New Hampshire!

Earlier today, I crossed from Vermont into New Hampshire.  I'm currently in the town of Hanover, NH at their library doing some way-overdue internet stuff.  Hanover has been really great so far, but it's also a little overwhelming.  Dartmouth is located here, so it's a very college-y kind of town, but the trail also runs through town - so it's got a little bit of an outdoorsy vibe as well.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I got back on the trail almost 2.5 weeks ago (July 4th), but everytime I've had a chance to get online, I was in too much of a rush to get other things done, that I didn't have time to write anything.  I had a particularly annoying experience in Dalton, MA, where the librarian insisted that I follow the hour limit.  "And what if there's noone waiting for a computer after that hour is up?"  "Doesn't matter.  Them's the rules."  Ug...

So, since my last update, I've crossed the border into MA, then crossed another border into VT and then crossed yet another border into NH.  And each time, the trail has gotten progessively better.  The forest has changed.  It's gotten more and more pine-y, to the point where it smells like Christmas all of the time, and the pine needles on the trail are like little pillows for your feet to land on.  The grey squirrels have disappeared and been replaced with chipmunks and red squirrels.  And the bears seem to have disappeared as well (I hope), and lately I've been seeing evidence of moose.

The attitudes of hikers have changed as well.  It feels like we're almost done, although we still have 450 miles left to go.  Everyone I've talked to has had horrible things to say about their time in NY state and the second half of PA.  And ever since we've passed those places, the experience has gotten more and more enjoyable.  The hikers that I meet are all pumped to be out here.  Earlier on the trail, there was a lot of complaining (and for good reason a lot of times), but that's all been replaced now with a kind of live-it-up-while-you-can and we're-so-lucky-to-be-out-here positivity.  It's really great to be around.

A lot's happened over the past few weeks, so it's hard to summarize or list all of the bigger events.  When I got dropped-off at the trail in Kent, Conn, I had a rough few days.  It was hot and sweaty and I had some painful chafing.  And then soon after that, I started having some issues with the shoes that I brought back with my from Atlanta.  I decided on using my old (600+ running miles) running shoes and seeing if I could finish the trail with them.  The problem is that my feet have grown from hiking and there was some exposed plastic in the back, inside part of the shoe - and this plastic was rubbing the back of my foot raw.  I doubled-up on socks and walked a little more gingerly and after a few days, the skin on the back of my foot hardened-up and stopped hurting.  So, I hope that won't be an issue any more.  Anyway, once I got through those two issues, things have been much better.

From AT 2012

One of the more important chores I needed to take care of while in Hanover today was pick-up a replacement part for my water filter.  The more I've used the filter, the more clogged-up it has gotten.  It's to the point now, where it takes way too long to get a clean bottle of water.  The filter came with a kind of water syringe for cleaning it out, but I left that in storeage in the interest of carrying less in my pack.  I didn't think I would need it on my hike.  Boy was I was wrong!  So, I went into an outdoor store in Manchester, VT to see if I could borrow a syringe from them, but they didn't carry this brand of filter.  No luck there.  So, then I contacted the manufacturer to see if they could mail me a syringe.  Yes, they could, but because they exclusively use UPS, they couldn't send it to a post office (which I would normally use).  So, I give them the address of an outdoor store which I found in my guidebook.  It turns out they went out of business not too long ago.  So, I don't know where my package went!  I'm pretty unhappy about that, but it's my own fault.  Now, it's time to order a new one.

I'm meeting my aunt and uncle in town today and they just arrived, so it's time to sign off.  Thanks for reading!

Shoes!

A bunch of people have asked about the footwear that I use while hiking, so I thought I'd share this...

After more than 1450 miles, my trail shoes have finally called it quits.  A few weeks ago, in the first part of Pennsylvania, the back flaps started coming off.  I went into town and got some superglue to try to get some extra life out of the shoes, but it was not enough.  Once I got into the second, rockier part of PA, things really went downhill (pun intended).  More super-glue, duct tape... nothing was keeping these flaps on.  Then I just cut one of them off so at least they wouldn't be flopping around, but without that rubber pad on the bottom, the foam between my feet and the ground has withered away to the point where my shoes are not really working the way that they're supposed to.  So, I'm tossing those bad boys out and moving onto my next pair.  The question is: what do I use?

From AT 2012

When it comes to long-distance hiking, one of the most important pieces of gear you need to think about is what you're going to wear on your feet.  Footwear generally falls into three categories: hiking boots, trail runners and plain old running shoes.  (And then you have the rare person who uses minimal footware or goes barefoot, but there aren't too many of those people.)  Old-school hikers (or those who want some protection for their ankles) will go with hiking boots.  They're heavy and their stiffness can increase your odds of blisters, but they're also more durable (in theory) than lesser shoes and they can potentially stop you from turning your ankle.  People who want lighter shoes will go with trail runners.  These shoes are a cross between running shoes and boots.  They're pretty light and they roll like running shoes, but they're a little more durable and the base of the shoe is thicker - giving your feet more protection from the trail.  And, finally, there are some people who go with plain old running shoes.  They're the lightest of the three options and they are also the cheapest.

For my hike, I went with trail runners, because in the past I've had issues with hiking boots (blisters) and I wanted something lighter as well.  The less weight you have on your feet, the less work you're doing - and over the course of 2100+ miles, your feet are doing a lot of moving.  So, less is more.  And I don't think I need the extra ankle support because I did quite a bit of running prior to my hike, which should hopefully mean my ankles are decently strong.

My trail runners lasted a long time.  Most other hikers are on their second, third or fourth pair of shoes, whereas I was using the original pair up until now.  I'm considering using an old pair of running shoes I have in storage, but I'm worried they might not make it to ME.  So, the question is: buy a new pair of trail runners or chance it on something lighter that I already have sitting around?

New York: Yuck

I'm in Kent, Conn right now, waiting to get picked-up by a friend who's taking me down to ATL for a wedding.  I just crossed the border into Conn this morning, and I couldn't be more glad to be done with New York.

I ended-up staying in Vernon, NJ an extra night (after my last post) because there was a heat wave going through.  I woke-up, went outside, and immediately decided I wasn't up for hiking.  So, I stay another night, get up early the next day and head back out to the trail.  This was day # 2 of a 3 day heat wave, so I knew it was not going to be fun, but I felt anxious just sitting around, watching the 90's VHS tapes that the church had available (Independence Day was much better when I saw it as a kid).  I climb out of town, sweating like crazy and the hike turns out to be not so bad once I hit the top - lots of shade, lots of cool stream water.  But that all changed once I hit the border with NY.

Immediately after crossing the border, the quality of the trail got pretty bad (lots of overgrown grass / poison ivy), the trail spent a lot of time in the sun and worst of all: almost all of the water sources in my guidebook were either dry, stagnant or non-existant.  Not a good first impression!  And it was the same story for the next few days as well: really hot and not enough water. 

Fortunatly, some really nice (and thoughtful) people set-out gallons of water on the trail where I needed it the most.  And one day when I didn't think I could go any further, I'm crossing the road and a truck pulls over and asks how I'm doing.  Me (zombie-like): thirsty... I am.  Him: want a frozen gatorade?  Me (less zombie-like): uh, yeah!  And that's the story of the most refeshing drink ever drank. I have never enjoyed a drink more than I enjoyed that delicious, delicious frozen slushie of heavenly nectar.  So, yeah, that helped a lot.  And then later that night, the same guy hiked-up to the shelter where a couple hikers and I were sleeping, and he had some oreos and soda.  What a guy!  He had hiked the trail in 2000, and ever since then he's spent a few weeks a year traveling up and down the trail giving trail magic to people when they need it the most.  Thanks Patio (the guy's trailname)!

After climbing Bear Mtn (which was super crowded with people) and crossing the Hudson river, we entered Deli Country.  Every day, the trail would pass at least one road that had a deli within walking-distance (< 1 mi).  That was pretty nice.  It gave me something to look forward to every day.  I ran out of energy-drink powder last week, so the only way I've been able to get my caffeine fix recently has been to get to a gas station or deli and get my coffee on.  Nothing makes hiking easier than a full belly and a good amt of caffeine in your system!

From AT 2012

When I first got into NY, the issue was heat.  Then, two days ago, it became rain.  Rain is normally not an issue recently.  It lowers the air temp and it cools my body as well.  It's refreshing - in small amounts, that is.  I was roughly an hour away from my daily deli visit and this thunderstorm rolls in and unleashes a huge amt of rain.  Within minutes, the trail turned into a river/lake and my clothes and shoes were done for the day.  If I hike vigorously enough, I can dry out my shirt and shorts, but once my shoes and socks get soaked, there's no coming back from that.  It's just: slosh, slosh, slosh.  It feels really gross.  And on top of that, I had a close-encounter with lightning.  I was in the middle of the forest.  I wasn't exposed at all.  But the lightning still found me.  It was maybe 30 yrds away and it really scared the crap out of me.  I saw it and I felt the air-shock from it.  Close call!

So, yeah, I didn't have a great time in NY.  It could be the poor trail maintenance / water conditions, but it's also probably to do with the weather I was experiencing as I was going through the state.  Either way, I'm glad to be out of there.

I've also been experiencing a bit of burn-out / boredom with my hike. The field of hikers has started to thin-out, so I've been seeing fewer and fewer people on the trail.  I'm leaving the trail for a few days, which should let the rest of the pack catch-up.  And it will also give me a chance to appreciate what I have out here.  Perfect timing!

Look What I Just Ate #2

(This was almost two weeks ago, but still worth mentioning...)

Harpers Ferry is considered the psychological half-way point of the trail, but the true half-way point of the trail isn't for another 70 miles after Harpers Ferry, in a PA state park named Pine Grove Furnace.  It is here that hikers can truly celebrate their progress and what better way to do that than by eating a carton of ice cream.

It is a well-known tradition for thru-hikers who make it this far to stop at the state park's general store and pick up a half-gallon of ice cream and attempt to eat it as quickly as possible.  (The store calls the container a half-gallon, but in reality it's only 75% of a half-gallon.  There were a few hikers who went back and got extra ice cream, but I was happy with my fake half-gallon.)  I picked chocolate-chip cookie dough.  I considered getting vanilla because it had fewer calories (only 2000!) and thus would have been easier to consume, but I figured that would get too boring.

From AT 2012

I finished my ice cream and it wasn't too tough, actually.  Another hiker and I timed how long it took us and we both finished in about 37 minutes.  One guy who had passed through before us finished his in 7 minutes.  Another guy had such an appetite for ice cream that after he finished, he went back inside and ate a second "half-gallon".  I had had enough ice cream, but I also figured I ought to eat something else to balance out the sugar - so I went back in and got some fries and a cheeseburger and after some more rest, I was ready to start hiking again.  Yay.

New Jersey: Not That Bad

I'm in Vernon, NJ right now, taking a little time off from hiking.  There's an old church in town which makes their basement available to hikers in exchange for a donation, and they've got shower + laundry + internet.  Bam.

The trail runs about 2.5 miles from town and doesn't have any shoulders so when I got to the road a few hrs ago, I stuck my thumb out.  The last time I tried hitching was in Hamburg, PA.  I stood by a busy road for a good 25 minutes and nobody even slowed down.  It was raining and the visibility wasn't good, so I think that was why I had no luck, but it still made me doubt my hitching chances.  Is it my beard?  Maybe it's reached creepy stage... I don't know.  Anyway, I tried again today and got a ride within 5 minutes.  And it was from a young (20-something) girl by herself.  It was super-nice of her.  I guess I'm not too creepy-looking after all.

I've been in NJ for three and a half days now.  I didn't have too many expectations.  I had heard that there were a lot of bears - but that was about it.  The second half of PA was pretty rough, because the trail was full of lots of sharp rocks, which made walking slow and painful.  I had assumed that the rocks would stop once I got to NJ, but when I got to Delaware Water Gap (where the trail crosses from PA to NJ) I talked to some rangers there and they told me that the rocks would continue into NJ.  Dang!  But the reality is that the trail is quite a bit easier once you cross the river.

It's been different from previous parts of the trail.  Before, you could go long stretches of the trail and really feel like you were in the middle of the wilderness.  Not here.  Instead, you cross a road every mile or so, and you see a lot of backyards with barking dogs.  It sounds not very nice, but I actually welcome the new feel.  I enjoy the diversity that the trail offers.  Today, there was a mile section of the trail that was actually on a boardwalk covering a huge bog.  That was nice.  And yesterday, the trail took us to the high point memorial marker which looks like a miniature version of the Washington monument in DC and stands on the highest point in NJ.



Another thing that's nice about the lack of wilderness here is that it means you're never too far away from food and the comforts of civilization.  Yesterday, I was running out of food and thinking that it was going to be a hungry day and I crossed a road only to look over and see a coffee+sandwich shop.  Yes!  And the same thing happened again this morning: I was out of food and in need of a resupply and there was a general store about half-mile from the trail.

When I arrived at the church earlier, there was a note that said that there was a pizza shop in town which offered all-you-can-eat pizza.  It was a pretty cool place.  It felt very New Jersey.  They had the yankees (vs braves) game on.  Everyone was talking way louder than they needed to.  And there were a few older men who may or may not be involved in the garbage industry / mob.  I liked it.

From AT 2012

Before I sign off, I also want to mention that I met up with my aunt (Joan) and my grandma last week in Palmerton, PA.  They met me there because of scheduling reasons but also because it's somewhat close to where my aunt lives (western NJ).  They picked me up from the trail and stuffed me full of pizza, cannolis, cookies, apples and beer.  When I got back on the trail, I was probably carrying a good 10 lbs worth of food - which was pretty tough b/c the climb out of the gap was one of the hardest climbs on the entire trail.  Once I got to the top, I decided I needed to get my pack weight down and the only way I could do that was to start giving away some of my food.  I couldn't possibly eat any more cannolis and they probably would have good bad soon, so when I finally came across some other thru-hikers, I gave them some of the strangest trail magic you can get: apples and cannolis.  I was happy to drop some weight and I know they were super happy too.  Thanks for everything, Joan and Grammy.


That's all for now.  Thanks for reading!

Updates from a taco bell

Sorry for the lack of updates recently.  I haven't spent much time in town the past couple weeks and when I've been in town the internet situation hasn't been good.  I'm in hamburg PA right now at a taco bell.  It's raining outside and I'm drying off and taking advantage of their wifi.

The past couple weeks on the trail have been really great.  Last week the weather was cool, which made walking much more enjoyable.  Sometimes when its hot out, it feels like work just getting down the trail.  But once I got past harpers ferry and into maryland, things changed.  The terrraine leveled out, the quality of the trail improved and it seems like everyone wass in a better mood (me especially).

I've had a number of humorous (to me and other hikers anyway) encounters with non-thru-hikers recently:

*a couple days ago I passed a few young kids (~10 yrs old) who appeared to be hiking by themselves (their dads were maybe 15 min behind them).  One of the kids stops to chat with me: him- "hi.  Are you a thru-hiker?" Me-"yup" him- "ok.... good job".

*the day before, I was in duncannon at the grocery store and a mom and two little girls passed me.  Very audibly, one of the girls points at me and says "look, mom, there's a funny man".  The mom's jaw drops and she tells me "oh I'm so sorry.  She doesn't usually say things like that".  I guess my hair situation might be getting a little out of control.

*the day before yesterday, I came to a viewpoint where I found three highschool-age kids hanging out.  These guys were very clearly not sober and they were flipping out that I was hiking as far as I was.  "Dude, we thought only like 3 people have ever finished the trail and the rest died trying".  "Man, you're like a national hero or something.  You need to be on the news".  Playing along, I told them that I don't carry any food.  "I catch all of my meals with my bare hands."

* at a chinese buffet last week, I got the following fortune: "tomorrow morning, take a left turn as soon as you leave home".  I did NOT turn left the next morning and I will forever wonder what great fortunes I missed out on.

From AT 2012

I also had an embarrasing accident the other day.  I was walking down side of the road out of the town of Boiling Springs PA.  There was a sign on the side of the road talking about the history of the area and I figured I was capable of walking and reading at the same time.  Apparently not!  The was a chunk of shoulder missing and my left foot landed right in it.  The next thing I knew, I was sprawled out on my chest about 10 ft from the road.  Carrying all the weight on my back meant I had quite a bit of momentum once the falling process started.  After I got up and treated my wounds, I had a good chuckle.  After spending so much time walking over rough terraine, the one time I fall forward is on a road of all places.  No more walking and reading for me!

That's all for now.  I head into NJ this weekend.  The next few days are supposed to be especially difficult, so I look forward to crossing the border. 

Thanks for reading!

Good Bye Shenandoah

Today was my last day hiking in Shenandoah.  I entered the park Friday morning - just as Memorial day weekend was getting started - and am leaving today, a day after the crowds have left the park and gone back to their jobs/regular lives.

I got a wake-up call on my first day.  I heard through the grapevine that another hiker ("Sasha") had been taken to the hospital b/c he had been either bitten or stung by something and had collapsed and temporarily lost his vision.  I had spent some time with him and his hiking partner ("Miss Maggie") over the last few days, and it was scary to hear about something like that happening to someone I kinda knew.  Needless to say, I was watching my steps very closely for the rest of the day.

The next day got off to a bit of a strange start.  About two hours into my hike, I come to an overlook with a truck and some pretty happy hikers behind it.  Apparently, there was a former hiker who has putting together a documentary about thru-hikers, and he wanted to get interviews - and he knew the best way to get people to cooperate was through their stomaches.  He had cookies, bagels, soda and lots of beer.  A few other hikers and I got a little carried away with the beer, and when I eventually left, I had a little bit of trouble hiking straight.

I also saw lots of wildlife while I was in the park.  I lost count of the number of black bears I saw - six or seven, I think.  Tons of dear too.  They were not the normal kind who run off as soon as they hear you.  They lived their lives in a national park, so they are not as scared.  Another hiker said he almost bumped into one while hiking.  And I also saw my first rattlesnake too.  I saw it today.  Fortunately, I heard it before I saw it - but it still gave me a scare.  He was curled-up and not interested in moving, so I had to leave the trail to safely walk around him.

From AT 2012

It was kinda strange hiking in Shenandoah.  There were tons of families and day hikers sharing the trails with us, instead of just the normal crowd of thru-hikers and section-hikers.  And the trail was pretty easy too.  Because the trails get more traffic, I think they are also maintained a little more too.  It made it easier to cover more distance.  Hopefully, the transition to non-NPS trails will not be too difficult!