery store to get a gallon of milk, when you can see the milk is on
aisle one right in front of you, but I’m a purist and want to walk every step,
so I walked the marshy pond to end right where I had just come from. Halfway
thru the challenge I also gained some adrenaline when I was storming along the
hills and I all of a sudden looked up at the bottom of a hill to see Strappy and
the crew getting water out of the creek. I needed water, but was too nervous to
stop. Strappy and them, I think asked, “Where’s Ben?”. I told them that he was
behind me. So I basically blew off a conversation with Strappy and just breezed
by them. Ben would later tell them that I hiked the entire state of Connecticut.
They gave me props and Ben let me know that they were impressed, unfortunately
even after finishing such an achievement, I was still too scared to talk to
them. Soon after Strappy’s encounter, I was just starving for water. I took the
next water source that was pretty crappy. Four young adults (2 male, 2 female)
were just finishing up pumping water when I arrived. I took the crappy water and
soon passed the group. I then came to the hydroelectric plant where families
were swimming in the dams' water. I finished the 52
miles in 16hrs 45mins. I dropped dead at the Sages Ravine Brook campsite. I was too tired to eat,
drank over a gallon of the nearby stream within minutes, my muscles were locking
up, I passed out.
Top of the page
Monday,
July 21, 2003
Total Miles: 1488.4
Miles: 27.8
Woke very early and could sleep no more so cut my losses and got up. Hit the trail at 0545. It
was another tough day with plenty of hills. I stopped at a run down
garage a little off of the trail to get a soda. It was a U-haul
centre/repair shop/tow-hitch fitting centre, but I could see no signs
of any drinks or customers. I walked into an office/storefront that had
seen many years of neglect. I went to shut the door behind me when I
heard the owner, 'leave that open boy, it's summer. Wind'll close it
when it's time'. I asked if they had any drinks for sale. 'Where you
from boy? Don't the garages have cold drinks where you're from? All
garages have cold drinks.' I asked where I might find them. 'You don't
find them boy, I go get them. What you want?' He disappeared into a back
room and returned with an orange (in colour alone) soda, for which he
charged me $1.20. I kind of liked the place. The walls were covered in
ancient newspaper cuttings and photos from the garage's glory days. I
chatted to the guy a little longer, but really had to be on my way.
I hiked on to Salisbury. However upscale Kent was, this trumped it. I
headed to the store, very thirsty, and made the curious decision to buy
a 1/2 gallon of Paul Newman mango and orange juice. I chugged it. Felt
unwell. Ate a solitary lunch at a nice little place in town - hot flank
steak hero with onions and provolone cheese. I washed it down with
sweet, milky tea. Yum. Phoned home, got water, found the library to be
closed and hiked out. On the way, I sat on a bench for half an hour,
exhausted. I was 23 miles in and had been awake for much too long
already. The awkward spacing between shelters had meant I could either
do a 28 or 35 mile day. The first looked more realistic right then.
Another big climb later and I am here at my very own shelter. I'm trying for an
early night and an early start out. The sooner I find Billy and the motel the
better.
I awoke this morning at 8 to lite drizzle and muscles wanting to lock up. I
set the tarp up and went back to sleep. I only had 15 slow miles to Great
Barrington. I searched for over an hour on both sides of the road (US 7) trying to
find a place to stealth camp for the nite. There was not really any place to
stay. Then wasted another hour or so just waiting for the sun to go down in
order to set up camp. I could have already gone into Great Barrington, but I still had
another nite before I would see Ben. So I roughed it and hid in the sticks a
little off the trail. There was no where to sleep. The Appalachian Trail here runs beside a
farm, a pond, and there is a railroad running perpendicular. I found a flat spot
between the twigs and trees near the pond and railroad and set up my tent as nite fell and the mosquitoes let me know they had their kingdom on the pond. The
weather turned hellish and threw out lighting most of the nite, along with
rainfall.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
July 22, 2003
Total Miles: 1505.2
Miles: 16.8
Failed to write yesterday. I got my early night the other day and was glad I hadn't tried to hike on
further. At 21.30 I was awoken by a huge lightning storm. A deluge of
rain and constant lightning all around. I did well the next morning and
was out of the shelter at 5.55. At 5.56 I heard thunder. By 5.58 the
sky had turned black. By 5.59 I was drenched and stood paralysed trying
to make the decision whether to push on or double back to the shelter.
The lightning made my decision for me and I scurried back to cover. I
had a very steep rocky descent into a ravine coming up and I figured it
would be foolhardy to tackle it in that weather.
I waited until 07.30 before I finally headed out for real. The rocks were very
slippery and the descent lived up to is notoriety. The damp had brought
out slugs, hundreds of them. I don't know where they came from, but
they seemed to have found there way onto every tree limb and rock for
miles. These were the same tree limbs and rocks that I was using as
hand holds for my descent into the ravine. I got more than a couple
squished between my fingers before I made it down to the bottom.
After a couple of miles I reached the MA border. The going remains tough on
the whole. The trail is finally increasing in elevation again after the
low mid-atlantic states - at the end of CT we finally climbed above
2000ft for the first time in weeks. The walk up Race Mtn was truly
beautiful. I enjoyed stunning views off to the East with just a little
drifting mist for dramatic effect. The sun was out at last and I felt
good. I met a couple of people out doing trail maintenance. They warned
me of yet another evil descent coming up, but told me there was a
spring coming up, the water from which could be drunk untreated. I was
mighty thirsty and this sounded good. I couldn't work out exactly what
these guys were doing. They were fashioning a trench of some kind, but
I don't know to what end. The guy is with the AMC (whatever that is)
and the girl is angel. She told me I looked 'really good' and this was
my cue to leave before I embarrassed myself horribly.
Pushed on towards the road. The last four miles were flat with lots of
boardwalking through swampland. The hitch to town took a while despite
plenty of traffic and a good hitching location. An elderly Honda piloted
by a man in a straw hat finally pulled up. The guy was very friendly
and happy to take me where I wanted to go. The car contained a number
of crystals and odd icons. My driver was a little trippy hippy and into
'healing'. He told me about a four-month trip he took last year to
visit a healer in Brazil to try and overcome the effects of a
homeopathic injection of 'meteoric iron' which had 'hit his body like a
bomb'. Despite his obvious weirdness he was a nice guy. I got him to
drop me at the motel I guessed Billy would be staying at. This was a
mile the far side of Gt Barrington and Billy wasn't there. I walked
back to town in a new rainstorm. The Days Inn told me they hadn't heard
of him and there were no more hotels in town. I wandered around for a
while before bumping into Strappy, Tadpole and the rest. They gave me
the number of another place out of town where, sure enough, Billy was
staying.
After another mile or so of walking I finally met up with Billy - an hour and a half after getting into town. He had
completed all 52 miles of CT in less than 17 hours. I would not have
believed it possible had it been anyone other than Billy. We went to
McD's and then to Big K and Radioshack, where I bought a swish Sony
sports radio. We ate more McD's and spent the remainder of the evening
watching TV in bed and drinking cheap wine - only going out to pick up
ice cream from the nearby Friendly's.
The marshmallow goo I had carried out had leaked in the rain and covered much of the contents of
my pack in sticky mess. I managed to wash the worst of it off.
I went into Great Barrington and found Ben and me a motel (Monument Mountain
Motel, $52). I stopped in the local
camp store and started searching for motels. Every motel I went in, informed me
that they had no vacancies, or I thought was overpriced. I finally got to the
far side of Great Barrington and the motel parking lot was empty. I thought I had a
chance at this place…no one wants to stay here. I left the door open all day to
let Ben in, hoping he would see the door open as he walked the streets. It
figures I can’t even book the same motel that Strappy and the gang books…just my
luck.
Top of the page
Wednesday,
July 23, 2003
Total Miles: 1516.9
Miles: 11.7
Got in late last night and failed to write. Yesterday we ate breakfast at McD's and were very
disappointed when we went to try and go bowling and found all the lanes
booked by a busload of children. We went back to town and I did
laundry. We got groceries and headed out of town, me classily swigging
leftover wine from a Pepsi bottle as we went. Ate lunch at an
overpriced bagel place on the way. We went on to an overpriced ice
cream place, where Billy ordered a 'large' ice cream. Hiked on after
walking all the way back to the trail.
There was plenty of stiff climbing and the mosquitoes were the worst they've been all trip
(that's pretty bad) - my arms were getting savaged as we walked. I
managed to leave my hat at a road crossing and had to run back a mile
to get it. It is starting to get dark early now (around 8.30). Got to
the shelter in the dark and then spent 40 minutes backtracking to find
decent water. There is one other guy at the shelter and I felt guilty
for coming in so late until he started snoring horribly - Billy and I
were woken up several times. I fell asleep listening to my radio. I've
found a good station (96.5FM) here that has a very funny show
with plenty of inappropriate humour.
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Thursday,
July 24, 2003
Total Miles: 1541.5
Miles: 24.6
Out at 8.30. It rained in the night An uneventful day. Met Strappy and co on a road which had another
great spring. Made charming conversation for a while before leaving
them to it. We got trail magic at the next road where a '95 thruhiker
and his wife were offering lemonade and donuts.
Staying on the upper floor of a shelter tonight. Our scottish friend Neil is here.
Talked to him for a while. The water source here is not great and I'll
be glad to get to the promised land of Vermont with it's plentiful
water just a couple of days away. Tomorrow we pass through 2 towns,
which may slow us down a little.
Top of the page
Friday,
July 25, 2003
Total Miles: 1565.1
Miles: 23.6
Woken up several times in the night by a mix of snoring, sneezing and coughing from a group of section
hikers sharing the shelter. The water at the shelter sucked, so we
walked a couple of miles to the home of 'The Cookie Lady'. This is a
blueberry farm run by an elderly couple. A beautiful place, 20 acres in
all, with 2 acres of blueberries. They have a hiker box on the porch
and a spigot for hikers to get water. They also have a picnic table for
us. We saw no one there when we turned up, so we got water and sat at
the bench to eat breakfast. Presently an old fella rolled up on a
ride-on mower. He is the 'Cookie Man' and an exceedingly nice chap. He
chatted to us a while, asked a few questions, and told us about the
trail ahead. Apparently not many thru hikers have come through this
year. He went off and got us a basket of cookies to eat and invited us to
help ourselves to berries. Berry season usually starts around July 10th
up here, but still only a few were ripe this year because of the weather.
We said our goodbyes and pressed on to Dalton. Ate a meal of burgers and
milkshakes there before heading to the library. I had some confusion
with the lady in the restaurant about what they meant by 'coffee cake'.
American coffee cake is not coffee-flavoured and she looked incredulous
at the idea of british coffee-cake. She gave me some free cake anyway.
We pushed on to Cheshire, where we ate dinner and got a large bottle of
Coke. The climb out of town is 8 miles and 3000 ft. We managed the
first two and a half before stopping and camping. We have heard
rustling in the undergrowth and we are slightly concerned they may be
porcupines.
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Saturday,
July 26, 2003
Total Miles: 1587.5
Miles: 22.4
Walked up to Greylock Mtn. We can now see big mountain ranges on the horizon. Annoyed that the
tower on top was locked. Nick stayed in the garage of the lodge for $10
and said it was ok. Hiked down the mountain to MA2 and went to the Stop
and Shop for groceries. It is as nice a store as we've seen all trip.
Heading back towards Pizza Hut, a guy stopped for us and asked us if we
wanted a lift. It turned out that Pizza Hut had closed down, but there
was a Friendly's next door. The guy driving us was a little odd. I
think he was lonely and he looked sad to see us go. He volunteered that
his hobbies were 'stuffed animals' and 'voices'. Draw your own
conclusions. We ate dinner and hung around for phone, lavatory etc.
Back on the trail a little late. Couldn't make it to the shelter, so camping a few
miles short. We had plenty of climbing today and my legs can feel it.
Top of the page
Sunday,
July 27, 2003
Total Miles: 1614.0
Miles: 26.5
Was woken up at 1.30 by Billy crashing around. He had felt some rain and was getting the tarp out. We
put it up and the few drops of rain stopped. It did rain plenty later
in the night though.
Nothing much happened today. We walked a lot. It was overcast with occasional drizzle. Stopped at several
shelters for short breaks. We may be a little light on food and am
almost out of bread.
We're tarping tonight. Billy saw a bear today and got attacked by a bird again.
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Monday,
July 28, 2003
Total Miles: 1635.2
Miles: 21.2
Had a lie-in this morning as we had a relatively small mileage planned. It was spoilt slightly by
being freezy-cold in my sleeping bag. Hopefully I'll wash it tomorrow
and that'll fix the problem.
We climbed a big mountain that has skiing in winter. Almost hit 4000ft for the first time in a long while.
It was a beautiful clear, sunny day, though still pretty chilly when
you sat still. We climbed a fire tower at the top of the mountain for a
spectacular view. The ski routes down the side of the mountain look a
little odd in summer. Apparently we could also see the Whites in the
distance. The view was almost as good as the best in North Carolina.
We're camping near the road to Manchester Centre tonight. Going in early for
Breakfast, then doing laundry, buying new shoes etc. Looking at our
mileage plan, we have the usual problem of hitting our mail drop towns
(West Hartford for Billy and Hanover for me) on the weekend. May have
to slow right down to fix the situation.
Deciding not to go in town today, may have not been a good choice. There was
absolutely no where to sleep tonite. Every place we tried to lay down had a
slope to it. We wanted to sleep right next to the road, but didn’t want to be
seen. We even checked the other side of the road, but there was no where to stay
there. We wanted to bed early and get into town ASAP. So we ended up tromping
over twigs and fallen trees, down a couple of slopes to find an area that was
5sq feet where we just had enough room to lay down between tree limps and other
hazardous obstacles. I was sure we were on private
property and just couldn’t wait for the nite to pass.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
July 29, 2003
Total Miles: 1635.9
Miles: 0.7
Spent the whole day in town today, which was very pleasant. The hitch in was close to perfect. The
4th vehicle that passed us was a truck that stopped for us. The guy
driving looked like he'd be more at home in NC, with an open beer on
the go, a cooler of more beside him and a disregard for seat-belt laws.
In the summer he worked collecting scrap-metal and in the winter he
found work in the ski industry. He lived in Rutland, having moved there
from the country, and seemed resentful of the fact. In the country
'they let you do what you want and leave you alone.' This is apparently
not the case in the city. I'm not sure what he was alluding to, but
suspect it had something to do with seat-belt and drink-driving laws.
The first thing he did when he picked us up was to offer us a couple of
beers. It was after 8am so I accepted. As usual, I took care of our
half of the conversation. I liked the guy. I was just finishing my beer
when he dropped us 5.5 miles later outside the EMS [an outfitters].
We went in search of breakfast. Ate at Friendly's again, not realising
there was a McD's 100 yards away. The chamber of commerce has produced
wonderful maps of the town to help visitors navigate between the many
services and vast number of outlet stores. It doesn't, however, mark on
it, useful features like cheap fast food restaurants.
Town had all we needed. We got Aqua Mira [water purification] from EMS, Billy got
shoes from a running shoe store, I got some some cut-price Montrails
from the other outfitter and even laundered my sleeping bag. We lunched
in McD's, played frisbee in the park and felt unwell. Went and posted
our old shoes home [why?!?] at the inconveniently located post office.
We grocery shopped and ate another McD's.
The ride back to the trail was painless. The 10th car stopped this time - a VW driven by a
lone woman. A very nice lady, she was on her way to pick up her
children who worked at a kids camp up towards the mountain. They were
one of the many families that moved from NYC to the country. Her husband
now commuted a long way to work.
The biscuits I bought in town are horrible.
Manchester Center had all the amenities we needed. Getting in early had us waiting for
the stores to open. However, with so many amenities, we found ourselves barely making it
to the post office before it shut down.
The post lady was nice enough to help us out, before closing the counter section
of the post office. Our ride into town was the exact opposite of our ride out of
town, money wise. We came in a speeding battered pickup truck with no seatbelts
and left with some millionaire’s wife in her TDI with leather seats.
Top of the page
Wednesday,
July 30, 2003
Total Miles: 1659.4
Miles: 23.5
A mostly uneventful day. Got up late and hiked up another ski mountain - this one with a cool
looking ski lift building. We nosed around the ski patrol building
which was deserted for the summer, but left open. Climbed an observation
platform and enjoyed a 'five-state view'. I could only think of four
states that could be in sight.
Billy hasn't been feeling too good today. His stomach is not doing well, possibly due to yesterday's
excesses. I left him dozing at the next mountain and when he caught up with me he was feeling a little better.
I am still enjoying the radio - WEQY is now my station of choice. Today it featured 5 minutes
of my favourite stand-up Doug Stanhope. We're staying outside a shelter
tonight. We got here with 45 minutes of light left to find three people
sleeping in the shelter. One of them has found the need to erect his
tent INSIDE the shelter. Couldn't be bothered to make him move it, so
just sleeping out.
Top of the page
Thursday,
July 31, 2003
Total Miles: 1678.4
Miles: 19.0
Billy continues to feel unwell. We may end up taking two days in Rutland for him to recover a
little. Hiked eight miles this morning after a late start. Ate a good
lunch of burgers and fries at the Whistle Stop Restaurant. The place
was staffed exclusively by a mother and her three teenage daughters.
Ate ice cream for desert - it was served from a caboose adjoining the
restaurant. We revised our mileage plan for the day and decided on 11
after lunch rather than 15. This still leaves only six to US4 tomorrow.
Staying tonight at Cooper Lodge, which is an enclosed stone shelter near the peak of one of Vermont's higher mountains. As soon as
the sun set, the mice came out. The place is infested with creatures - they are everywhere. I'm praying that they leave us and our
stuff alone. On the up side, there don't seem to be any mosquitoes here
and there is a good, cold spring close by. At the tops of these
mountains the environment becomes, what I believe is called,
'sub-alpine'. Nice smelling pine trees and a chill in the air. All the
views are great and it makes a welcome change from the mediocrity of
the mid-atlantic section.
Ben hiked ahead of me today. I barely made it to Cooper Lodge. It was a struggle the entire trip up the
mountain. Even my mind doesn’t help…I mistakenly think I am very close to the
shelter, to only find out I am still miles away. I was willing to quit at any time.
Usually I am the first to
arrive wherever we are going. However, I
knew Ben was somewhere ahead of me, so I kept hiking even though my body told me
to stop. I barely made it to the shelter before nite fall. Climbed on the top
bunk, set up my sleeping mesh and passed out.
Top of the page
Saturday,
August 2, 2003
Day 95
Total Miles: 1684.6
Miles: 6.2
We were unmolested by mice the other night, but the weather turned bad the next morning.
We had steady rain for the walk to Route 4. It was all downhill and
slippery at times. My Frogg Toggs are now letting in water, so it is
not fun. The bad weather also made what would have been a tough hitch
to town, impossible.
We ended up just walking along to the Edelweiss Motel a mile from the trail. It was fine except there was
nowhere to get food nearby. We held off getting the room until we
finally found a pizza place, albeit one that didn't open until 5, that
would be willing to deliver all the way up here.
Once in our room, we began phoning every pizza place in the book. We figured if one
delivered then the rest must too. They all refused us, didn't answer
their phones, or didn't exist anymore. We had to wait 5 1/2 hours for
the one pizza place that would deliver to open. We called them, faint
with hunger, to be informed that the delivery driver wasn't working
that night and that they weren't making deliveries. Eventually we got a
place to come out for some extra money. The bill for our meal was $36.
This morning we caught the bus to Rutland. Stopped off at the very handy
Chamber of Commerce information centre, who pointed us in the direction
of the very nice and reasonably priced motel we are staying in tonight.
I lunched at McD's alone as Billy is still not feeling too special. We
went to an outfitter, where Billy bought a RidgeRest for $5. I got a cheap,
plastic poncho and a new reading light. Bought gin, tonic and ice cream at the
store before returning to the room to wallow in TV all evening.
I wake up the next morning and hear about all the rats that were climbing all
over us last nite. I barely am able to walk the 6.2 miles to the road. This is
really the first time on the trip that Ben takes the lead and gives my body a
reason to struggle thru my unwillingness to move forward. Thankfully a town
awaits. Ben is also kind enough to see that I am unable to go on further. While
staying in Rutland, we would go out for supplies- just
the short walk in town had my stomach exploding. I have not been eating much and
the only places I can move to and from are my bed and the bathroom. I call my
father for support.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
August 5, 2003
Day 96
Total Miles: 1689.2
Miles: 4.6
We finally escaped Rutland's grasp after 4 very pleasant nights of idleness and
recuperation. Our day back has been a little less pleasant. Today we
spent several hours wandering between and waiting at various bus stops
across town and asking advice from assorted townsfolk, before we
finally got on a bus back to the trail. We were glad that the rain
stopped by the time we got off the bus at 2.45.
We hiked the mile to Maine Junction where the Long Trail and the AT, which have
been running concurrently for some time, split. Here I was expecting to take the
right fork and start heading East, but there was a sign that I vaguely looked at
that mentioned a trail relocation and seemed to suggest we had to take the left
fork as the trails were to run together a while longer. We pushed on, following
the reassuring white blazes, for 4 miles before I got suspicious. Seeing only
Long Trail signs at the shelter, we talked to a couple there who seemed to know
what's what and discovered that we had indeed taken the wrong fork. We hiked
back the 4 miles. Shortly before arriving back at the junction, it began to pour
with rain as a storm blew in. We were soaked. It rained continuously from then
on. The trail turned into a stream/pool as it had back in VA. We crossed a
bridge over a brook that had become a raging torrent. We hiked on until it got
gloomy and pitched the tarp in the rain. The mosquitoes are setting new records
for obnoxious behaviour. These seem to be a different species - shorter spikes
and longer legs than the norm. They bite hard too.
I am in much better shape and my hiking stance is around 85%. The only
downfall of the day is the “Maine Junction” screw up. I always allowed Ben to be
our navigator and he even warned me hundreds of miles back about the Appalachian
Trail
splitting with the Long Trail. I wasn’t familiar with the Long Trail. At the
“Maine Junction”, Ben and I stopped for a second, thought wrongly, and headed
left. Hiking the extra 8 miles was no big deal to me. Sure it was after we had
stayed in Rutland for days, but it was a stupid mistake and may have taught me
to be more alert for sign reading, especially in the Whites.
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Wednesday,
August 6, 2003
Total Miles: 1716.1
Miles: 26.9
A productive, but very tiring day. The hills were plentiful and steep. Part way up the first one, I
started to feel queasy and dizzy and had to sit down for a while. More
rain today - got hit by several showers. My legs are chaffed
unpleasantly again. There's no room in the shelter again, so we are
tarping. It's only 4 miles to breakfast tomorrow, then another 10 to
Hanover and the New Hampshire border.
There's a lot of cool fungus about - bright red things and yellow toadstools.
Top of the page
Thursday,
August 7, 2003
Total Miles: 1737.6
Miles: 21.5
Up early and out by 6.40. Breakfast was more like 5 miles away, but no matter. In for food at
8.20 and out again by 9 after a very good meal of 2 eggs, 2 toast,
double sausage, double homefries and coffee.
We marched straight on towards Hanover. The crossing into NH was the best state line yet.
The VT/NH marker is marble and set into an impressive bridge over the
Connecticut river 1/2 mile before Hanover. Our first stop in town was
the Dartmouth College dining room, where we had an AYCE cafeteria meal.
Not great - had pasta, calzone, burger, hot dog and a couple of ice
creams. It came with AYCD juice though. Billy ate almost nothing - his
body is still not right.
We did the post office, picking up my cold weather gear sent by Will. He did fine work, only misplacing my
fleece cap. Now I have my headlight back, I am up to a complement of 4
lights - minimalism be damned. Went to the library and grocery store,
before heading out a little later than planned. Wish we had time to
stay - this has probably been my favourite town on he trail so far.
There were two indian restaurants too, which we didn't find out about
until we'd eaten already. This upset me greatly.
We hiked on two hours or so and are camping in a good spot. Got to keep the miles
up to get to Glencliffe in time to make the post office on Saturday.
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Friday,
August 8, 2003
Total Miles: 1760.8
Miles: 23.2
Possibly the toughest day for some time. A lot of hills and they were all uncomfortably steep. We
also had the worst 12 hours of bugs of the trip. Got stung on the back
and the hand by a wasp last night. My legs and hands are covered in a
mix of mosquito and small black fly bites. I got stung by another wasp
this morning - it was a big black one with several pale yellow stripes
and odd sort of horn things on its head.
We saw a moose for the first time today. I was listening to the radio and watching my
feet, when I heard a crashing close by and a huge moose jumped onto the
trail in front of us. It was sized somewhere between a cow and a horse
maybe. We ate lunch atop a mountain and had peace until a summer camp
of kids turned up with their ex-pat (Manc) leader. Chatted to him
briefly.
I'm very tired today - our sleep was interrupted by a
little rain at 3am that forced us to erect the tarp. I didn't get back
to sleep until after 5.
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Saturday,
August 9, 2003
Total Miles: 1775.2
Miles: 14.4
Up and out early. Had to get up in the small hours to take a whizz. This involved me stumbling
through dense woods in my socks, getting them soaked yet again. I hiked
with Billy until we got to the first shelter, where I headed for water
and he pushed on to get to the post office. The going was ok today.
Made it to Glencliffe a little after 12 and found Billy in the hostel.
It's a very nice place run by a couple of '94 thruhikers. Got showered
in an excellent outdoor shower with gravel floors. Did laundry and
washed my shoes at last.
Tried hitching to town for a while, before giving up and getting the owner to
shuttle us in. Ate a good meal at a pizza place. I had a 16" pizza and ate all
but one slice of it. I hadn't eaten since a meager breakfast at 06.30. We ate
with an older fella who was section hiking . He was an ex-IBM employee from
Poughkeepsie and nice enough company. Went for groceries then called for a
return shuttle. In the restaurant, we were sat at the table next to two of the
people that ran the hostel. The woman produced a range of outdoor equipment she
made under the name Moonbow. She had learned to sew in a factory in here home
country (somewhere oriental) and had somehow ended up doing this. She custom
made stuff to order and did alterations too. Billy was very interested to hear
about all the particulars of her constructions. Sadly she had run out of fleece
caps. We hung around until 8, when we finally headed out. It was only a mile to
the shelter, but it decided to rain and I was loaded with pizza. We're here now
with a trio from Quebec, who are making more noise than I'd like. We are clearly
in a tourist area again and will have to tolerate it like we did in the
Shenandoahs and Smokies.
I left Ben this morning to sprint in to town to get a package my mom had sent
me of warmer clothes for the Whites. The post office was built onto the side of
the postmaster’s house. I chilled out at the hostel (Hikers Welcome Hostel) in the back not talking to
many, until Ben showed up. I told him the rates and amenities with the hostel.
The hostel was in my opinion crowded…and other hikers had been stating that
there were more hikers coming in. The overcrowding of hikers was due to the
great amenities at the hostel and bad weather. The next major climb was Moosilauke. Hikers seemed to be scared of the
descent of this mountain. I had been
hearing that many hikers staying at the hostel were going to southbound this
mountain because going down the north side was too dangerous, especially with
the weather. So hikers were waiting for the weather to dry up and warm up and
this “dilemma” had backed the hostel with 2 and 3 day stays of hikers. They had
stated that there were 20 or more hikers sleeping in one room…and that didn’t
seem to be something I wanted to pay for. The shower, and many other erections,
although very appropriate for being hiker friendly, “scared me”. The restroom
facilities outside the main house contained multiple tarp erections for side
walls and roofing. The main hiker house, a two-story addition to the owners’
seemed to be built with particle board. I did shower there, with the
high-pressured shower over rocks. And Ben and I headed out right before nitefall
to the first shelter (Jeffers Brook Shelter) north of here. The Whites were coming up and the
Appalachian Trail was
becoming a challenge again, with more drastic weather and elevation change.
Top of the page
Sunday,
August 10, 2003
Total Miles: 1791.1
Miles: 15.9
Out at 9. It rained hard during the night and I didn't sleep well - a combination of the rain, a
belly full of pizza and the noise of the porky Quebec girl snoring.
Apparently around 3" of rain fell, which is as much as normally falls
in a month. The ascent of Moosilauke looked evil on the profile I saw,
but wasn't too bad. Steady going most of the way, then some steeper
towards the end to take us above treeline for the first time. Sadly
there was no visibility and it was raining. At the top, we met a
Dartmouth student employed to inform visitors about the alpine
environment. We all chatted together in the rain for a while. The job
sounded great - he just hung out on top of the mountain all day. All
his supplies were stored in a little stone fort.
We continued on for a while before beginning our descent. This was tough, especially
in the rain. The final 1800ft were dropped in 1.6 miles of slippery
rock and mud. Steps and hand rails had been added in places - without
these it would have been an even more dangerous scramble. Once at the
bottom, we headed off to some tourist attraction thing that looked
pointless and expensive, but it did have a snack bar though. Ate bad
calzone and pizza, coffee and a couple of ice creams. The place was
staffed by a sound pair of guys, well aware of the pointlessness of
their jobs. We watched them take every opportunity to bunk off for
cigarette breaks, much to the annoyance of their fat manager. The
people they were serving were, almost without exception, fat, stupid
and ugly. The attraction (a gorge I think) required visitors to do a
small amount of walking with a 300ft elevation change. The woman
manning the ticket booth felt obliged to warn people of this ordeal and
successfully dissuaded a number of the gastropods from attempting this
trek. One such woman was so big, she had taken to wearing a moo-moo
style garment; another two sat wheezing, defeated, while their families
continued into the gorge.
We spent 2.5 hours there before setting out in scorching sunshine. Hiked 7.5
miles of slowish, extremely muddy going. Billy sunk in mud up to his shin after
slipping off a log bridge. We're staying at the last free shelter/camping in the
wilderness. From now on we are going to have to pay or work for our stay.
Moosilauke. The ascent of Moosilauke seemed like a normal ascent of an
Appalachian Trail
mountain, though the climb to the top did seem extended. Now when we stopped we
had to don some sort of jacket. Atop Moosilauke, it was misting with cold
rain/sleet. The descent seemed to be a challenge of cautious descent. I don’t
remember seeing anyone in the ascent and only a handful hiking the very north
end (bottom end, Kinsman Notch) of Moosilauke as we climbed down the embedded steel rods that formed steps on
our decent. Most people we spoke with were just going up the trail a little way,
a mile or two, to see the waterfalls. Come to mind, as we were letting a couple
ascend some of the steel rod stairs- I thought to myself: “what an idiot”. This
guy was day hiking with his cute girlfriend coming southward and I was worried
for the girl, cause I thought Ben and I were the only dumb ones hiking this
mountain today. There is a sign as you enter the trail from the north end that
states that you are putting your life at risk by climbing this mountain.
Top of the page
Monday,
August 11, 2003
Total Miles: 1806.3
Miles: 15.2
Today we had our first experience of the hut system. We reached our first one at 1030 this
morning after 6 miles of walking that included one of the toughest
climbs yet. The guy manning the hut kitchen was very friendly and
explained what we could expect from the huts while proceeding to feed
baked goods, pineapple and soup. I was even able to buy a woolen cap at
a reasonable price. We left a dollar apiece even though they didn't
want any money for all the food we ate.
Hiked on 3 miles of ok downhill before another very tough climb up to the Franconia Ridge
Trail. I went up to Mount Liberty and had an incredible view from the
peak. We hiked off along the ridge for a mile or two before we broke
through the trees and walked the most impressive section of trail to
date. Stunning views all around and great rocky peaks for us to ascend.
It was still hard going, but this time you could see what you were
climbing and it all seemed more worthwhile. It was a little later than
is considered ideal to turn up to get a work for stay place (5pm rather
than 3pm), but apparently most huts are as accommodating as they can be
about this. To get to the hut, we had to hike 1.1 miles down a steep
trail from Mt LaFayette and we really didn't want to be turned away.
There was no problem when we got there and we were welcomed in. We hung
around for a while until they figured out something for us to do. We
set the table for dinner. This took half an hour as there were 48
guests. We waited for everybody to eat before going in and helping
ourselves to (the huge amount of) leftover food. Ate stew, corn, chick
peas and pasta. All good, but tepid.
Three kids that we had passed earlier turned up looking clueless. They were
wearing denim jeans and one had a bowie knife and a hatchet strapped to his
belt. They were fed as we were, before they departed (it was getting dark) to
doubtless camp somewhere inappropriate. We are sleeping on mattresses on the
dining room floor. I suspect we will have to get up very early tomorrow. We'll
be doing a spot of sweeping before we go too.
Getting atop Mt LaFayette, so late in the day, was worrying me. It was cold
when you stopped. I had been worrying most of the day about where we were going
to stay tonite. The elevation change really knocked down our ability to pump one
mile out every twenty minutes. The huts (held 20 – 50 people): the huts charged
$70 a nite to “hikers” who hiked/vacationed in the presidential range. The
“hikers”, were families, some with small children, who instead of going to a
beach, choose to go to the mountains (Yosemite style, book early). The huts were
environmentally friendly huts that usually had two main rooms. One contained the
sleeping quarters where guests bunked with other guests and were only provided
with a wool blanket with each bunk. Bathrooms were split by sexes. There were no
showers and the toilets were indoor privies. All power to the hut was run off
solar panels and propane tanks. All supplies had to be shipped in by hand or
helicopter before the season. Hut employees (college students who acquired the
job thru application) worked shifts and were allotted time off to hike out and
do personal business/time off and requested to return with supplies carried on
their back. The huts would allow 2-5 thru hikers to “work for stay”. In order to
stay, a thru hiker would be asked to set the table for the guests’ meals, clean
up afterward and do other small chores. In return the hut would allow the thru
hiker to sleep on the floor, and eat leftovers. A hut only serves breakfast and
dinner at specific times (powered milk is popular, but I was able to eat the
food, somehow). The odd placement of the huts left Ben and me always in a
complex. I couldn’t handle doing such a short mileage per day. Going to the
second hut in a day would make it close to twenty. Doing “big” mileage in the
presidential range, left us arriving after three each day- meaning our chances
of receiving a chance to work for our stay would be “chancy”. Because most
hikers just walk from hut to hut. The huts do have a limit as to how many you
can “work for stay”, but no record is kept and you are on the honor system to
let the hut workers know that you are indeed a thru hiker. And I was thinking we
didn’t have a chance to get a vacancy at the hut that was over a mile away. We
could see the hut (Greenleaf Hut) from Mt LaFayette. Thankfully Ben had the courage to tell us
to try it- of course he was Right! The crew that works there was more than
welcoming.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
August 12 , 2003
Total Miles: 1819.9
Miles: 13.6
The idea of sleeping on the dining room floor was
better than the reality. Weak bladdered guests kept us awake
most of the night, walking past us on their way to the lavatory.
Have been wide awake since
5am, when the hut workers began to
prepare breakfast. It’s noisy and the smell of frying meat
products makes me hungry.
We laid the tables for breakfast
and, though we didn’t get any fried meat products, we did get all the tepid
fruit pancakes and pineapple that we could bear. After most of
the guests had vacated, we were put to work sweeping up the dining room and
dormitories.
It seems that the hopeless hikers from last night had
pitched their tent right outside the hut. From what I could
gather by overhearing the workers’ conversation, the boys had been trying to
pass themselves off as thru-hikers, presumably in an attempt to get free stuff.
They had a story about how they had set out on June 30th and
apparently thought they had fooled all last night. No one was
convinced by the performance, but the huts don’t turn away the incompetent or
helpless. In the morning, the AHM went outside and told them
to drop the thru-hiker story and reminded them that they were in the Whites,
that it is dangerous, and that they are idiots.
The hike back to the trail was a solid 25 minute uphill
slog. Once back at the summit of the mountain, we found many
of the guests from the hut recovering. It had taken them one
and a half hours to cover the same distance. We hiked on
until we reached the Galehead hut, where I consumed AYCE pancakes (better than
Greenleaf’s) and brownies. Spoke to a pair of thru-hikers
from
Virginia called ‘Chickenfeet’ and ‘Flanders’.
They seemed a nice couple, but they hike slower than us, so we shan’t be
seeing them again.
Onwards to the Zealand Falls Hut, where we were accepted
for work for stay. Already here was a section hiker called
Amy. A little over-the-top, but we all got on fine, despite
some dangerous lines of questioning to Billy. She tells us
she’s an IPR lawyer and sometime mountaineer. We went through
the process of laying/cleaning tables again. Dinner (pork,
potatoes, corn and stew) was better than the previous night’s and hotter too.
As we were tucking in, a guest stood and announced that he would be the
evening’s entertainment. Apparently he is a semi-professional
‘storyteller’ – I cringed at the thought, but he was actually not too bad,
though I only have a limited appetite for Robert Stovey poems and folk-tales.
We slept on the floor, on mattresses again – the three of us, together,
are lying with our heads under a table to try and block some of the noise of the
guests. It’s all very pleasant and companionable.
After receiving the "okay" to "work
for stay", Ben and I headed outside of the Greenleaf Hut in order to "get out of
the way" of the paying guests. Sitting outside in the cold, I think this
was my idea, seemed to prolong our wait to get back into the warmth of the
Greenleaf Hut. Thirty minutes seemed like an hour, time passed by so
slowly. Our bodies had been sprinting up and down mountains, and now I had
us waiting outside for no reason (except for the belief that Ben and I were in
the way of paying guests). Eventually we went back in, cleaned up after
the guests, and ate the leftovers. I was tired, but sleeping with 50 or
more strangers had me sleeping lite, and the herd of guests walking the halls
all nite- I just couldn't wait for the morning. After supplying and
cleaning up the dining hall, we were told we could head out now...but no.
I suggested we could do more for the hospitality we received from the Hut
employees. Finally, it was thought up, Ben and I could sweep the dorm
rooms. The conclusion I got from our work- the dorm rooms haven't been swept
since the beginning of the season. But doing this made me feel more
satisfied about our free stay...and probably put us 30 - 45 minutes behind on
leaving at a decent departure.
Top of the page
Wednesday, August 13 , 2003
Total Miles:
Miles:
Haven’t written since the 12th. In the morning I awoke with the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. My heart had jumped out of rhythm and was beating erratically. I was only vaguely concerned about it. If
it went on for longer than 24hrs there might be a slight risk of a
stroke, but I figured I’d take some aspirin and hope it sorted itself
out soon. Of greater concern was the fact that the heart works much
less efficiently when in atrial fibrillation (as mine was) and climbing
big mountains could cause me some problems. The first section we were
to hike looked very easy so I figured I had a couple of hours before I
would be at all troubled by it. Sure enough, after an hour or so, my heart jumped back into rhythm and normal service was resumed.
An easy 7.5 miles took us into the notch that marked our entry into the Presidential range. Amy was taking an alternate route – she has a bad knee and would struggle to match our pace. Climbing out of the notch was a slog, but we enjoyed some fine views on the way up. We made our way onto Mizpah hut. Amy was already there washing dishes and we too were accepted for work-for-stay. This time we all got bunks in the storage area on the top floor. We went through the routine of laying the dinner tables. A group of south bounders turned up and were also accepted to stay. They were all young, as all south bounders seem to be. A couple of Jewish guys, recently out of high school, turned out to live near Amy and know the same people. The
other SOBO was a big porky guy, with a huge gash on his leg where he
had slipped and carved it open on a sharp rock. My first female contact
in five months came courtesy of Amy enlisting my help in performing
some chiropractic work on her back.
After
dinner, the Jewish SOBOs clumsily cleared the tables; taking unfinished
meals from guests and forcing them out of the dining room. The fat guy did nothing except keep asking when he would get his food. Dinner was good – left-over lasagne, salad and soup. Fatty helped himself to several huge portions, despite there not being too much of anything. Billy, Amy and I hung around in the loft chatting until it was time to sleep.
Top of the page
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Total Miles:
Miles:
We got up early to get the breakfast tables ready.
Fatso was sleeping on one of the tables. As I was
laying the first one, he seemed to wake, lift his head, and decide it really
wasn’t worth moving out of my way and slept five more minutes.
I finally forced him off and he slumped away, not to be seen again until
our food was served. We got wheat-meal, sausage links and
pancakes. Afterwards, the guys Amy had been chatting to left,
having decided they did plenty of work the night before. We
finally forced our chubby acquaintance into some form of labour.
He was utterly hopeless.
We headed off for
Mount Washington via the Lakes of the Clouds Hut.
This is the biggest of all the huts, but I didn’t like it as much as the
others. The visibility was iffy on the way.
Occasionally, as the mist shifted, we would get glimpses of beautiful
views. It was very windy on the ridge and approached 75mph as
we approached Mt
Washington. I was knocked
off balance by gusts as we climbed the rocky approach trail.
We went to the crowded visitor centre, and hung out in the hiker room downstairs
for a while – it’s a nice thing to have. When Amy arrived,
she bought us lunch in the expensive cafeteria and lent Billy her mobile phone
for him to make some calls. She didn’t hang around for too
long, and headed out for Madison Hut with a head start. There
was a group of seven or eight NOBOs who had stayed at the Lakes hut and were
going to try and stay at
Madison. We didn’t like the
idea of us being numbers eight and nine to try and get a place, so we set out to
try and overtake their 1 hour lead inside of 7 miles [two hours hiking].
The weather had cleared up, though it was still windy.
The ridge and views were stunning. It was very rocky though
and we were moving at close to a run. We caught the group
much sooner than we expected, as they had stopped for a break.
We passed Amy a mile from the hut, and arrived there around 5.30.
They already had two people working for stay, but they reluctantly said
they would accept two more. We decided we’d rather stay with
our new buddy, so gave up our places to a SOBO couple. There
was a free campsite 0.6m down a steep hill where we decided to stay.
Amy was really struggling with her knee by this point and she didn’t
enjoy the extra walk. The site was just two large tent
platforms. One was filled, the other partially occupied by
a couple from Philly and their dog. We were forced to intrude
on the privacy they, doubtless, desired. While we were
eating, the dog ran off with some of Billy’s cookies. Billy
set up his netting, and Amy invited me to share her two-man tent.
Top of the page
Friday,
August 15, 2003
Total Miles: 1856.3
Miles:
In the morning, Billy and I hiked out, leaving Amy to try and meet us at
Pinkham Notch for lunch. We had a vile, long, hard descent
down off of the ridge. We got to the place at Pinkham, a
cafeteria for AMC workers and the public. They gave us AMC
member rates of a very fair $6.25. It was really very good
and we had plenty of time to eat our AYCE lunch. We figured
Amy wouldn’t make it in time so ate on without her. The place
even had a small outfitters and a room for hikers to hang out.
Amy showed up eventually and we sat about chatting and making phone
calls. I put back my flight a day and phoned home.
We made the decision to camp up on the Wildcat Ridge.
Amy went on to catch the last gondola to the top, we bought some pricey supplies
and, for the first time in months, some fuel for the stove.
It was a long hard climb up Wildcat, but we finally reached the top and Amy.
Camping at the summit is apparently allowed. It’s a
big grassy area with a couple of buildings and the gondola platform (it is a ski
mountain). We ate on the platform, enjoying fine views of Mt
W and some strong wind. Billy put the tarp up, and again I
shared with my.
Top of the page
Saturday,
August 16, 2003
Total Miles: 1872.8
Miles: 16.5
In the morning, we said our farewells to Amy, who was heading back down on
the gondola to meet her father. We hiked 16 easing miles out
of the Whites and stayed the night at a shelter one and a
half miles from the road to town. Two others came into the
shelter, but we were so tired that we scarcely noticed them start to set up
their stuff before we fell asleep.
Top of the page
Sunday,
August 17, 2003
Total Miles: 1874.7
Miles: 1.9
The hitch to town took a while. It was
Sunday and the traffic was slow. We finally got a lift with a
woman who was just dropping off her 2000miler husband for a hike up to Katahdin.
He said it was his favourite section of the trail. We
got dropped off at a sweet location between Burger King and Dunkin Donuts.
We did BK first, then DD before heading off to find accommodation.
We got a room at the Hikers’
Paradise - $45 and we got a fridge, cable, free local
calls and a cooked breakfast. Best of all we could hire bikes
for the duration of our stay for just $1. This made the trips along the strip
much more pleasant. There were even laundry facilities on the
premises. The owner, Tom, was Polish and we had heard talk
that he wasn’t very friendly. I found him to be fine, just
European. Tom had a large number of French-Canadians staying,
most of them ageing bikers. We went off to do our grocery
shopping while our room was being prepared. Bought food for
The Wilderness and for three more days. The ride home was
dicey with a full backpack of food and more bags dangling from the handlebars of
our decrepit bikes. Billy managed to jam the chain a couple
of times on the way home.
We watched films all afternoon, popping out for a quick McD’s on our bikes.
For dinner we went to a mediocre Chinese buffet. I
knocked back two bottles of wine and managed to miss the complimentary breakfast
the next morning.
Top of the page
Monday,
August 18, 2003
Total Miles: 1891.7
Miles: 17.0
We ended up going to DD for breakfast and I was surprised
by how good it was. The breakfast sandwich was fresh and real
food, and they understood what I meant by ‘lots of cream, lots of sugar’ when I
ordered my coffee. We went to the post office to send our
wilderness package on to Monson. I was just writing a couple
of postcards when a guy pulled over and offered us a lift back to the trail.
He was a former SOBO thru-hiker. He told us that when
he had hiked the trail, he was going through a divorce and was a very angry man.
He was much happier now. He was just here to do some
section hiking and to visit ‘The Barn’ hostel, where he had stayed in ’96.
We were back on the trail at
11am. We had a lot
of climbing to do, but we managed reasonable mileage. We
finally made it across the final state line and entered
Maine.
Top of the page
Tuesday,
August 19, 2003
Total Miles: 1911.6
Miles: 19.9
Today we had the much hyped Mahoosuc Notch to tackle. It is like a very cold
obstacle course. We got through it in about an hour without rushing and with a
couple of photo shoots along the way. We had been told stories about it taking a
lot of people three hours upwards. I can see how that would be the case for
those less mobile and carrying more than ourselves. For me, the climb out to be
much harder than negotiating the notch itself. Knees are hurting and thighs are
tired. It was a pretty tough day, but we managed to fit 20 miles in.
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Wednesday,
August 20, 2003
Total Miles: 1938.7
Miles: 27.1
Up and at 'em before 7am - we somehow hiked 27 miles over big mountains. We were
running very low on food after some poor calculations at our resupply. I'm not
sure what we would have done if we hadn't found a 10-pack of blueberry muffins
at a shelter and a pair of granola bars just lying at a trail crossing (along
with a stale and revolting box of fortune cookies).
We decided to camp, probably illegally, on the banks of a river. Halfway through
Billy cooking his dinner we ran out of gas. We ended up building our first
cook-fire of the trip in a spot where we didn't want to draw any attention to
ourselves.
Top of the page
Thursday,
August 21, 2003
Total Miles: 1954.4
Miles: 15.7
In the morning we had to cook again as the only food we had left was instant
potatoes. We built another fire and were breakfasted and out at a reasonable
hour. We pushed on to Rangeley and the promise of food. We got to the road and
spent a long time fruitlessly trying to get a hitch before a guy we had passed
on the trail offered us a ride. He was a very nice man from Arizona. We chatted
happily for the duration of the ride.
Rangeley is small but pleasant. We ate a decent meal in a restaurant - I had a
14" anchovie, mushroom and olive pizza, beer, cheesecake, apple pie and ice
cream, and coffee. Of course I was immobilised for hours after. I thought
something was going to blow while we walked round the outfitter's store/gift
shop. I phoned Amy and she gave me the green light to change my flights and stay
with her on the way back. The grocery store was good, but I was too full to
enjoy the process. Hitching out of town was again tough. Finally a friendly
family stopped their minivan and let us squeeze in. They took us out of their
way back to the trail. They were from Bangor and out on a camping trip
themselves and seemed to enjoy hearing about our trip.
I couldn't face much more hiking with my overloaded stomach, so we only went on
a couple of miles on to the busy Piazza Rock Lean-to.
Top of the page
Friday,
August 22, 2003
Total Miles: 1977.5
Miles: 23.1
The next day saw a continuation of our relentless slog across Maine. Another 23
miles over mountains. Didn't find it bad going and felt pretty good hiking. We
had beautiful views from all the peaks. We stopped at a campsite 7 miles from
Stratton and slept on a platform.
Top of the page
Saturday,
August 23, 2003
Total Miles: 2000.1
Miles: 22.6
Awoken at 5.30am by the need to sprint to the khasi. There seems to be a
state health law that insists on placing the privies a long way from the
sleeping areas.
Out early and on to Stratton and the promise of more food. A couple of mountains
in the way, but got there around 930. We got a lift in with the owner of a motel
who was just dropping off Grizzly (one of the original 'g's'). I think he really
wanted us to stay at his place, but we had to disappoint him. Went to breakfast
at a diner - the place was packed, being Saturday. We met Mr Shaw, owner of the
boarding house in Monson. He is kinda a shrunken old man and keen to sell us on
staying at his place. He was with a hiker we hadn't seen since TN. We ordered
our food, which was good, if a little slow coming. I had 4 eggs & toast, ham,
hash browns and coffee, followed by french toast. Afterwards, we went and made
calls (I called AA and delayed my flights) and did our grocery shopping. We had
a tough time getting a hitch back. Eventually, a guy pulled over in a pick-up.
Not sure he realised what we were, but he was a nice guy, if a little gay. He
was on his way to a wedding at Sugarloaf and was all dressed up in his natty
denims. He was originally from Billy's home town and they seemed to know some of
the same people. Not back on trail til 1pm and hadn't even eaten lunch.
Needed to fit in another 15 miles to get us past the Bigelows and stay on track.
Had a bite to eat at a lean-to part way up one of the first mountains. There
were a huge number of people going to stay at the site. It was a weekend and the
mountain range seems very popular. There is a good reason for this as it is
spectacularly beautiful. We had great views of lakes to one side and plains and
mountains to the other. The weather had turned very cold and windy - had to wear
gloves, hat, jacket whenever we stopped. Even hiking, it was freezing cold up on
the exposed peaks. Made it into camp just after nightfall. The site was busy, so
we lay on the ground behind the lean-to. I had a go at cooking carbonara, but it
was indifferent.
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Sunday,
August 24, 2003
Total Miles: 2024.1
Miles: 24.0
Slept through til 530am when I was again forced up to visit the privy. Made an
early start with the need to get to the Kennebec river ferry before 4.30pm. We
had some nice level hiking with a lot of following the shores of big lakes. The
sandy beaches were cool and the wind was creating some big waves.
Made it to the ferry early. The ferry is a 3/4 person canoe and it is operated
by a woman alone on the return journeys and with the help of one of the
passengers on the way out. The river is very wide and very fast and it must be
an extremely tiring job. Billy did the paddling for us and I sat in the middle
enjoying the ride. I got to learn some interesting facts about ferrying. Shortly
after, we reached Caratunk. We wandered 0.3 miles down the road to find the
cafe, only to discover it was shut. We needed to get groceries from a store 1
mile in the opposite direction. Billy's guidebook listed a handy shortcut that
would allow us to detour just 0.3 miles off the trail. All we had to do was
follow the AT 1.5ish then take the blue-blazed side trail. We followed the AT
for probably 2.5 miles before we really started to worry. We spent sometime
deliberating what to do. Couldn't face back-tracking, especially when we didn't
feel confident we'd ever find the side-trail. This meant we'd be going 3.5 miles
to the place then 3.5 miles back to where we were stood. Option 'B' was to hike
on to Monson. This was 30 miles away. I had one meal remaining and no snacks,
Billy had two small packets of crackers. This was somehow the slight favourite,
despite being a stupid plan. In the end we took a terrible Plan 'C' and carried
on to a logging road and tried to walk back to the main road from there. We ended
up walking in a long circle for an hour, ending up back at the trail more tired
and left with Plan B seeming more stupid, yet more inevitable. Just as we were
about to disappear back into the woods, a vehicle came along and we flagged it
down. The young couple told us that we could get to town by going several miles
the opposite way to that which we had been trying. It was looking too late to
get to the store in time unless we got a ride. They were headed the other way,
but thankfully, at that moment, a Grand Cherokee pulled up coming in the
opposite direction. We managed to get a ride with the two kind guys driving.
They took us to the Rivers and Trails place, but it was shut. They were happy to
take us a mile further on to the Northern Outdoor Centre though. They had been
there the night before and had been surprised what a lively spot it was. There
is a restaurant, bar, hot tubs, games rooms, and it even ran a disco til late.
We ate a decent meal in the restaurant - I had french onion soup, salad, pasta
in spicy meat sauce, and a brownie sundae. Billy had a vast platter of nachos.
We got a tentsite at the place and went back out into the cold night to sleep.
It was somewhere in the high 30'sF. We hung out in the warm shower block
(nothing funny) before finding our site and lying down on the ground for just
$6.50/person.
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Monday,
August 25, 2003
Total Miles: 2049.1
Miles: 25.0
We got up early and walked to Rivers and Trails. Steve (former longtime
ferryman and owner of the place) was just heading out, in shirt and tie, to an
important meeting. Upon seeing us he was happy to hold back and let us do our resupply 'for five minutes'. He was very friendly and, even though clearly in a
rush, he chatted to us about various. He even offered, at high speed, to change
up our coins into notes or break-down our bills. Sadly there was no way we could
get a lift with him back to where we had left the trail. Figured it would be
quicker just to take the side trail back and re-hike some than to try and find a
hitch back up the loggin road. The only problem was that we couldn't find the
trail from the bottom either. Spent almost an hour thrashing about in the
undergrowth before we figured out where we were supposed to go. Finally got back
to where we left at 10am.
Pushed on over mostly easy terrain, getting in to the shelter just after
nightfall (1945) again. Had wet shoes from where we had forded a river in the
wrong spot due to some less than obvious blazing. There's only one other guy at
the shelter - an older SOBO sectioner who seemed glad of the company. Chatted to
him about various junk while we cooked and made ready to sleep.
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Tuesday,
August 26, 2003
Total Miles: 2058.1
Miles: 9.0
This morning we got up and hiked the remaining 9 miles to Monson. Got a hitch in
minutes and were in 'town' by 10am. Not much here. Closest thing to a restaurant
is the Mobil gas station. We checked into Shaw's Rooming House and went to get
some food. We picked up our mail drop, ate burger/pizza at Mobil and did
laundry. Phoned home and relaxed in front of our 12" black and white TV. Dinner
at Shaw's is vast and excellent. Truly all you can eat ham, potatoes,
corn-on-the-cob, cabbage, cucumber, gravy, milk, juice etc. Looking forward to
the breakfast tomorrow.
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Wednesday,
August 27, 2003
Total Miles: 2077.2
Miles: 19.1
Remain: 95.4
Awoken at 5.10am by smell of frying bacon and the sound of farmyard animals (Mr
Shaw raises his own cows for beef). Got up, abluted and showered. Breakfast was
served at 5.45am, rather earlier than advertised. I was hungry and headed down
ASAP. Got some coffee and prepared to order. Mr Shaw, himself, was cooking this
morning. He operates a simple number system for ordering food. One only has to
ask for a 1, 2, 3, 4 etc and you receive that number of eggs, sausage, bacon,
ham, french toast & portions of hash browns. All were excellent. Also available
were unlimited coffee, juice, milk and donuts.
Chatted with Mr Shaw for a while after breakfast. He had plenty of bad things to
say about a lady (we guess the 'Pie Lady'). He is not in good health - decades
of smoking have left his lungs in a bad way. He relies on a number of inhalers
and spends a good part of his time on oxygen.
Went to the post office and mailed the stuff I have ditched for the Wilderness.
Bought a couple more items of food (more brownies) at the Mobil (the staff are
friendly). Got a lift back to the trail with Keith Shaw Jr. He spends a good
portion of his time driving people around. He does the trail to Monson route and
also many trips to Abol Bridge, etc.
The ground was slippery from overnight rain and we both had minor falls. Had
more rain after lunch, which was a shame as the morning had been perfect. It was
not very inspiring and we have stopped short of our planned 26 miles. We're
camping out near a shelter in icy cold wind.
The next day:
Fell asleep writing last night. Awoke after midnight - headlight still on, with
a most urgent need to reach a lavatory. My awkward shoes were not appreciated
and the walk to the privy was long and dicey.
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Thursday,
August 28, 2003
Total Miles: 2101.2
Miles: 24.0
Remain: 71.4
Out late for an uneventful day of hiking. The terrain was moderate and a great
source of excitement was the fact that the walking eases off further after White
Cap Mtn, which we bagged at the end of the day. The rest of the way should be
easy. Got a lean-to to ourselves tonight. There is another group of Colby
College students here, but they are all tenting.
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Friday,
August 29, 2003
Total Miles: 2128.6
Miles: 27.4
Remain: 44.0
Slept well. In the morning discovered that the shelter mice had decided to use
the cook pot I unwisely left out as a lavatory - deep joy. Before we headed out,
the Colby leader told us that they had heard there was a problem with some bees
an hour down the trail. Several SOBOs had been stung.
We got 30 minutes down the trail before I saw Billy start jumping and shouting
inexplicably. Next thing, he was yelling at me to run and I felt a stabbing pain
in my arse and the front of my ankle. We sprinted for a minute until clear.
Billy had been stung a few times on the calf. Neither of us had any warning or
even seen what had stung us. We met another Colby group SOBO and gave them a
warning to put on their rain gear.
The rest of the hiking turned out to be as easy as hoped. We racked up the miles
at better than 3 an hour. The 'Wilderness' still doesn't feel very wild. Had
fewer day hikers out today, but crossed plenty of logging roads, saw and heard
some traffic and even found a trail magic cooler of soda.
Camping in the rain. Very glad to have only one full day of hiking remaining.
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Saturday,
August 30, 2003
Total Miles: 2154.0
Miles: 25.4
Remain: 18.6
Up and out early. It had stopped raining, but it was still cold. Terrain not as
nice looking today - lots of roots and rocks to fight and my legs felt tired and
my feet tender. These shoes really have had it. The balls of my feet are thick
with calluses and numb to the touch.
Got good views of Katahdin today. The thing looks huge and daunting. Stopped at
Rainbow Shelter for lunch and decided we had enough time to take naps. Slept for
one and a half hours I think. Had to get moving again. Still cold. Miles came
very quickly today. We think this section has been mis-measured.
Sleeping out tonight for the last time. I managed to spill my pasta on the
ground, but it was largely salvageable. Tomorrow we walk 3 miles to food at Abol
Bridge, then 10 more to the road where we will try to hitch to Millinocket.
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Monday,
September 8, 2003
Dear All,
Greetings from sunny Upper Welland. We summited Katahdin last week,
bringing an end to our 2172.6 mile walk. We had good luck with the weather
and enjoyed a beautiful clear day for the final ascent and stunning views
from atop the peak. I was both enormously relieved to have finished and
rather sad to be leaving the trail. Despite all the physical and mental
ardure that it entailed, I have no doubt that this will end up being one of
the best things I ever do with my life. I am now in the slow process of
getting used to the real world once again. There are definite upsides to
being home again (as trips to the pub and indian restaurants have
demonstrated to me), but also plenty of downsides (now I have to pay bills
and I fight to keep the weight I lost off).
I have to thank most everyone on this list and many more people besides for
their tremendous support, without which the trip would either have been much
more difficult or a complete failure. I am extremely grateful to all who
sponsored me. Thanks to some incredibly generous pledges, we estimate that
in excess of £2600 has been raised for St Richard's Hospice.
Apologies for the lack of updates since Hanover, I did my best to track down
a computer, but to no avail. The final section of the trail was both the
most demanding and the most beautiful. Throughout the White Mountains, we
were rewarded with spectacular views in exchange for long, sadistic, sheer,
climbs that finally killed our knees. We spent our nights in the huts that
provide (expensive) food and lodging for tourists. We were able to work for
our stay, sweeping up and waiting tables, in exchange for a space on the
floor and food scraps. Once we had gotten to Maine, we realised that we had
left ourselves just fourteen days to finish the remaining two hundred and
eighty miles and get to the airport. Just to make it more fun, the first
hundred miles were as tough as any on the trail, featuring delights such as
the MahoosucNotch - a rather awkward mass of boulders that require a fun
mix of climbing, crawling and jumping to navigate. We worked pretty hard,
forcing our now failing bodies to walk some big miles. The second half of
the state proved rather more agreeable and we soon realised that we had made
such good progress that we would be able to take a couple of days off and
have a bit of rest before the 'hundred-mile wilderness'. However, we soon
managed to reduce that free time down to just one day by cleverly getting
lost and wandering along logging roads, desperately tired and hungry, for
more time than I care to remember. Other than that, all ran smoothly and we
made it to the end without further incident.
I'll let you all be for now. I'll be in touch soon about all of the things I
can't face sorting out until I settle down a little more
(sponsorship collection, getting the photos to view online etc.). Until
then, take care everybody and my thanks to you all again.
Ben
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Friday,
August 12, 2005
So that's the whole thing. Embarassingly, it took me longer to post the
journal than it did to write it. There's no entry for our final day summitting
Katahdin - I never quite got round to it I'm afraid. Doubtless Billy and I shall
cover it in the comments eventually. If you're reading this having trawled
through the entire journal then you need to get out more. I don't know if anyone
out there is going to gain anything valuable by reading my junk, but I enjoyed
doing it nonetheless. Anyway, go and do something useful.
Ben
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