Jeff's Hike

100 Mile Picture

2008-09-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Appalachian Trail
Caution
There are no places to obtain supplies or get help until Abol Bridge 100 miles north. Do not attempt this section unless you have a minimum of 10 days supplies and are fully equiped. This is the longest wilderness section of the entire AT and should not be underestimated.
Good Hiking!
MATC

Sunrise at Antler's Campsite.

Rocko beat Philly is Rock, Paper, Scissor and won the right to blow the horn. This alerted the hostel to send a boat over for us.

Hangman with his 1lb deluxe Cheeseburger.

Philly and me fording a brook.

Baxter State Park

2008-09-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Baxter State Park is unlike all the other parks. Most of the land was donated by Percival Baxter, and he also set up a trust fund which means that the park does not rely on any outside funding. The park was set up to allow for the protection of the environment to be more important than allowing people access. As thru hikers we were able to enter without the normal out of state charge, but it became the one and only campsite that I had to pay for in the entire trip. It was also the only night I started a fire. We had been given some marshmallows and graham crackers, so after the acquisition of chocolate we made s'mores.
The next morning we started off nice and early to try and beat the Labor Day Weekend rush. Hangman was on the trail at 6:30 with his friend, while Rocko, Philly and I started at 7am. We quickly caught Hangman, his friend and the other 7 people who had started earlier than us. We had left our packs at the Ranger Station with notes for the people picking us up on where to meet us. When we hit tree line and started rock climbing, we were very happy to have left our big packs behind. After about a mile of tough rock scrambling and some views we made it into the clouds. From there it was an easy walk to the summit, although we were unable to tell how close we were until we reached the summit.
It is hard to describe the mixture of emotions. I had been hiking toward this destination for 5 and a half months. Now I was standing at the sign. I had seen pictures of people in front of this sign throughout the trip. Now I was there. At times it had seemed so far away, too far away to contemplate. Then in the 100-mile Wilderness it finally felt reachable. There is a mixture of happiness that you have attained your goal, and sadness that you no longer have that goal to strive for.
We spent close to an hour up there, taking pictures, drinking beer and talking to people. Hangman's friend had turned around at tree line and Hangman caught back up to us at the summit. Everyone on the summit had climbed up themselves, and everyone knew about the trail. It was obvious that we had just completed the whole thing and we were almost celebrities. Finally the cloud and the mist and cold got to us and we started to make our way down.
We went across the Knife's Edge Ridge. The 1.1 miles took us an hour and a half. We were in a cloud most of the way so it was harder to appreciate the shear drop offs on either side. This was 1.1 miles of boulder scrambling with a path that at times was only 3 feet wide with 1,000 foot drop offs on either side. A truly impressive way to come down off the mountain.
From there we went down the Helon Taylor trail and arrived just about the same time my parents did, who met us with fresh fruit and cookies. When I tried to hug them, I was turned away with a handshake. No more physical contact until I had showered. The drive to Bangor was cold since we had to keep the windows down the whole way.
After a shower and my long awaited hugs my parents took Philly and me out to dinner. We went to a brew pub with great beer and seafood. I was able to have the meal I had been dreaming about, clam chowder, mussels, lobster, fries and a brownie sundae. We even ran into several people we had seen hiking that day who bought us beer. I was able to enjoy my 15 minutes of fame.

Rain

2008-09-02T13:59:00.001-07:00

From Vermont until part way through Maine we were rained on everyday. Just under a month straight. The heaviest rain was in New Hampshire and several streams that used to be easy rock hops were now tough fords.

At times the entire trail was under water. this is not a stream, it is the trail.

In several places there were log bridges oing over the muddy sections. These bridges were frequently underwater.

When the trail was too close to a brook, sometimes the brook took over.

This brook was not supposed to be a ford.

100 Mile Wilderness

2008-09-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

After a 5x5x5x5 (pancakes, eggs, bacon and home fires) breakfast at Shaw's and a resupply for 7 days Rocko, Philly and I were ready for the 100 Mile Wilderness. In the past, this was a 100 mile stretch with no access points and no resupplies. However some of the private logging roads are now open for public use and there are 2 hostels, one five miles in and the other 70 miles in. There are signs at each end warning people to make sure that they have at least ten days worth of food. At this point my pack was not big enough for ten days of food, nor did I want to carry that much. Also after hiking for 2,000 miles in the last 5 months, we were confident that we could hike 100 miles in around 7 days without pushing ourselves. We started hiking with Rusty Rat and Meat Hook, but they were planning on one less day through the wilderness, so they quickly moved ahead of us. With our late start, but still a day ahead of my original schedule we took an easy 10 miles to the second lean-to.
The next morning we met up with Hangman. Hangman had hiked through the Whites with Philly, but was planning on summiting a day after me. I had wondered when we would catch and then pass him. This was also the first of two days with mountains in the wilderness, and we were not moving very fast. We did not reach our destination, only 15.6 miles away, until about 6:30pm. Part of the reason was the good weather, which made it easier to take long breaks on the moutain tops. Our destination ended up being one of the worst lean-tos in Maine. However that day I learned what was behind the "Green Glass Door" and why I like coffee, but I do not like tea. Both of those are riddles that Rocko tried to torment us with.
The next day was another mountainous day and we were hoping for our first glimpse of Katahdin. There were other mountains earleri in Maine that were supposed to have views, but the visibility had never been good enough. Finally at the end of the day on White Cap mountain we had our first view of Katahdin. It was in the clouds. We finished our cold day at a lean-to with a cold stream that had a pool big enough for bathing. I was the only one smart/stupid enough to go in and wash off.
The next day started off cold but warmed up and did not have a mountain in our way. We cruised 19.6 to a beautiful campsite on a pond. Philly and I swam on the sunny side of the point and enjoyed a privy with curtains and a sink. However, the sink had neither a faucet nor a drain. The next morning we had a gorgeous sunrise over the pond. Getting to the campsite put us in position to arrive at White House Landing in time for lunch. They have a very strict 11-1 lunch time, so we were aiming for getting there around 10:45. From the AT there is a blue blaze trail that leads you 1.2 miles to a dock on a lake with an air horn. You blow one short blast, and only one, and very short, and they send a boat over to pick you up. Hangman, Philly and I each had a 1lb burger. We all ordered the deluxe version. It was 9 for the burger, 10 if you want cheese or 11 if you also want lettuce and tomatoe. Afterwards we were all still hungry and split a pizza with Rocko. With the $3 per person for the boat ride it ended up being a very expensive lunch, but fun. With the return boat ride we were left a mile closer to the AT. We then continued, slowly, onto another lean-to near a lake for some more swimming.
On our last day in the wilderness we went around Rainbow lake and then onto Rainbow ledges with lots of good blueberries and a very impressive view of Katahdin. We were now 20 trail miles away and it started to look very intimidating. then on to Hurd Brook lean-to which was the one and only time I slept in a shelter that still had the "baseball bat" design for a sleeping platform. Instead of planks, we were sleeping on round saplings. Fortunately, it was hard to tell the difference under my thermarest.
The next morning it was an easy 3.5 out of the wilderness and to the Abol Bridge campground. I managed to walk out of the wilderness with almost no food. But I knew there was beer waiting at the campground, just not a good selection. We all drank some beer, had lunch and made sure we had enough food to get up and over the summit. We also realized that it was bear season when a pickup truck pulled in with two kids on lawn chairs in the bed, next to a dead black bear.
Hangman had been in touch with his friend picking him up and decided to that he would be able to summit with us. So the four of us, with a nice buzz going, entered Baxter State Park.

Mountains of Maine

2008-09-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

Rocko and I on top of Baldplate Mtn, 3,662 ft

Bigelow Mtn, Avery Peak, 3,850 ft. Philly spent a rainy night in the watchtower.

Bigelow Mtn the following day, still in the clouds.

Moxie Bald Mtn, 2629 ft

A view of Mt Katahdin 5,268 ft from Rainbow ledges.

Mountains of New Hampshire

2008-09-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

Shadow Cast on top of Mt Lincoln, 5,089 ft

Me on Top of South Kinsman, 4,358 ft

South Twin Mtn, 4,902 ft

Mt Webster, 3,910 ft

Mt. Madison 5,363 ft.

Blown Away

2008-09-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

Rocko and I left Stratton together with a slightly sketchy ride. As we were walking to the post office another hiker with a car asked us if we were heading back to the trail. We said yes, but we had to go to the post office first. When we left the post office he was waiting in the parking lot and again offered a ride. He was a nice older section hiker, we were just weirded out that he had been waiting in the post office parking lot for us. I guess that you could also consider it very nice since he was going out of his way to give us a ride.
That night it had rained heavily, but the forecast was for the weather to clear. It was very cloudy and windy that day, although the wind did seem to be blowing the clouds away, slowly. I had just planned on getting to the first lean-to that night so when we got there for lunch and pushed on, all the extra miles put us ahead of schedule. We went over the Bigelows which most people were saying was the last really hard stretch until Katahdin. As we hiked over the ridge we were almost blown away, literally. It was possibly the windiest day on the hike. Several times I was knocked over a step or two, and once I was blown over. However, we had views, we just did not stand around too long enjoying them. We made it over the main ridge to Safford Notch Campsite for the night. We arrived late and the tentsites left were not the best. I was unable to set up my tent and I had to cowboy camp, or sleep under the stars. It was the coldest night for me in months and I was very glad I had my warm sleeping bag.
The next day Rocko and I decided to hike 22 miles. This would put us at a shelter with a gorgeous view of a lake, and right next to a sport camp where we could get pancakes in the morning. The terrain was nice and easy, for a change. We passed the 2,000 mile mark. At the next road crossing someone had spray painted "2,000 mi" in the road. After taking pictures someone in a camper drove by. I thought, stop and give us soda. He stopped right next to the sign and asked us how far we had come. We replied, "2,000 miles. You can see the sign in the road." He asked us several other questions, but did not look at the sign or give us any soda. We continued on and arrived at the lean-to around 6. We signed up for our 12 pancake breakfast in the morning and enjoyed dinner on the lake watching the sunset.
The following morning we enjoyed our 12 patriotic pancakes. They were red, white and blue from raspberries, apples and blueberries, and were absolutely amazing. As usual I left full, but nowhere near stuffed. Rocko took 4 for the road. Now, on to the crossing of the Kennebec river. The official trail is the ferry. The Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) hires someone to run a canoe ferry across the river. It is a wide crossing with a variable flow dam upstream, which makes it the most dangerous crossing on the trail. We arrived soon after the ferry opened for the day and Rocko paddled while I took pictures. Later on that day Rocko's knee started bothering her and then she broke her toe. Instead of pushing on she decided to stop for the day, then get a ride and meet me in Monson. That way she could let her knee rest and still finish with me. I pushed on and hiked with Rusty Rat and Meat Hook, a father and son team from Nova Scotia.
Since I was ten miles ahead of schedule at that point I decided to hike into Monson the next day and meet up with Filadelfia who was waiting for me. Rocko also made it to town at the same time. On the way into Monson there is a blue-blaze trail that elimnates the need to hitch into town and skips 3.3 miles of trail. I took this trail to cut a 22 miles day into a 21 mile day. Then I got a ride into town which shortened the day by another 1.5 miles. So for those of you scoring at home, I did not hike the entire 2,176 miles of trail. With the amount I cut off here and in other places, I only hiked about 2,172. Please do not report me to the Appalchian Trail Club which certifies thru-hikers. Although since they give out 2,000 miler patches, I think I am OK.
In Monson that night I went out to the AYCE fish fry. In retrospect, not a great idea. I have not had that much fried food in a long time, and Shaw's, where I was staying has a famous AYCE breakfast. My stomach told me over the next couple of days that that much fried food is not good. I was also only able to get one extra plate. Oh well.

Katahdin

2008-09-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Relief, exhaustion, supplication.

Ecstasy, excitement, accomplishment.

Conquest and stupidity. L to R, Filadelfia Greenberg, Me, Hangman, Rocko

Refreshment and celebration.

The Knife's Edge Ridge on the way down.

Another Cloudy Summit

2008-08-31T02:53:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Bangor, ME. I summitted yesterday with Rocko, Filadelfia Greenberg and Hangman. In keeping with the rest of the trip after gorgeous weather through the 100 mile wilderness we summitted Katahdin completely in a cloud. I will be driving back to NYC with my parents today and then staying in NYC for about 10 days. During that time I will update my blog on my travels from Stratton to Katahdin and add pictures.
Right now it just feels a little weird, like I am taking a zero day, but not really. I think in a couple of days it will sink in that I have actually finished. I have been hiking almost every day for the last 5 and a hlaf months and it feels a bit weird to stop. For the longest time Katahdin was this big thing, very fay away, then it was close, and finally I was on top. Now it is in the past. However while on trail I had been focused on finshing and being able to stop, I am still half thinking that I need to pack my bag and start hiking. Instead I will enjoy a continental breakfast and get in a car.
Now that I am back in the 21 century I would love to get back in contact, so feel free to email me at berlissj@hotmail.com or call at 305-360-1339, and I will actaully respond within a reasonable amount of time.

The Hardest Mile

2008-08-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Stratton, ME 1,987 miles from Springer and 187 to Katahdin. I am staying at a hostel with Rocko after having left Shadow behind this morning. It was a combination or personality conflicts finally going beyond the point of no return and him not being able keep the pace I now need to follow. So while I am showered and curently sitting in a towel waiting for my clothes to get clean, he is taking a zero day, recovering at the last shelter.
We got a late start in the rain from Gorham after taking care of mail and hiked 11 not too bad miles to the first shelter. This was one of the few shelters with a view. However it was raining. From there we went on into Maine. We were now in the promised land. However the milage was tough. We arroved at the shelter before Mahoosuc Notch and realized it had taken us until almost 3pm to hike 11 miles. We decided that with the rain we had seen we would not attempt the hardest mile on the AT. The next morning we went into Mahoosuc Notch and up Mahoosuc Arm. For the five miles from shelter to shelter we took 4 and a half hours with one major fall. Luckily it only resulted in bruised shins. Mahoosuc Notch is a mile of crawling over, around and under boulders and crevices. At that shelter I realized my water filter had fallen out during the traverse through the notch. I left a note in the sheter journal about it with my phone number. I just received a phone call from someone who had seen it 15 feet down an unreachable crevice. It is a sacrifice to the trail gods. Fortunately I had enough iodine to get to the next town. We then pushed on, but had to call it again after about 12 miles for the day. At the road before the shelter we were all feeling a bit down and we took a bit of a long break. Then the park ranger drove into the parking lot and offered us sodas. He told us about the wonderful trail magic that took place earlier in the day. We were a bit saddened, but then that church group came back and reheated chili for us and made the day all better.
The next day we saw something unusual, the sun. We went up and over the Baldplates and I was able to see Mt. Washington for the first time. We were now 70 trail miles away. I did not see it at all in New Hampshire, even when I went over it. It was gorgeous to be in the sun again and see the beuatiful Maine landscape.
The next day Rocko again had to go into town for a mail drop and Shadow and I continued on. Instead of coming back to the trail on the same road, Rocko went ten miles ahead so Shadow and I had to catch her. We were unable to that day. We had another tough 12.8 miles to the next shelter and when we got there Shadow took his pack off and immediately fell asleep. At this point I had slowed down too much to wait for him to get better. I needed to go further to be able to get in and out of Rangeley the next day to get back on schedule. So I needed to push on, and Shadow refused to stop despite his obvious need for rest. We camped that night near the next stream and I let him know that I could no longer afford to wait for him at any point. That night we recieved a couple of drops of rain to end my sunny day streak at 1. That is correct, only one day without rain since I crossed into Vermont.
In Rangeley the next day we met up with Rocko and waited out a rainstorm while eating lunch. We continued out of town to the shelter sponsored by L.L. Bean. This shelter had a privy with two seats and a cribbage board between the two seats. Unfortunately no one else at the shelter knew how to play. I left last that morning and ended up at the next shelter before Shadow and Rocko. I got very worried and left messages with several southbounders for them. It turns out that they took a wrong turn and I passed them when they were off trail. Shadow came into the shelter in a foul mood and looking horrible so I left him alone for a while. Later we had our last blow up and we are now going our seperate ways. I left early the next morning without a goodbye and I am now listening to the rain outside while I am watching the olympics inside. Only one more town stop before Katahdin

Into the Clouds, Part II

2008-08-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

My last entry on my saga through the white (or cloudy) mountains of New Hampshire ended with me, Shadow and Rocko at Zealand Falls Hut for the night. From there we went on to Mizpah Hut. Rocko did not make it that night since she needed to pick up a mail drop and ended up staying at the campgrounds. That day ended with one of the two climbs that I will absolutely never go down, and definitely not in the rain. The Webster-Jackson Trail was hard enough ascending in the rain, do not go the other way. Mizpah is a great hut for a thru hiker. They have a library. So Shadow, Dartman and myself hung out up there during dinner, out of sight and out of mind. We then had a lovely ham dinner with the croo before retiring to the library for bed. By sleeping up there we were also able to sleep through breakfast. That extra hour and a half of rest was well appreciated.
Our next day was the Presidential tranverse. This is the one day that we had been hoping for good weather on. At least we did not get rained on. We hiked in a cloud across all the southern Persidentials and to the top of Mt. Washington. We took lunch up there with all the people who drove and took the railway up the mountain. We even wrote postcards and mailed them. From there we went on to the Northern Presidentials. As we got into the cols between the peaks we finally dropped out of the clouds and were able to enjoy some of the lovely scenery. Suprisingly enough the AT does not go over the summits, except for Washington. But there are short side trails or loops to all of them. We chose to skip all of the optional peaks since they were in the clouds. As we approached Adams, I really wanted to go up, but I was hearing thunder, so we pressed on on Madison Spring Hut. This is the hut with the friendliest crew. I even went to Carleton with one of them. Although he was a freshman when I was a senior so I did not know him, but we had friends in common. There were four other southbounders at the hut that night, but our work for stay was a thru hiker program. So for about an hour we talked witht the guests and answered their questions. Then we went back to the kitchen and had a beer with the croo.
The next day from Madison to Carter Huts was another rainy miserable day. We had debated not staying at Cartern Notch Hut since we had been hearing that they were very unfriendly to hikers. However we were able to get a note of introduction from the Madison Croo, so we decided to chance it. First we had to go over the Wildcats. The Wildcat Ridge trail is the other trail I will never go down. Especially not in the rain. There is a gondola, if you have the choice this is a much better option. When we got to the hut we handed our letter to the hut master and we were let in. Although the hutmaster did live up to her reputation of not being friendly (the ice queen), and it was the worst food of all the huts. It is amazing how far a little salt can go in making food edible.
Now we were out of the whites and had a relatively smooth ride into Gorham. We did not go all the way at once since we needed to pick up mail and we wanted to avoid two nights in town. We stopped short and the next day strolled into town and a day of watching the Olympics and drinking beer.

Into the Clouds, part 1

2008-08-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Gorham, NH 1,878 miles from Springer and only 297 to Katahdin. This leaves me with 19 days to do the 292 miles to Baxter State Park and summit on the 30th. So I need to average 15.5 miles a day for the next three weeks. Hopefully it should not be too hard, but the weather recently has been awful. I have been rained on everyday since I got into Vermont. Through the White Mountains we were either getting rained or, or walking in a cloud or both. Very few mountains gave us any kind of view. It also looks like the rain will not be stoppping any time soon. So I am ready to get wet and stay wet.
Update on Shadow Cast. He ended up spending two full nights in the hospital in Plymouth, and then we spent the next night in town to rest up a little more (John and Cathy, thank you very much). He left with a presciption for an anti-biotic which is messing with his stomach, and a steroid, which is messing with his mood. He has been able to make the miles we need to do, but is slower than his normal self. He is almost finished with the medications, and he hopes to be back to full speed in a day or two.
When we left Plymouth we took an easy day to the base of Mt. Moosilauke. This was our first big climb since Virginia. The next day we went up the easy side and had some views, but we also saw a big rain cloud moving in and did not stay too long. Coming down we had our first taste of wooden steps attached to the rock face. This was the first of many horrible descents in the Whites. We then puched on through Kinsman Notch and over the never ending Mt. Wolf before stopping at Eliza Brook Shelter. It had been raining the last two hours of the hike. After we arrived several more Southbounders showed up and we had 7 in a six person shelter. Then the heavens opened up.
The next morning Eliza Brook was a hip deep ford. The night before it had been a rock hop. We hiked over the log bridges that take you over mud pits where our ankles were under water. We then continued over the Kinsmans and past Lonesome Lake Hut (great pancakes) and into Lincoln for a night at Chet's Place. Chet hosts through hikers in his garage and is one of the nicest people around. He was injured in a stove explosion the day before he was going to start his thru hike, and has made an amazing recovery. At Chet's we met back up with Rocko who had been instrumental in convincing Shadow to get medical help.
From Franconia Notch we started our hut to hut trip. The huts in the White Mountains are run by the Appalchian Mountain Club (AMC), and offer food and lodging. They will also let two or more thru hikers to "work for stay." We then get leftovers from dinner and breakfast and sleep in the common room. Our first stay was at Greenleaf Hut. We went up and over the Franconia Ridge in a cold, windy cloud and then went the mile off the trail after Lafayette down to the hut. Although we were too early, they kindly let us stay. Normally they want you to arrive after 3, we were there at 1:40. We did not know what to expect, but the food was good and plentiful, and they kept looking for more work for us to do. In the morning we finally had to say that we needed to hike and had to leave.
That day we decided to skip Galehead and go on to Zealand Falls. The first 7.7 to Galehead was very tough and cold and wet and we were behind schedule when we arrived at Galehead for lunch. Their soup was not hot, so I passed and just had my own snacks. From there we cruised to Zealand and arrived at 5:55, when dinner is served at 6. They said their bosss was there that night and they are only technically allowed to have 2 thru hikers, and we were numbers 6 and 7, but they don't want to turn anyone away, so they let up stay
To be continued when I have more time.

Shelter Journals

2008-07-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

Most of the shelters along the trail, as well as stores that cater to hikers and some points of interest, have journals. These are a great way for hikers to keep track of one another. This way you can see who is ahead of you and how far. It is not completely accurate, I have been known to get the date wrong from time to time and not everyone signs in every journal. Some people do not sign in at all. People also leave messages for those behind them or recommendations on places to stay or restaurants to eat in. If a business pisses off a hiker word will get out about it very quickly. Not all of the messages are that interesting. Most people say whether they are stopping for the night, or if it just a quick break, and do a quick synopsis of their day. Others simply right "in for the night," or "stopped for lunch." These are pointless to me. They are great for finding out when someone came through and whether they are going faster than you or not. But it is not very satisfying to read. Since I am not carrying a book, I am looking for something more entertaining. This is why I also try to be more entertaining in my entries. I try not to say anything about the weather or the trail. You can tell if it was hot or raining that day based on other peoples' entries. Also why talk about the terrain, everyone who is reading it just did the same miles, or is about to. It is also annoying to brag about how many miles you have done that day. I am happy that you were able to do 17 miles before lunch, but do you have fun?
When people have passed me, I have often heard them say that they have been following along with what I have been writing or that they particularly liked one entry or another. Several of my posts, such as the cult post, started out as a journal entry. But for the most part they are very different from my blog. The blog is to keep the people off the trail informed about what I am doing and what life is like on the trail. The journal entries are for people on the trail. They know what trail life is like, so I talk about other things. I have told lots of stories unrelated to hiking. There is another Nekton employee on the trail, so I have been telling boat stories for him. Recently Shadow, Filidelfia and I have been making up stories about the horrible things that Shadow has done to South bounders. All in the hopes that we can make some people laugh.

Trail Families

2008-07-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

One thing you have on the AT are trail families. While most people start the hike on their own, they rarely hike the whole way on their own. Sometimes you meet up with one person and hike with them for a couple of days, other times you get together with a whole group and spend several months with them.
They are many advantages to hiking in a group. When you get into a town you can split a shuttle or a hotel room several ways and make it more affordable. Also if something goes wrong while in the woods you have multiple people to help you out. You also have a support network of people who are keeping you motivated and on trail. You also then have a wider network of contacts for places to stay along the trail.
Trail families tend to be fairly fluid. Since you did not start the trail together there is not as much pressure to finish together. If people have different speeds or different needs, they do not have to stay together. However it gets harder and harder to enter a trail family as you go further. Some tend to close up once they have formed, or you have people who have hiked together for months and no matter what an additional person will feel like an outsider.
Some families take on names, I have been in the Kielbasa Klub at one point and I am currently in Aggressive Male Nudity (Amen). A friend who hike last year was in the Iron Chefs (because of their cooking skills), and currently on trail we have the 4 Sisters, The Invisible Hillbillies, The Pain Train and The Main train to name a few.

Unexpected Stop

2008-07-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Plymouth, NH which is not right on the trail. This was not an intentional stop, but a necessary one. On Saturday Shadow was stung or bitten by something. We are not sure what, and we did not think we will ever found out. This bite became infected and yesterday Shadow came down with a fever and chills. After some discussion and argument, Filadelfia, Rocko and I succeeded in convincing Shadow that he needed to get off the trail that night and into a hospital. After a five mile hike, the last three of which was with head lamps, Shadow and I were met at the trail head and driven 25 miles into Plymouth. On the way into town I was able to call the parents of the person I stayed with in Hanover and arrange a place to stay the night. Shadow was admitted and given antibiotics and told to spend the night. He will be staying tonight as well, but is doing much better. We are currently trying to figure out where and when we will meet back up with Filadelfia and Rocko and continue on.

3 nights with the Twelve Tribes

2008-07-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Hanover, NH 1735 miles from Springer and 441 miles to Katahdin. I am staying with a friend of a friend just outside of Hanover. Right now I am happy to be out of the rain. It rained every single day I was in Vermont. Vermont was a state known for muddy trails, and all the rain did not help at all. Because of the rain we decided to spend a couple of nights based out of Rutland. We had heard that the Back Home Again cafe had a free hostel that provided dinner and breakfast. The cafe is run by the Twelve Tribes community in Rutland, www.twelvetribes.com. Contrary to the title, they are not a cult. They are a community based on love and their own particular brand of Christianity. They also provide a large amount of good food. We st around and talked about their community and way they had given up everything to join. On Wednesday while walking in the we called them and arraigned a pickup. We spent Wednesday night with them, and then on Thursday got a ride back to where we left the trail and slack packed back to Rutland. On Friday we got a ride twenty-three miles North on the trail and hiked back, and then on Saturday continued back on the trail with real packs. Two days of slack packing and three nights of great food was very worthwhile. Part of the way they support their community is through maté tea and energy bars. We may now be addicted. However, the highlight from our stay was being invited to Shabbat dinner. There were testimonials, singing, dancing, interesting conversation and lots of good food. In addition to lasagna we had broccoli fresh from their farm. It was amazing. I had two full plates and was still full the next morning when it was time for breakfast. Breakfast that morning was stuffed french toast and their home made maple syrup. That day was one of the hardest days of hiking I had in a while. We were back to full packs and had a major case of the ITIS. We (Filadelfia, Shadow and myself) were unable to move. But eventually we were able to finish our 17 miles.
Back to my out of order narration. My last full post was in Dalton. From there Shadow and I moved into Vermont and the mud. Our first night in VT it rained right after we arrived at the Shelter. We ran into Filadelfia and Creek Diver, and Filadelfia announced where we stood on his list of the top ten thru hikers he would eat if he had to resort to cannibalism. I was number 6, Shadow number 7 and Creek Diver number 9. I have not yet been with Filadelfia and anyone higher up on his list. I think that it is incentive for me to keep him well fed. The next day Creek Diver went to meet her family and Filadelfia joined us.
Vermont has a series of shelters and campgrounds that you have to pay for, so we planned our days around avoiding these shelters. Most of them are around ponds, and as we came upon one of them a loon was swimming by and spent several minutes calling out to us. It was my first, and hopefully not my last, loon of the trip. Earlier that day the caretaker on Stratton Mountain had warned us about potential torrential rains that night. The weather did not disappoint. Shadow had some camp soap and Filadelfia and I decided to take a shower in the rain. It started coming down, we lathered up, and then the rain let up. We waited a couple of minutes and then walked over to the nearby stream to rinse off. Then it started raining heavily again.
One thing Shadow and I had been talking about since the Indiana Jones movie was seeing the new Batman movie when it came out. We needed to resupply in Manchester Center, and that ended up being a perfect opportunity. We started our laundry, got some lunch and then saw Batman. It was everything we had hoped for and more. We then bought more groceries and went back out on trail. That night we met back up with Greenwood who joined us the next day. We finished at a shelter next to a stream with good bathing opportunities. We went in and Shadow, Filadelfia and I all stripped down, while Greenwood kept his clothes. We decided to call ourselves Aggressive Male Nudity, or Amen for short. I think we scarred Greenwood for life and he has not hiked with us since.
Then the rains started during the day. After hiking for most of the day in the rain we called ahead to the Twelve Tribes and had them pick us up so we could dry off. Our first day of slack packing it rained the whole time and the trail was soaked. At times the water was above my ankles in the middle of the trail. We were very happy to get back to the hostel than night. The second day of slack packing was sunny and beautiful, but the trail was still wet and our shoes ended up just as muddy and wet. Yesterday started sunny and the trail was mostly dry, but it still rained all night. I was very happy to get into town today and do laundry.
Tomorrow we will probably head out with Rocko who has now returned to the trail, but one of the packages I sent from NYC did not yet arrive so I need to figure out what to do about that first. Later this week we get into the White Mountains and the rocks and views. We are now back in the realm of long steep climbs. It should be fun.

Rain in Vermud

2008-07-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Rutland, VT. Trailwise I am at Vt 103, 17 miles south of town, but 500 miles from Katahdin. The end is getting closer and closer. It has rained on us (currently Shadow, Filadelphia Greenburg and myself) every day that we have been in Vermont. We are running 6 for 6, and tomorrow looks like it will be 7 for 7. With all the rain we decided to give the hostel in Rutland a call and see if they could pick us up on trail. So tomorrow we will get dropped off at that same spot and then hike back to town. This way we get two nights of accomodation out of the rain and we still get the same mileage done.
When we left Dalton we quickly crossed into Vermont and the mud. We had been warned about the mud in Vermont and once we crossed over it began. Some people have remarked in the journals that it is not as hard on the feet as the roots or the rocks. However I have been stepping on all the roots and rocks to avoid the mud. So it has not been any easier on my feet.
I may be able to get back online tomorrow, but my time is close to running out today. One of our recent highlights spending the afternoon in Manchester Center and seeing the new Batman movie. It was a great way to spend an afternoon out of the rain. We then picked up out clothes from the laundromat and went back on the trail for a late afternoon 2 miles. Fortunately it was not as steep an out of town climb as we sometimes get.
Anyway here is hoping for more Sunshine when we get to New Hampshire.

Swimming in Nuclear Lake

2008-07-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Dalton, MA about 1,554 miles from Springer and 622 from Katahdin. I am staying with Rob in the Birdcage. Rob was recommended by several other thru hikers I have talked with and by the mayor in Unionville, NY. So tonight Shadow and I are staying at his house. Rob works in North Adams which is about 23 miles north on the trail so tomorrow he will drop us off and we will hike back to his house, and then the day after continue from where we left off. This will be Shadow's first south bound slack pack. At first he did not believe in them, but since his mail drop has not yet arrived we have to be here tomorrow anyway, so it works out.
In the last ten days we were able to finish NY, get all the way through CT and 2/3 of the way through Mass. This is not from the blistering pace we have set (my feet are happy that it is not a blistering pace), but because these states are very short. By the end of the week we will be into VT and back into states that take over a week to hike through. It also looks like Shadow and I will be parting ways with the Peackock family. The last week or so we were meeting up for meals and at shelters, not really hiking together. Now they have decided to aim for a finish date about one week ater my goal date of Aug 31. This means they will be taking some slower days and more zeros.
I do not have my guide book with me to spark my memory nor do I have the time (only an hour on the computers in the library) to do a full blow by blow account of the time since my last update, but I can mention the highlights. One of which was swimming in Nuclear Lake. Nuclear Lake is in NY, but had been given a clean bill of health after previous testing regimes went on in the area. The lake was gorgeous and the 3 eyed fish did not bite too hard. It was a hot day and a shallow warm lake which made it a wonderful place for a midafternoon swim. It currently ranks after the YMCA lake in New Jersey and Upper Goose Pond for top simming holes on the AT. Two nights ago I stayed at Upper Goose Pond Cabin. This is a cabin with a caretaker right on the pond (it should really be called a lake) in Massachusetts. Shadow and I arrived at 1 and promptly went swimming. We had just finished 16 miles and were done for the day. It had been raining that morning but was starting to get nice and we were ready for a swim. It was wonderful. When Peacock and Daddy-O arrived at 6 it was now completely bright and sunny, so we went in again. There is an island in the middle of the lake and Peacock and I swam out there and sunned ourselves and then swam back. That night I played UNO with Shadow and Vegan (a section hiker from NY), and then had blueberry pancakes and coffee in the morning. That was what hiking should be all about. Blueberry pankcakes make the mornings that much better.
Earlier that evening Shadow and I attempted to play checkers. We ran into some disagreements about the rules. I was not aware that there are regional variations on the rules, but apparently there are "Southern Rules." Once a piece has been kinged Shadow says it can now move an unlimited number of spaces in one direction. It can even move three spaces and then jump over another piece. He tried that on me and at that point I forfeited the game in disgust. Since then I have been asking everyone I run into about these rules variations. No one else has heard about them. Not even the Southerners we have been hiking with. So if any of you know about these "Southern Rules" variations, I would love to hear it.
One of the nice things about New England is that we are back to good water sources and swimmable lakes and lots of blueberries. Several times I have picked enough blueberries for dessert and/or breakfast the next morning. The unfortunate down side of lots of good water is that we now have to deal with lots of mosquitos. I have been sleeping in my tent almost every night, and my Cutter Advanced protection does not cut it. When it comes to bug spray, use deet, or don't bother. The trail is also not as well marked. I think that I have lost my touch for route finding (I always lead and Shadow follows). I have lost the trail more oftern in the 54 miles that we have been in Massachsetts than I have in the previous 1500 miles. The one upside is that I know other people who have gotten lost at the same points on the trail. Is it that hard to put a sufficient amount of blazes on a trail and do a little maintenance? What makes it worse is that on one well groomed section we came across a maintainer who was painting blazes on almost every tree. So now we have a section where you can see the next seven white blazes, and others where you cannot even follow the trail. It makes no sense to me.

Back on Trail

2008-07-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post from NYC. Tomorrow we head back out to the trail, and I am ready to be moving on. This was my second full week off the trail (Trail days and Hardcore was the other week), and that is just a bit too long. I have the ants in my pants. I even went running in the park a couple of times. Not to stay in shape but to get some energy out so I could get to sleep. When you are used to hiking 15-20 miles a day, a couple of days of rest are good, but after 3 or 4 you are rested and you get anxious. I was able to get a lot of errands done for the trail and for moving out to Portland afterwards, but two pieces of mail that I was waiting for did not arrive. I did not receive my tax refund check which would have paid for a full month on the trail. I also do not receive my new backpack from Granite Gear. About a week before getting to NYC my 20 day old backpack developed a tear. I didn't have Granite Gear send me a new one right away because I thought that I would be able to get it switched out in NYC. However none of the outfitters that are Granite Gear dealers carry the backpacks. So they sent it on Monday and it did not arrive. So I will now get to see how long this pack will last with a tear. And everyone who reads my blog knows exactly which pieces of gear have failed and who is the best at replacing or repairing their gear. however when I arrived at home there was another pair of REI pants. There was a mix up and I received a second pair. So I now have two new pairs of pants, all for the price of shipping one pair back to REI.
While most of my NYC friends were out of town this weekend I was able to get into town before my parents left for their vacation, and I was able to see my grandparents three times. I was also able to eat out all the time since my parents are redoing the kitchen this summer. So currently there is a refridgerator and nothing else in the kitchen. No sinks, no cabinets, no nothing. I was unable to cook at all, just store milk for cereal in the morning.
At this point I am partly ready to get back to hiking, and partly ready just to finish the trail. I have heard that the upcoming trail is better than NY, but I was getting a bit depressed. I do not want to drop out at this point, but I am ready to be done. We will see if in a week or see things have improved. I am looking forward to getting to New Hampshire and the White Mountains. I did a lot of hiking there when I was younger and it will be nice to get back to familiar territory.
ps if any of you are feeling in the mood to mail something that will arrive my July 28th
Jeffrey Berliss
c/o General Delivery
Hold for AT Thru Hiker
Hanover, NH 03755

Privies

2008-07-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

I feel the need to write an entry about the privies on trail because the recent ones have been so bad. During the course of the first 1408 miles I have come across many privies, in all shapes and sizes and qualities. Some are composting, some are mouldering, some are solar activated, and some are just holes in the ground. Some are completely enclosed, others are open, fully or partially. Some have roofs, others do not. Some are very hard to find or far away from the shelter, others are in plain site of the shelter or the

trail. There have been privies with 0,1,3, or 4 walls. But I have not seen any with 2. The 1 wall is supposed to block the view from the shelter, but the 1 wall is not always well placed. Some walls go all the way to the roof, others do not. I have even come across some that are handicapped accessible. Since the AT is frequently on federal lands any new improvements to federal buildings have to be ADA compliant. These are nice because they have the ramp, and the handles to get up and there is always plenty of inside room. However, I am just not sure how anyone in a wheelchair could get there. In PA most of the privies were completely enclosed. I am not a big fan of this. Even in the middle of the day there is

not enough light to see so you have to prop the door open. These also tend to smell the worst and have the most animals living in them. You would be hard pressed to find one of these without a couple of spiders and/or mice living inside. NJ however has the worst privies. Most of them have no walls. This makes them slightly harder to find unless someone is sitting on it. I was able to talk to people passing on the trail from one of the privies in NJ.

Some of the privies in NJ were simply a box with a toilet seat above a hole. Two of the boxes were rotting away. One was so bad that you did not want to put your full weight on the seat because it looked like you might fall in. This was worse than in TN when all you had was a shovel or a trowel at the shelter. At least there you knew what you were getting into, or should I say onto? My worst experience was at a privy where the door and the lid had been left open. A number of flies had then descended into

the hole. When I sat down they were now trapped. They all buzzed straight under my butt and tickled as things were dropping. I had to lift a leg to let them escape. Right now I will just appreciate my parent's flush toilets and make sure I have a full roll of trail tickets, or mountain money, or TP or whatever you want to call it.

End of PA

2008-07-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

I would like to encourage all of you reading my blogs at some point to either comment, send me an email or a real letter. I have very little idea of whether my bogs are being red. When I talk to people I have gotten a very positive response, but it would be nice to get some encouragement while on trail. My next definite mail stop will be in Hanover, NH. So if any of you feel like writing you can send something to
Jeffrey Berliss
General Delivery
Hold for AT Thru Hiker
Hanover, NH 03755
I am aiming to be there around July 28. From there it is about a month more to Katahdin and I have not figured out mail drops for anything beyond Hanover.
I think my Pa tale needs to restart in Duncannon. I stayed at the historic Doyle Hotel which around 1905 was a five star hotel. It does not look like any money has been spent to improve the hotel since then. I was able to get a single with no AC and shared bath for 25 a night. I am pretty sure the sheets were clean. However this is where all the hikers coming through stayed, the food was good and the beer cheap. I happily spent the night hanging out with other hikers and enjoying cold local refreshment. Peacock and I enjoyed a late start and breakfast at Goodie's the next morning and hit the trail at around noon. PA continued its trend of long flat ridges with lots of rocks and no views. At this point I am not remembering too much of interest before Port Clinton.
The shelters in PA have a tendency to be very close to roads. 501 Shelter which was right off of PA 501 was not an exception. However it did have bunkbeds and a solar shower. The general idea with a solar shower is that the holding tanks have an opportunity to warm up during the day. This concept was lost on whomever built this one. It did have soap, but I described the temperature as "I have bathed in colder streams." The water also came from the same holding tanks, so the drinking water was warm and the shower water was cold. This was also a shelter where you could order pizza. I was starting to have NYC on my mind and I had too much food so I just cooked but I was offered a slice of someone else's pizza. I did not miss anything by not ordering my own. It may have been the worst pizza I have had on trail.
We decided to hike the 24 miles into Port Clinton the next day. Peacock and Daddy-O set up a slack pack while Shadow and I felt cheap and decided to hike our packs down. Shadow and I set out early and we were in the local outfitter by 3 enjoying Ben and Jerry's. The last 1/2 mile into town was straight down a 45 degree loose rock slope. I have never been happier to have trekking poles than that descent. If I had a piece of cardboard to slide down on, it would have been much better. Since it was Monday nothing else in town was open. For some reason the entire town shuts down on Mondays. We stayed at the town pavilion and hung out with local trail angel Bag O Tricks. We had a rain storm and then it got cold. I had to borrow a fleece sleeping bag from Tricks.
The next morning we paid the shuttle to the next town to get our resupply. When we came back we decided to visit Cabelas. Cabelas is a huge monument to killing animals. Whatever you might need for hunting or fishing you can get there. They have stuffed wildlife displays and they sell postcards of their wildlife displays. Within the huge confines they even had a cafeteria, with no vegetarian options other than french fries. I did need more sunscreen and I bought my own 25 dollar fleece sleeping bag in order to stay warm at night. It turned out to be a very useful investment. For the next couple of days I slept in my fleece bag and lent my fleece throw to Shadow whose sleep system was not up to the task of keeping him warm.
The trail after Port Clinton was back to PA normal until we hit Lehigh Gap and the Palmerton Superfund site. Lehigh Gap starts a stretch of about 20 miles with no water closer to the trail than a 1/4 mile. Also the first 9 miles are almost devoid of tree cover. Palmerton used to have a zinc smelting factory and the next ridge was downwind of the factory. In 1980 the EPA closed down the factory and in 1982 started rehabilitation for the area. It still has a long way to go. Shadow and I started early to make the first climb before the sun crested the ridge. It made for a very steep interesting climb. At one point I need both hands to pull myself up. Around the next two gaps on the ridge different trail angels left water so we were able to stay hydrated. We continued on for about 24 miles that day to put us in position for getting to the Delaware Water Gap on Saturday before the Post Office closed and in time to find a bed at the Church hostel in town. Shadow was very interested in getting his mail because he was expecting new shoes. His shoes were dead by Duncannon but he had put off getting his new ones sent until too late, again. His new shoes were supposed to have been in Port Clinton, but his mom sent his Chaco sandals instead. So he had been hiking the last four days in sandals, not real shoes. Turns out that the shoes were not there on Saturday and we had to wait until the post opened on Monday anyway, but we did get the last two bunks in the hostel.
Delaware Water Gap is only 90 minutes from NYC and luckily my brother was in town that weekend. So my parents and my brother were able to come out and have brunch with me. The other highlights of town were a free Jazz concert Sunday night at the church and a bakery that had a $1.50 hot dog and a slice of pie special. I only had two, one with chili. It was the hot dog, not the pie that had the chili. Shadow ended up with 6 over the course of the weekend. There was also a Greek diner in town and after Geoff and Emma's comments I had to get the moussaka. It was good. That Monday we were back out on the trail and into the promised land of NJ. Or maybe just out of the hated PA.
That should bring us up to date even if the narrative ended up out of order.

1/2 Gallon Challenge

2008-07-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

The start

The last bite

An empty container

The prize

Random Pictures

2008-07-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is a view of the James River between Big Island and Glasgow, VA. I was going quickly at this point because I had heard that there was trail magic at the trail head. I was able to make it in time for breakfast.

This is me on McAffee Knob. This is the most photographed spot on the AT. We were slack packing from Catawba to Trouteville. We got a late start and did not leave the knob until noon. At that point we had done 4 out of the 20 miles we needed to hike. We were able to finish at 7pm and went right to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo.

As we hiked through one gap we came across a campsite with a swing. I could not resist taking a little break.

Between the Shenandoahs and Harper's Ferry is the Roller Coaster. We had been hearing horror stories about it for several weeks. Because of who owned what land the trail had to go straight up and down 10 hills without views in 13.5 miles. However most of the climbs did not have more than 500 feet of elevation change and it was not that bad.

In VA there were lots of railroad crossings and most them had warning signs to be careful while crossing the tracks.

Wendy's Challenge

2008-07-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

NJ-NY

2008-07-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in my parent's apartment in NYC. We got off the trail 1,408 miles from Springer and a short 767 miles to Katahdin. I have not been able to update for a while so I am now trying to go back and put in some photos and fill in the missing gaps, but not really in order, so bear with me. This entry will cover my time in New Jersey and New York, and then my next update will be the end of PA. However since the most recent post is always first you will probably have just finished reading about PA when you get to this disclaimer.
When we (Shadow, Peacock, Daddy-O and Toad) left the Delaware Water Gap we were very excited to leave PA. None of us had enjoyed the rocks or the lack of views and we were ready for something new. We also knew that we had a relatively hard 7 days of hiking before a week off in NYC and we were looking forward to that. Immediately NJ was better than PA. The trail was nicer, and we started getting views. We caught back up with Jack Frost and then came across lovely Sunfish pond. Toad and Peacock stopped to catch frogs while Shadow, Daddy-O, Jack and I continued to the Mohican Outdoor Center. In the hiker box there was a 2lb can of baked beans which we were able to heat up for lunch. We hiked up a fire tower with a great view and cell phone reception, ran into a black bear and stayed that night at an old YMCA camp. There were two very sketchy screened in shelters with camp beds and a horrible tasting faucet to get water from. The one redeeming quality about the location was the beach and lake. After a hot 18 miles of hiking we had one of the best swimming holes on the trail.
The next day we started out with a blue blaze back to the AT instead of a mile back tracking and pushed on for a 22 mile day. The shelter we stopped out was not a great one, was a steep descending .4 off the trail and had the worst privy I have used. There were no walls just a box covering the hole. However, the box was rotting away and you were not sure if the seat would hold you.
Our next day was a planned resupply. 11 miles to Unionville, NY and then another 6 afterwards. When we got there we saw a sign from the mayor offering laundry and showers at his place so Shadow called up. We were picked up and also offered a free place to stay, free dinner and breakfast and the first beer free, the next 3 25 cents each and then you were cut off. We decided to stay. Previously the most guests the mayor had in one night was 10. That night there were 25. All the beds were taken, all of the floor space and most of the lawn. It was a wonderful night, but meant a couple of more long days coming up.
From the mayor's house we pushed a 21 mile day. Around lunch time we came to Heaven Hill Farm. We had heard that they had ice cream and water for hikers. As we walked in we came across Ron Beatty (Shakedown Cruise). He said hello and offered to treat us to ice cream, up to a quart. So I decided to have a quart of ice cream for lunch. Cookies n Cream, Raspberry Blast and Java Chunk make a great combination. That enabled us to continue on to NY and Prospect Rock. Prospect Rock is the highest point on the AT in NY. We decided to cowboy camp there with a sunset and sunrise view. We were able to watch the lights come up on Greenwood lake and we could even see the orange haze of NYC.
When you are driving from NJ to NY the quality of road changes for the worse. This was copied on the trail. The trail planners in NY do not believe in switchbacks. They go out of their way to take the trail up and down ever single viewless ridge. On top of this the weather turned hot and humid. In NJ and NY most of the streams are not good for drinking so we go from faucet to faucet leaving with 7+ pounds of water. Currently NY is pushing Pa for the honor of worst state. 17 miles into the next day after descending Agony Grind we crossed the NY state Thruway and came across Paddy-O. Paddy-O hiked in 2000 and has been doing trail magic for the last three years. He cooked us Hot Dogs and gave us Gatorade and offered use of his full bar. We accepted and had "Trail Bombs." An Irish car bomb, but on the trail. That enabled us to continue on the next 4 miles to the shelter. NY does not space shelters well, nor do they have all the amenities like picnic tables, privies or water. I was the only person sleeping in the shelter that night, and I wondered why we even bothered to go there since there had been better camping spots on the actual trail.
The following day was Saturday and we made to Bear Mountain. Lots of other people on the trail and we were able to help out 5 day hikers who had taken the wrong trail down and were now very far away from their cars. The trail then took us to Hessian Lake which is a very popular picnic spot and was very crowded. I felt out of place in the party atmosphere with my stinky shirt and backpack and continued on to the zoo. The trail takes us through the zoo to Bear Mountain Bridge. In the zoo we were able to see all sorts of things we had seen on the trail, such as three bears at the lowest point on the trail. We hiked on to another campsite with no water. We were feeling pretty miserable at this point. Two days of hiking without being able to even take a bandana bath at the end of the day. We were sticky, stinky and not very happy.
Our last day on the trail took us to Clarence Fahnestock State Park. We left early in the day because we knew we had showers and a swimmable lake waiting for us. We made a questionable choice of filling up water which ended up being very foul tasting and turned my stomach. With our bad water the trail took us over some wood planks and a bees nest. Peacock, Daddy-O and I each got stung 3 or 4 times. Shadow was hit 13 times. We ran through there then stopped at a road just down the trail and took Benedryl. This slowed us down even further. It is mazing how you feel tired after taking Benedryl. However we made it to hot showers at the campground just as it started to rain. I spent the entire rain in the shower then set up my tent and went to sleep. We cooked some food and then were driven into NYC in time to see my parents and have some more food.
I am now spending the week in NYC visiting my grandparents and other friends, running errands and catching up on sleep. After the last couple of days hiking through NY I was very ready to take some time off the trail. When I get back on the trail just 767 miles and eight weeks to Katahdin.

Some Pictures

2008-07-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

We got up early the morning before going to Duncannon, PA. This is Daddy-O overlooking Duncannon and the Susquehanna river valley. We were able to arrive before the Doyle Hotel opened so we had breakfast across the street at Goodies, which is my favorite breakfast place on the trail.

A day or so out of Port Clinton, PA we crossed a road and then a couple of minutes later came across this sign. I assume that it is a road to someone's private property. The sign quickly cleared any misconceptions about which way to go.

Just after Palmerton, PA we came across the Palmerton Zinc Superfund site. For about 100 years there was mining and a zinc smelting factory in Palmerton. In 1980 the EPA shut it down and in 1982 started rehabilitation. The area was devasted. So we started the day with a steep climb with absolutely no tree cover. We then crossed over the ridge downwind of the factory and after 25 years of help it was still not doing well. It made for some interesting terrain. Not a place where we wanted to sample the blueberries. When we get back on the trail we can compare it to Nuclear Lake by 10 Mile Island.

In New Jersey I came across 3 bears. This is the first one. Once we saw him and he saw us it took about 5 minutes before he got off the trail and we could pass. This is the only one of the 7 bears I have seen on trail that I was able to get a half decent picture of. All the bears in VA and PA ran away once they noticed me. In NJ they just waited and checked us out before slowly going on their own way.

Just as we entered Harriman State park in NY we met Paddy-O. Paddy-O hiked in 2000 and has spent the last three years as a Trail Angel. It was a very humid day and while I was well hydrated on water, I did not have any gatorade or other type of drink mix. We had just finished about 17 miles with 4 more to go, and our spirits we a little down. He provided us with gatorade, hot dogs, snacks and Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York." Then he mentioned that he had a full bar. So we opted for his specialty, Trail Bombs. These were Irish car bombs (a shot of Jameson and Irish Creme dropped into Guinness and then chugged), but on the trail. Shadow, Daddy-O, Peacock and I all had one then finished off our day of hiking.

Trails Days Pics

2008-07-01T13:14:00.001-07:00

At Dot's Inn in Damascus we were able to buy beer by the pitcher without a need for extra glasses. L to R we have Peacock, myself, Stamp and Daddy-O. Stamp was a southbound section hiker we picked up in Catawba. His feet did not smell as bad at this point as they did in the car ride down. The keg finished on Stamp's pitcher and he was then given the first pitcher from the next keg for free as well.

I borrowed one of Daddy-O's kilts for the weekend. At this point Shadow has finally received his kilt and is wearing it with pride. I found the kilt comfortable, but I missed the pockets from my cargo shorts and I decided to stay with what I had.

I am not sure who the person on the right is. However just before the hiker parade he came by with two dresses and said they were free for anyone who would wear them for the parade. Peacock and Vagabond stepped up to the challenge. Luckily they fit well. Peacock and Vagabond then added water balloons for artificial implants.

At Hardcore the Sunday and Monday after trail days we did some trail work. We completed around 1,700 ft of new trail. I was able to paint my own blaze on Sunday's section right before Iron Gap in TN.

On Monday we worked on a section just North of Jane Bald in the Roan Highlands. On the way back I got a picture of me with my tools, a nice big Pulaski. Unfortunately I did not get an action shot.

At the Mayor's House

2008-06-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

I am currently at the house of the mayor of Unionville, NY. Unionville is about 1,330 miles from Springer and about 845 to Katahdin. I am now close enough that is is worthwhile to start thinking about how much further we have to go. I am also out of PA and into NJ. The trail is on the border of NY and NJ here so we just went into the NY side for a resupply. The mayor here is very hiker friendly and last year set up a hostel in his house. So I am freshly showered and my clothes are currently being dried. I think there are going to be over 20 hikers staying here tonight which beats the mayors previous best of 10.
It has been a while since my last post. PA was not fun. It started out hot and buggy and rocky. Then we added the sounds of cicadas in places and gypsy moths. The gypsy moths were very annoying. They have no natural enemies so they just multiply. For most of PA they were in their caterpillar form. They eat the leaves, so there were tons of partially eaten green leaves on the ground. Then they dangle over the trail. Their fur stings, so after I had one land on me I had the bumps and itching on my arm for almost a week. At night they were pooping so much that it sounds like it is raining. They are now in their cocoons, but there is not very much shade from the trees because most of the leaves are on the trail, not above it. We shall soon see how much a a nuisance they are as moths.
PA was also suppossed to be easy for resupplies since the trail goes through 4 towns and there are many others that are close. However several of the towns that the trail passes through have no supermarket or place to resupply. So you think are are getting it easy and then you still have to get a shuttle or a hitch into the next town. PA was not very easy for getting a hitch. Down south you could almost count on the first pickup truck stopping and giving you a ride. Not so in PA. When we needed a ride it was hard to get. In the town with shuttles, they were overpriced. But we did not always have other options.
I will have to continue my discussions of PA later since there are several other people waiting to use the internet. I will be in NYC from June 30-July 7 so I will be updating my adventures then and adding pictures.

Hot and Buggy

2008-06-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

I am now in Duncannon, PA 1,132 miles from Springer. I am relaxing in the Doyle Hotel with a bunch of other thru hikers. I do not think that there are any non hikers staying here. I am starting this post before I go resupply, and will continue when I got back. I have just had a bit of a snack. If I go to the grocery store hungry then I will end up with way too much food leaving town. However I will still eat all of the food before I get to the next resupply anyway. Having too much food is rarely a problem. I am just thinking about what foods I can eat cold. Probably instant mashed potatoes. The last couple of days have been so hot that I have not always wanted to eat a hot meal. The heat has also forced a bit of a schedule change and we have woken up at 4am several times to be at the trail at 5am. This way when can get 6 hours of hiking in before it gets too hot. Then we take a long break and start hiking again between f and 6:30. On the hot days 6:30 - 8 is an ideal time to hike. the day is cooling off and you still have enough light to see. The angle of light at this time also makes everything look better. We are also excited to be in a hotel with laundry today because it has been about 12 days since our last laundry. We have rinsed off our shirts and underwear and socks, but that is not as good as real laundry. One day I spent five minutes rinsing our my socks and they still did not rinse clean. So I am now wearing cleans clothes and very happy for it.
We spent most of the day chilling in the AC at the library and Wal-Mart before leaving Waynesboro. We finally hit the trail around 6:30 as it was getting cool again. We hiked for about an hour and a half and came to a shelter with nice camping by a stream. We set up our tents and then went bathing. Four grown men naked in a stream, glorious. We got up early and were on the trail the next day around 6am. We hiked about 13 miles by 11am to a campground with a swimming pool. We beat the heat of the day by running in and out of the pool. We were there long enough that even with copious amounts of sun screen I reached by sun tolerance. But I did not get burned, only close. Then after dinner we went on to the next shelter, again leaving around 6pm. We continued our early starts with a 4am wake. This had us starting with our head lamps. I was not a fan with the rocks on the trail and started out slow. However we were able to get 15 miles in by 11am. This time Peacock and I stopped for an extended nap while Shadow and Daddy-O continued on to the Pine Grove Furnace State Park and the half way point. We were tired enough that even with the heat we slept for about 4 hours.
At the park there is a general store with the Half Gallon Challenge. All thru hikers are invited to try and eat a half gallon of ice cream. The speed record was broken earlier that day. Someone microwaved the ice cream and then drank it in 2 minutes and 37 seconds. I took a more respectable 55 minutes to eat my half gallon. I am now a member of the half gallon club. It was not as hard as the Wendy's challenge.
The following day another 4am wake up and 5 am start. This put us into the town of Boiling Springs 19 miles away around 2pm. We had planned to resupply here, but had not eaten enough food, so we decided to wait until Duncannon which was another 25 miles down the trail. Boiling Springs was disappointing, no good places to camp in town, or any cheap hostels. We ended up waiting out a rainstorm in the Tavern, the only place in town that served beer. And it was expensive beer too. Then back to a campground next to the railroad tracks. That was a nice wake up call several times during the night.
The 2 miles into Boiling Springs also started about 20 miles of road and field walking. I am not a big fan of either. Too much sun, and not all the fields have a clear path. So I am walking through Alfalfa up to my shoulders. Whatever I have brushing the grass, then breaks out in red spots. So I am walking in my pants and occasionally long sleeves during the 90+ degree heat, and I still need to take benadryl at night to reduce my reactions. Then when we get into the woods and on the ridges we are starting to run into the famed rocks of Pennsylvania. So far I am not happy with this state. the one redeeming quality was a couple of mulberry trees that were starting to bear fruit. I am happy about starting to get into fresh fruit season.
Yesterday we started from Boiling Springs and did 14 miles to the first shelter. The water source was listed as seasonal, and it was coming out at the rate of a leaky faucet, so Daddy-O, Peacock and I decided to go on another 7 to the next shelter. That 7 was much harder than the first 14. We reached the turnoff and debated going on another 4 into town. But the economics of it kept us in the shelter. We slept in and then cruised into town at 9:30 and in for a good breakfast.
On top of the heat the last couple of days, it has also been buggy. So my legs are a combination of cuts, poison ivy, bug bites and pimples from breaking out over not having washed my clothes for 12 days. All in all I was very happy to take an easy day today. The current goal is to have a bunch of beer and sleep in tomorrow. At least the weather is starting to get better. It should not be as hot for the next couple of days. On to Port Clinton.

Hot and Stormy

2008-06-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

I am now in Waynesboro, PA 1,057 miles from Springer Mtn. I couple of hours ago I finally crossed the Mason-Dixon line. Unfortunately I missed the sign marking it. So I was a little disappointed. Crossing into Pennsylvania ended up being fairly anti-climatic. Just hot. It has been hot since we left Harper's Ferry.

We got a late start leaving Harper's Ferry because I was waiting for a delivery of new trekking poles. Those arrived at about 1pm, and then Peacock, Daddy-O and I headed out. Shadow had left earlier since he needed to pick some things up from the hostel where we spent the previous night. So the three of us headed out into the heat and humidity. We knew that there was a potential for thunderstorms but we were not too worried. The trail starts out on the C&O canal and then heads up a ridge. As we started going up, we also started hearing thunder. We put on our pack covers and picked up the pace. It was so humid that we were sweating rivers. Then it started to rain. Peacock did not think it would rain hard enough to wash all the sweat off. He was wrong. As the rain started coming down the wind picked up and the thunder and lightning continued. The wind got so strong that the rain was coming in sideways. It was raining hard enough that the trail became one giant river with puddles above our ankles. We ended up being very lucky. After the wind died down we started coming across trees in the trail. In the last half a mile before the shelter we climbed over 4 or 5 trees in the middle of the trail. When we arrived at the shelter we stripped down, dried off and talked with Shadow and a couple of other hikers who had waited out the storm in the shelter. One tree had fallen about 50 feet away from the shelter. At this point even though we had originally planned on continuing on, we changed our minds and decided to stay.

The shelter was a double decker and the four of us stayed in the bottom that night with Bad Idea, Rhino, and Rhino's dog. Rhino is a fire builder extraordinaire. He even puts PeakAxe to shame. In the wet he gathered logs and stumps and put together a fire that was still going strong the next morning when we left. We had a little kid staying on the top level roasting marshmallows over the fire for us. He became more efficient when we suggested roasting more than one at a time on the stick. However, Rhino's dog was not the most shelter trained dog. When he arrived, the dog went straight to my sleeping pad and lay down. He was quickly removed, but he did spend the whole night cuddling with Shadow, much to his disgust.

On the upper level were two sets of section hikers, a father-son and a mother-son. After dark, as we were getting ready to sleep, we heard a cry for help. We listened and heard it again. We were not sure where it was coming from at first. We thought that it might be someone hurt from a tree falling, or from climbing over one. Then we realized that it was coming from the privy. Shadow went over to the privy and after a couple of minutes was able to open it up for the mother. The next morning we named her Breakout. The privy had a handle that you needed to turn, very unusual for a privy. That was what took Shadow so long to open it. The handle on the inside had broken off, and after Breakout closed the door, she was unable to open it. This made me feel better on a couple of levels. Now I am not the only person who was been stuck in a restroom on this hike. Second, I did not lock myself in, and thirdly, I was able to get out on my own.

The next morning we set out again. The forecast we had seen said this was supposed to be another 85 degree day with a chance of thunderstorms. As we hiked the trail we were able to assess the damage from the day before. Some sections were worse than others, but most had a fair number of leaves or small branches on the ground. Other sections we littered with small to large trees across the trail. One section was so bad that we climbed from fallen tree to fallen tree and briefly lost the trail. When ever we were close to roads or power lines we came across the sounds of chainsaw. The more we saw, the more we realized that we had been lucky the previous day. By the time we stoppped for lunch we were tired of flinging the branches off the trail.
Around 3:30 and about 3.5 miles from our destination for the night we came to the Washinton Mounument. This is not the one in DC, but the one in MD which was the first mounument built for George Washington. From the top we saw a thunderhead to the north and heard some thunder. We decided to play it safe and go back to a day shelter at the base of the mounument and wait out the storm. The water was out in the park because a tree had fallen on the building housing the pump the night before, but the caretaker was able to give us enough water from a 5 gallon jug so we could cook dinner while waiting out the storm. We ate dinner, and the storm didn't arrive. Around 6:30 we decided that we had waited enough and pushed on. The storm never materialized. We pulled into the next shelter around 8, set up camp and went to bed.
The forecast for the next three days was 95 and humid. When we woke up it was foggy and we went back to sleep. We finally hit the trail around 8:45. It stayed foggy for the morning. As we approached the next shleter it was starting to get sunny. Unfortunately our favorite homeless person's stuff was there. So instead of napping for a couple of hours we had lunch and kept going. At this point it was horribly hot. Luckily we can across a nice stream and spent a while lying in it, washing off and cooling down. We had the thought of hiking slowly enough to not builld up a sweat. Once we started going uphill it was hopeless. Part way up the hill was a rock outcrop that Peacock and I checked out. We came across a copperhead resting in a crevice. He was not bothering us, so we decided to not bother him.
This morning we decided to get up early and beat the heat. We were able to do half of it. We were on the trail at 6:30, but by 7 we were sweating rivers. By 9:30 we were at the road and hitched into town. The plan is to stay in AC as long as possible today and then hit the trail again around 5 or 6 tonight when it we hopefully be a bit cooler.
I have not been able to update pictures recently, but Peacock and Daddy-O are also keeping a trail journal that does have a fair number of pictures, including some of me. That is at www.trailjournals.com look for it under Daddy-O's 2008 Appalachian Trail hike.

Sleeping in the Bear's Den

2008-06-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

I am currently at the Harper's Ferry Hostel. It is not actually in Harper's Ferry, but 2 miles north on the trail in Maryland. I got off the AT at the side trail to the ATC headquarters 1,009 miles from Springer Mtn. But then I skipped about a quarter mile and hiked out to the hostel. So the question on my mind is whether we can get a ride back into town and run our errands and hike our missing 1/4 mile and then get a ride back out here. That would avoid most of the backtracking. We will see. I do not feel like doing the section between town and the hostel three times.
Back in Front Royal we took a zero to recover from the Wendy's and went out to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was entertaing, but I was sitting with Daddy-O and we both had trouble sitting in one place for over two hours. The next morning we (Shadow, Peacock and Daddy-O and myself) had breakfast with my parents. They were in DC for the weekend visiting my mom's aunt and uncle and were able to come and see me. We feasted on pancakes and french toast and then went back on the trail. We had some extra beer which we took out to the trailhead to leave as trail magic. While my parents and I were waiting for everyone else to get to the trailhead, two hikers came out. My parents were able to experience the absolute joy on a thru hiker's face when they recieve beer trail magic.
We were joined on this section of trail by Bigfoot. Bigfoot is our personal trail angel who lent us his Suburban for Trail Days. We took 3 nice chill days, 9, 13 and 10 miles to give Bigfoot a chance to get his trail legs and to rest Shadow's ankle. This meant late starts, ~8am, and long lunch time naps. Now that it is getting hot out it is very nice to take a long break in the middle of the day when it get hot. We are still waiting for the warm days to coincide with the nice swimming holes.
Those three days put us at the Bear's Den Hostel. Bear's Den is actually a converted castle. For $25 you get a bed, a shower with towel, laundry, a pizza, a soda and a pint of Ben & Jerry's. I had been craving Mint Oreo for about 200 miles and they had it. We got there early, played frisbee, relaxed, ate and then watched Carz. We enjoyed the hospitality of Redwing, Hopeful and Hikelet, and had a salad fresh from the garden.
At Bear's Den we were also joined by Jen, Daddy-O's niece (or Peacock's cousin). She examined Shadow's cankle, pronounced it a high ankle strain, and wrapped it for him. Since it would need 5-6 weeks to heal on the trail or one full week of rest, we went on the next day. It was 20 miles to Harper's Ferry and we pushed on through the heat and made it. So Jen's one and only day on the trail was a twenty miler. Her hiking average of 20 puts my 12.6 to shame. Although mine does include zeros. I am down to a 14 average on my hiking days. I was at 15 when I hit Damascus.
A while back I had an idea. It was one of those ideas that usually occurs while drinking or after hiking for long distances. It was one of those ideas that you kind of regret afterwards, but it will not leave you alone. It was one of thise ideas that once voiced will not go away and that you have to follow through on. It was an idea that ended up with me hiking a $2.72 toilet plunger 10 miles into the woods to place inside the privy. So from now on if anyone needs a toilet plunger in the Manassas Gap shelter privy it is available for their use.
We are now 40 miles from Pennsylvania and the Mason-Dixon line. This is where the Appalatchin trail becomes the Appalaishun trail. So now we say goodbye to sweet tea and hello to vegetarian options.

Food

2008-05-30T08:17:00.001-07:00

One thing that is always on every thru hiker's mind is food. By most estimates we are burning 6-7,000 calories a day. It is virtually impossible to carry that much food if you are going out for more than 2-3 days at a time. So we either to shorter resupplies, or we do not get enough calories on the trail. So when we get into town we overload, like eating the entire Wendy's Value Menu. The pint of Ben & Jerry's is also a time honored tradition. This is usually a light snack and does not replace a meal. They have enough flavors that I have not had to repeat a flavor yet. It is also funny watching a thru hiker in a gorcery store. We are very nutrition conscious. If we are deciding between two comparable products, we will also choose the one with the most fat and most calories (or the cheapest).
Another key is to switch up the menus. Lipton sides can get old very quickly. For breakfasts, I started out with oatmeal, but I hate oatmeal. Then I switched to Poptarts, but I did not get enough energy from them, and I got sick of them very quickly. Then I started with Carnation Instant Breakfast, but that wasn't enough, so I am now adding cereal. However that gets heavy and bulky very quickly. Lunches, I started out just snacking on energy bars and trail mix. But that wasn't satisfying enough. So I have also had bagels with goober (peanut butter and jelly mixed) or cream cheese, but the goober only comes in a glass jar. I have gone through pretzel and Nutella fazes, a hummus faze, and a couple of cheese and jerky fazes and I am currently sick of all of them. So this next resupply I am back to snack bars and now Goldfish.
My dinners have had the most variety. One friend recommended Stove Top stuffing and chicken. I had that once, but it was not for me, sorry Footslogger. I have gone through mashed potatoes, good, but not always a full dinner, and most Lipton sides. I will requently go for the generic version without any noticable taste difference. I tried some Trail Foods at Trail Days, and those are great, but too expensize to eat all the time. I have not paid for a Moutnain House meal, because those are even more expensive. I have tried almost all the generic shells and cheese combination, and found out that paying a little more for the Kraft Bistro Deluxe pasta and sauce is worth the price. Based on the ridgerunner in the Shenandoahs I am trying tortellini on this next section. I am also adding tuna, salmon or chicken to each meal for the extra protein, and that adding cheese or some addition seasoning, Chez Paul's or Mrs. Dash, adds a lot to the meal.
Most of my meals changes come from seeing someone else cook and thinking that looks good, and I am always open for suggestions. So if any of you have some great, or not so great ideas, let me know. Please post all of your favorite backpacking meals so that I can change up my diet.

The Day I Joined a Cult

2008-05-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

About two and a half months ago I packed my worldly possesions into a backpack and went down to Georgia. A friend and intitiate met me at the aiport and took me to a sacred place, Springer Mountain. He showed me the path and told me to follow the white blazes north to Katahdin and the land of lobster. Since then every morning I wake up and follow the path. I follow even when the path goes south or completely circles something and comes within 100 feet of itself. I follow in the sun, in the rain, and in the snow. Every morning I wake up, pack my bag, and keep going.
Along the way I have met many other people following the path. We help each other in the common goal of Katahdin. We try and keep everyone following the path. We debate the rules of following the path and whether every single inch of the trail needs to be covered. Do you need to backtrach after circle some windfall? Are you still following thw whole path if you take one blue blaze trail into a shelter and leave on another? If you take a blue blazed loop that goes to a lookout and returns further up the trail are you still following the path? Does it matter if that trail is shorter or longer than the white balze? The one answer we have found is that everyone needs to hike their own hike.
In the shelters at night we dicuss the problems we encounter on the path. How to get enough food, what has the most calories, how to lighten your pack, and how to avoid butt itch. We also talk about our pains, for this is a masochistic cult. One of our mantras is "No pain, no rain, no Maine."
Along our path we encounter other people who are not walking the full path. Some of these people are unbelievers. Some do not even know of the path, while others are walking part, or getting ready to walk the full length. Those who do not know of the path, we will talk to them, and enlighten them, but only if they give us food.
Some of the people along the path are enlightened and help out those who are currently walking, these people are angels. They help us out by providing food and drink and rides into and out of town. Many of these people have walked the full path themselves, or they are related to people who are walking. They give comfort to us, and help keep us heading in the right direction.
Every year in mid-May in Damascus there is a gathering of cult members. The former walkers meet up and catch up on news and relive their glories. The curent walkers reunite with people they met a month ago and strategize about meeting again. While future walkers get advice and motivation to follow the path for themselves. This is also a place to see new equipement and learn about better ways of following the path, and learning about other paths to hike.
In about four days I will make it to one of the sacred places, Harper's Ferry. This town houses the cult headquarters, where we will stop in and get our picture taken to be immmortalized with other followers of the path. This town is also sacred for it means we are finally out of Virginia, just about to cross the Mason-Dixon line and almost physically half way. It is the physcological half way.
Tomorrow morning I will wake up, pack my bag, and start hiking north. For Katahdin is calling, and I must answer.

Shenandoah

2008-05-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

I am now in Front Royal, VA 955 miles from Springer Mountain and only about 45 miles to the border with West Virginia. Right now over half of the hike has been in Virginia and in three more days of hiking I will finally get in to a new state. Then West Virginia is 9 miles and Maryland is 40. So we are only about a week away from the Mason-Dixon line and then another 2-3 days to the official half way point. It feels like we are finally starting to make progess again. Coming down from the Shenandoahs we dropped below 2,000 feet and we do not get back above that until Vermont. That does not mean it is flat, just not as high and not as cold. Which is good since I sent my winter sleeping bag home from Montebello, and I have only been using my silk liner and a feece blanket. I have been warm enough, but that has been while wearing everything I still have, including my tent. Although I imagine that very soon I will be longing for the old nights again.
The last 107 miles from Waynesboro was mostly in Shenandoah National Park. This is one of the better maintained sections of trail. The grade is nice and easy and relatively free of rocks. Great for making big miles. We did over 80 miles in four days, and then realized we needed to slow done a bit, so we cruised into town with a 14 and a 13 mile day. Tomorrow we are taking a well deserved rest before I meet up with my parents on Saturday. They will be in DC for the weekend and will make the hour drive to come out and meet with me and take me to breakfast. Then on to Harper's Ferry and the ATC headquarters.
Shenandoah was frustrating for a number of reasons. We managed to hike through the park over Memorial Day weekend. This meant a huge number of day hikers and weekend backpackers. So the trails and shelters were very crowded. Also Skyline Drive which goess through the park is the route of the old AT. When the Drive was put in the trail was moved to go over all of the ridges. However most of the summits are wooded so most of the view points are on the road. It is frustrating that we are now working harder to get less reward. About every two miles the trail crosses over Skyline Drive so in some ways it is hard to feel like you are in the wilderness. Half of the shelters are within Harley earshot of the Drive. Tha is not the sound I like to hear while sleeping in a shelter. Although it did drown out some of the snoring.
On the plus side there actually is a lot of wildlife in the park. Deer too numerous to count and almost tame. I was within 10 feet of several. Everyone I was hiking with, me included, saw black bears. I saw two clubs that skedaddled when they saw me. I spent a minute or two looking for the mom, and when I did not see her, I kept going. Along the road there are several restaurants and waysides and lodges. The waysides have great black berry milkshakes, so after each time I saw a black bear, I atea blackberry milkshake. I thought that it was the only appropiate thing to do.
Since Trail Days I had been talking to Peacock about the Wendy's Value Menu Challenge. Eat everything on the value menu in one sitting and keep it down. Since there is a Wendy's here, after showering that is where we went. Not everything on the value menu is 99 cents, so we capped it at everything under $1.30. This gave us a crispy chicken sandwhich, 5 crisy chicken nuggets, a Jr bacon cheeseburger, a Jr deluxe cheeseburger, a small frosty, small fountain drink, small fries, small chilli, baked potatoe with sour cream and chives, side salad, side caesar salad, a cup of mandarin oranges and just about 3,000 calories for $14.26. It took us a while, but we both finished and we are nowing digesting and thinking about not having dinner.

Gear

2008-05-23T12:55:00.001-07:00

I have had a fair number of gear changes since the beginning of the hike. I mentioned one, my new backpack, in the last post, but I will now go through all my gear. At first I did not think I was going to change much gear. However most of my old gear is about 7 years old, so I will update some things as it becomes feasible or justifiable. At first I didn't really know what else was out there, and I wanted to use what I already had.
Backpack: I started with a Gregory Baltoro 70. This is a very nice comfortable pack, but big. I filled it up to start the trail and immediately regretted it because of the weight. I sent the lid back home a couple of weeks ago because I did not need the space and to save weight. But it is still too big. I have ordered a Granite Gear Vapor Meridian which should have been in Waynesboro today. It is a 52 liter pack and is 2 and a half pounds lighter than the Gregory.
Sleeping Bag: I started with an EMS 25 degree down. It has warmed up a lot, so I am now using my silk liner and a fleece blanket. When I get to New Hampshire I will go back to a warmer bag. My first thought had been to use this bag for the whole trail and then buy a new one, but I think I may buy the new one and use it for the White Mountains. If I do I will get a Western Mountainering Ultralite 20 degree bag.
Sleeping Pad: I started with my old Thermarest, and I think I will keep it the whole way. I could get a much lighter one, but it would not be as comfortable.
Stove: I started with an MSR Whisperlite. It is a great stove, if you are cooking for 4. For one, it is overkill, so I now have a SnowPeak GigaPower. It is much lighter and a better one person stove, just a little slower boiling water.
Shoes: I started with a pair of full leather boots and gaiters. I was worried about ankle support at the beginning. In Hot Springs I switched to a pair of Inov-8 Terrocs. These were much lighter and my ankles felt much better after I made the switch. Those lasted about 450 miles, but I wore them for 540 to get my monies worth. Next time I will switch once they start to wear out. I am currently wearing a pair of Montrail Hardrocks, and so far, so good. I have also gotten rid of the gaiters.
Water Bottles: I started with a Camlbak 100 oz and a nalgene. I got rid of the nalgene, because of weight, and I have been buying a new powerade bottle every 10 days or so. The Camelbak bite valve had been leaking on me, and then the bladder broke. I tried to replace it at Walmart, but their version is too cheap and broke right away. I currently have a Platypus 80oz bladder and I am happy with that.
Spoon: I started with a LightMyFire spoon that broke in two weeks. Replaced that with a cheap plastic which I accidentally sent home. Then I acquied a new one from an AYCE Chinese buffet, and then replaced that with a titanium spoon, which will hopefully go the distance.
No other major gear changes other than sending home two long sleeve polypro tops, one short sleeve hiking top, fleece pants, a bandana, my heavy fleece jacket and the ground cover for my tent. With luck I should not have to change out anything else other than shoes. I am expecting to need two more pairs before I finish since they only last about 500 miles.

Post Office

2008-05-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Waynesboro, VA 848 miles from Springer. I was realizing that all the milages are from the 2007 guidebook, and that they are all off from the 2008. Also since I just did some trail rerouting with Hardcore, and I assume that other trail clubs are constantly doing the same that the 2008 mileages are probably also wrong at this point. Anyway it is all approximate. In about two weeks after I get to Harper's Ferry I may start talking about the milages to Katahdin.
The only reason I am still in Waynesboro is because something I was expecting did not arrive. Last Saturday I ordered a new backpack. It should have been mailed on Monday with priority mail. Unfortunately it did not get mailed until Wednesday. So I will be spending tonight at the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Hostel. It is a free hostel and I will be eating food I have already purchased, so it is not costing me anything besides some agravation. It was easier to wait the extra day here than to bounce the package to the next stop at the end of the Shenandoahs. Anyway tomorrow we start the Shenandoahs for Memorial Day weekend. We are expecting it to be fairly busy. So there may be opportunities to yogi some free food. Although there are some restaurants in the park right by the trail, so we are thinking that we do not need to carry too much food. Even with that in mind we still bought a lot.
Because of some interesting distances between shelters, 16 miles, yesterday we did a 22 mile day and then 5 this morning where I was met by my friend Clement. Clement is the 5th person connected with Nekton that I have met up with in the last two weeks. If you want to read about what he has been doing recently you can check out his blog at http://clementsworldtour07anewbeginning.blogspot.com/
Clement was nice enough to ferry Daddy-O, Peacock, and myself around Wayneboro. Now I am fresh from a shower at the YMCA, relaxing and waiting for the hostel to open at 5pm.

Hardcore

2008-05-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

On the Saturday of Trail Days, I had no more gear errands to run, so I checked my email at the public library and then wandered around to see more people. I ran into some former guests from Nekton who had both hiked the trail, and plenty of current thru hikers who had been reading my shelter journal entries. I had one person tell me that they were starting to get too short, and I need to stop slacking. The most random encounter was after the hiker parade (or giant water ballon fight). I was with Peacock and Vagabond, and Vagabond started talking to someone he knew. That person asked if Vagabond knew Tangent. Since I was right there I asked why he was asking for me. It turns out that Bilgerat is currently taking a seven month leave from Nekton where he is an engineer on the Rorqual. We spent some time together and it runs out that he even started the same day I did, but I have been hiking faster and we had never met.
Sunday was the start of Hardcore. Bob Peoples, the head of the Tennessee-Eastman Trail club had a brain storm a couple of years ago. Lots of hikers come back to Damascus for Trail Days, and a lot of them want to give back to the Trail. There are also some projects that just need a large number of in shape people to complete. Put the two together and a lot of good work can be done. This year there were two sections of trail that needed to be rerouted. The first section was by Iron Mountain, and the second was coming off of Jane Bald. So for two days we were given large tools and a couple of instructions. The trail should be three feet wide, and you should have about a 45 degree angle on the uphill side. Other than that just make the trail like you want to hike it. Sunday was a cold rainy day and the new trail was super slick at the end of the day. There were several slips and near spills, but no major accidents. At the end of the day we were able to open up that section. That meant that there were new white blazes to be painted and old ones to be removed. So I now have one blaze going Northbound on the AT that is mine. I helped build the trail and I painted a blaze.
On Sunday we went to Jane Bald which is a little beyond Roan Mountain and went to work again. This time it was breezy and sunny and a perfect temperature for working. I was in a short sleeve shirt and long pants and not really sweating while working. This section had a lot more rock work and tree removal. We worked alomst twice as long and built about the same amount of trail. This was also one of my least favorite sections, and steep rocky decent with bad drainage, so it was nice to be able to improve it. All in all we built about 3,800 feet of new trail. To put it in perspective this is about 1/5,000th of the total trail.
Tomorrow we get back on the trail and start heading north again after about a week off the trail. I am ready to start hiking again. It is nice to come into towns and refuel, and every now and then take a day off to recover, but this break was slightly too long. Trails Days was fun, but not worth two full days. Anyway, tomorrow back on the trail to the Priest.

Trail Days

2008-05-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

I am now back in Damascus, VA for Trail Days. This is a fairly big festival celebrating the Appalachian Trail. Lots of former hikers, and current thru hikers come back for this, as well as friends of the trail and a fair number of different gear companies. This makes it a great opportunity to see other thru hikers that you may have passed as well as getting your gear serviced. I have been able to get a new housing for my water filter, a new pair of socks, new hip and shoulder belts for my backpack, as well as pick up two free water bottles, plenty of stickers, a new wind shirt and plenty of free food. That was just on the first day.
I have also been running into plenty of people that I passed and spent either a night or two with. It is great to see who is still on the trail. Almost half the people I have talked to are in Pearisburg. Wwe are glad that we are ahead of the big wave. We still find room in shelters. Plenty of people, some that I knew and some I did not, have been reading my shelter journal entries. It is cool to have people talking about stories that you wrote down. Although some of my stories end up having multiple parts and I have had to fill in the missing pieces to some of them.
The ride down here was not too eventful. There were four of us, Shadow, Daddy-O, Peacock and myself starting from New Market. We had lunch at the school where Bigfoot works, and then piled in the suburban. We were faily noticable at the school, four thru hikers (clean ones) in a private religious high school. Although both Shadow and Peacock were wearing kilts, so it was only the beard that gave Shadow away, Peacock almost fit in.
On the way down we picked up a South bound section hiker named Stamp that Shadow had met. He had just gotten off the trail and had not yet had time to shower or wash his clothes. Normally we all smell as bad as he did, but not right then. We had all showered that morning, and did laundry the night before, so we had clean clothes on (we were still trying to get used to that). When Stamp got in the car the smell immediately changed. He then took off his shows and socks and we had to force him all the way to the back and open the windows. After a couple of minutes we were all able to breathe again. It is amazing how the hikers sense of smell changes. We do not smell ourselves until we have cleaned off. However when we are on the trail we can smell someone in perfum almost before we can see them.

Time off the Trail

2008-05-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

I now in New Market, VA which is a bit off the trail. We got picked up this afternoon after a very nice free lunch at the Dutch Haus B&B in Montebello by Bigfoot, whom I hiked with in Georgia. Shadow Cast, Peacock, Daddy-O and myself are going to zero here tomorrow and then drive down to Damascus for trail days. It will be nice to take a couple of days off the trail and relax a bit. Hopefully we will be able to reconnect with people on the trail whom we have not seen in a while because of different hiking paces. I will also be looking into getting some new gear. Partly because somethings are starting to wear out, and partly to lighten the load.
Shadow and I had not hiked with Peacock and Daddy-O since we left Pearisburg. They had been behind us the whole time and I had been leaving them messages in the shelter journals. We had also been leaving messages on each other's cellphones. Shadow and I got a late start and we saw messages in the dirt and from Southbounders from Peacock and Daddy-O, but we did not catch up with them until the shelter. It seemed like they were always just ahead of us and we were about to catch them.
Peacock and Daddy-O are both hangers (people who sleep in hammocks). As we were hanging out in the shelter Daddy-O was lying on my Therma-Rest and suggested switching for the night. I agreed and spent last night in his hammock. He slept in the shelter and had a mouse run across his forehead. The hammock was a bit weird, but I saw the potential, and I will try sleeping in a hammock again during trail days. However it was very cold last night and since it was clear Daddy-O had not set up the rain fly. That let the wind blow right through, and as I tossed and turned I slid off his pad, and ended up very cold. Apparently the more you sleep in a hammock the more comfortable it becomes. We shall soon see.
One interesting thing on the trail is hair. Many people start off thinking that they will not cut their hair or their beards for the entire trail. I cut my hair short to start off with and today I got my second buzz cut since I started hiking. I am still thinking that I will not touch the beard for the whole trip and see how long it gets. Peacock and Shadow were also going to let their hair grow out. Three weeks ago Peacock changed his mind and got a bit of a trim but left it fairly long. About a week ago Shadow decided he needed it cut. In Troutville he inquired about the cost of a buzz cut and balked at the 11 dollar price tag. Respect (someone I have leapfroged a bit) went for that same $11 buzz cut and thought it was the best 11 dolars he has spent. When Shadow and I got to Lexington he was desperate. He asked Biz and John (Biz went to collge with my dad) if they had clippers. They did, but they had only been used on their standard poodle, and had not been used in a while. At this point it did not matter, he wanted the hair off. After a couple of minutes of fun in the basement, Shadow looked like a new man and felt much better. I waited until Bigfoot's house for human clippers with different lengths.

Photos

2008-05-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is Applicator underneath "The Guillotine". The picture is not great, but in real life it looks like the rock is about to fall down. Around Catawba there are a lot of cool rick formations, from Dragon's Tooth to McAfee Knob and finally this one. I spent a couple of nights with Applicator but he went on ahead to meet other friends and is not stopping for Trail Days, so I will probably not run into him again.

Some of the features have more interesting names than others. We are on top of High Cock Knob at this point. For the week we were together at this point we were calling ourselves the Kielbasa Klub. This is Hot Dog, Lady Snake, Footlong and Chorizo. I was Bratwurst.

The rhododendron are now in bloom. This is a view of the James River right before I got to route 501 and trail magic.

This is Peacock and myself in the back of a pickup truck that was giving us a ride to the post office in Montebello. We have found that people in pickup trucks are the most likely to stop and give thru hikers a ride, especially groups. It is because we can just ride on the pickup bed and the drivers do not need to smell us.

Some days are better than others. This day started well with a nice hike up from John's Hollow Shelter. Then I entered a cloud and it got windy and cold. Then after lunch it started raining and I did the last five miles in a drenching downpoar. The rain stopped one minute before we got to the shelter.

Kiltgate

2008-05-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

My friend Shadow Cast has been trying about the last month to get a skirt, I mean hiking kilt. When we were in Damascus Peacock got his, and that put the idea in Shadow's head. He tried one on at the outfitter in town, but was not sure if he wanted it. Before leaving town he flipped a coin, and the coin told him not to get it. Once we left town he changed his mind and at the next town he called his friend Katie and asked for her to get the kilt and send it to the next town we were going to stop at in about 6 days. We get there, and there is no package. He calls Katie and asks "What's up?" She was not sure what color he wanted, and did not buy it. Shadow is disappointed because it only comes in one color. He did not think that would be an issue. So she says OK, it will be at the next town. At the next town, still no kilt. He calls up and found out that she did not know what size. Next town, no kilt because she did not know which town to send it to. Next town and still no package. Shadow calls Katie, and she thinks he must be joking at this point. She had paid 20 for overnight shipping. She started cursing even though she was at the f%&#@ng Lowes. She called FedEx and the package had been delivered and rejected. Appartently she did not write "hold for AT Thru hiker" as part of the address. Finally she sent on to the house where we are currently staying. As we are being driven here we find out that one of the packages sent to Carlos had been opened by Bigfoot's wife. It was addressed to Bigfoot and she did not recognize the contents so she sent it back. This sent Shadow back into freakout mode. He called up Katie got the tracking number and we stoppped at the local FedEx location, but it was not there. When we get to Bigfoot's house we find out that it was a USPS box she had sent back, and the FedEx package with the skirt was there are waiting. So after one month and almost 350 miles Shadow is now happily wearing his skirt. I will post a picture of him in his kilt sometime after Trail Days.

Wet

2008-05-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Lexington, VA. I am visiting a college friend of my dad's and getting a well needed shower and laundry. It has been 6 days since my last shower (Troutville) and 8 (Catawba) since I last did laundry. However I have been wet plenty of times since then. Sometimes by choice, jumping into a river, and sometimes not by choice when I got rained on.
After I left the Comfort Inn in Troutville my next goal was to meet a friend of mine in Lynchburg on Saturday for lunch. Shadow Cast, Rocko and Vagabond had to get to the Post Office on the same road before it closed at 10:30am that Saturday. So after one easy day from town we pushed a 21 mile day to a gorgeous shelter. This was a tri-level shelter with enclosed picnic table. Very nice. It was also very dry up in the loft as the huge thunderstorm hit that night. Thunderstorms are always more enjoyable when you are somewhere dry. The next day I was tired, so I stopped and camped after 17 miles while everyone else continued on another 5 miles to the next shelter. At the shelter they found out about some trail magic at the trail head and continued on. They then spent a noisy night camped under the train tracks next to the road. I stayed in my tent, listened to a thundersorm and slept for 11 hours. I woke and continued on. At the shelter I found out that the trail magic was also coooking breakfast in the morning, and set my speed record for 2.2 miles. I had met the person cooking food about three weeks earlier when he was cooking further south. So while he cooked eggs and bacon I ate Krispy Kreme donuts and set out my tent to dry. So in balance I had a grewat night sleep and breakfast, they had a horribloe night, but had hamburgers before going to bed.
After breakfast I hitched towards Lynchburg to the nearest gas station where I could get cell phone service. After a wonderful AYCE Indian buffet with my friend Meghann and her sister I was back on the trail. I thought that I would meet up with everyone again at the first shelt 2 miles from the road, but they had finished their errands earlier and had moved on. This shelter had abrand new wheelchair accesible privy. This was the third wheelchair accesible privy I have come across. Don't get me wrond the ADA act is great, but can we exercise a little common sense? I spent a quiet night with two south bound section hikers burning the wood from the old privy. It did not smell but burned well and quickly.
The next morning I woke up and hiked into a cloud. The wind was blowing something awful and it got cold. I met up with Shadow at the next shelter, but PeakAxe, Vagabond and Rocko had all moved on. I was ready to call it a day and not hike on because of the weather. Shadow insisted we move on so we would only have a 1.7 mile hike out the next day, so on we went. We walked down out from the cloud and then it started raining. When we were 5 miles out from the next shleter the lightning anf thunder started, and the rain worsened. We picked up the pace and I set my 5 miles speed record. However that did not stop the rain from completely soaking everything we were wearing and going through our pack covers. We arrived at the next shelter just as the rain stopped and the sun came out. We switched into our warm and dry clothes and went into our sleeping bags. After drying out and warming up we hung our clothes out to dry. Unfortunely it rained again that night so we just hiked out in our long underwear knowing we would do laundry today. It been fairly old the last couple of days, so while we were waiting for out ride we were huddled on a picnic table sitting on a thermarest under sleeping bag. It is always fun going into a restuarant just in your long underwear, so I put my running shorts on over them. I am not sure that it was an improvement.
The current plan is to go to Trail Days in Damascus and then do Hardcore. Tomorrow we will be meeting back up with Peacock and Daddy-O and then hitting a free hiker lunch on Wednesday before getting picked up by Bigfoot (he section hiked GA with Shadow and myself), then head down on Friday. This will mean about a week off the trail, but hopefully some more good stories.

Some More Pics

2008-05-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

Cinqo de Mayo at the Rancho Viejo in Troutville. This is right after we got our free Coronas and our second round of margaritas. From left to right PeakAxe, Vagabond, me, Shadow Cast, Rocko and Padre. Everyone except Padre took a zero day afterwards.

This is Tinker Cliffs. We had a great day for our slack pack and the trail goes right along the cliffs at this point.

This is Shadow Cast at Pine Swamp Branch shelter. A tree feel on the roof last year, but the scraps were all still there so we made a fire. To make it bigger we threw some logs down the top.

These are the flames coming out the top of the chimney. The chimney was about 12 feet high, and we had the flames coming out about 4 feet above it. Luckily it did not rain that night since there wee no good tenting sites around it.

This is PeakAxe on top of the Dragon's Tooth. The trail was a nice ridgewalk up to the top. The trail just went straight down the side. It was one of the hardest descents we have done so far. But we had a goal of getting to the Homeplace restaurant.

Some Pics

2008-05-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

Right after we left the Partnership shelter (where we ordered pizza) and the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area Headquarterswe came across this sign. This is Daddy-O posing. The trail crossed a forest rod right afterwards that was being wrked on. We were surprised that it needed a sign on the trail. We were able to hear the machines for the previous five minutes, and it is not like we are going so fast.

This is PeakAxe on a rainy day. At this point he did not have a light weight hiking shirt, so the day before he had hiked without his shirt and got badly burned on his arms. So this day he had two "sleeves" to cover his burned arms. Since it had been raining he had his pack cover on.

This is the church breakfast. On the left of the table are Respect and Applicator. On the right are Daddy-O and Shadow Cast. I left completely full and had the most amazing blackberry cobbler.

This is PeakAxe and Vagabond and our 9 empty peach cobbler cups at the Homeplace restaurant. For meat eaters it was amazing.

This is McAfee Knob, about the most photographed spot on the AT. This is between Catawba and Troutville. It is hard to tell, but this is Shadow, Rocko, Myself, Vagabond and PeakAxe. I am not sure about the order. We spent about an hour here on our "slackpack."

Black Snake Stare Down

2008-05-06T05:24:00.001-07:00

I am now in Trouville, VA 714 miles from Springer and I am taking a zero. Yesterday we did a 19 mile slack pack from Catawba. Slack packing is hiking without your pack. Either you are dropped up the trail and hike back or someone delivers your bag to where you are going. We were lucky and had our bags driven ahead for us. It is amazing how nice it is to hike without your bag. You feel like you are flying and you can cover the ground very quickly. But then you take more longer breaks and still can end up coming in very late.

Yesterday was Cinqo do Mayo, so our goal was to get margaritas at the end of the hike. We ended up getting off the trail at around 7 and across the street was the restaurant. So we decided to eat before checking into the hotel. At that point we were all hungry and thirsty and did not want to backtrack. We show up and there is a two hour wait, but Shadow speaks Spanish and was able to convince the hostess to seat us right away. We order our margaritas and our double sized portions of food (Peakaxe and Vagabond split the fajitas for four) and enjoy sitting outside. Right after we order our second round the DJ annouces that they have free beer for the first 44 people who come to the bar. We all run in, most of us without stopping to put our shoes on. When we return, beers in hand, our second round of maragitas are waiting on the table for us. The Dj also said that this was just the beginning. As we are getting ready to pay, there have been no more give aways. Shadow then goes up to the DJ and asks about this. Two minutes later a complementary pitcher of beer arrives. We felt that we did justice to the holiday.

Before geting to Catawba as I was hiking I came across a 4 foot black snake in the trail. This was the second I had come across, but the first time it was cold and the snake was lethargic. This time it was a warm afternoon. I stop and let Shadow take a look at the snake. He asks if I want to try and get it off the trail, but I let him have the honors. The snake curently has his tail towards us. Shadow takes his trekking pole and taps the snake's tail. The snake turns around and goes into attack position. We quickly beat a retreat down the trail. Now we try throwing rocks at the snake. The snake is not fooled and is still staring right out us. After a couple of minutes I try going around it. We had not tried this at first since it was fairly steep on the sides around the snake. As I go above it, the snake is tracking me, watching me move around it. Shadow then throws a couple of more rocks so it is looking at him and I move around as quickly and as safely as possible. Shadow then follows and the snake was still in the trail waiting for the next hiker. We had tried to stare it down, and we lost.

The Roof Is On Fire

2008-05-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

I am now in Catawba, VA 695 miles and 50 days of hiking from Springer. My second pair of shoes are now 420 trail miles old and starting to show there age. I am hoping that they last about 10 more days until Trail Days in Damascus. There should be a bunch of gear manufacturers there, and hopefully I can get a deal on my next pair of shoes.
Leaving Pearisburg my goal was the Homeplace restaurant in Catawba. This is an ALCE southern food restaurant that is only open Thursday through Sunday. So I had to get 75 miles done in 3 and a half days. It was a push, and Daddy-O and Peacock decided that they did not want to do it, so they are a day and a half behind me now. I arrived this afternoon with Rocko (Leave No Trace Guru), Shadow Cast (High Speed, Low Drag), Vagabond (theearthexpedition.com) and Peakaxe (Big Stick into Little Pieces). Unfortunately this restaurant was not as vegetarian friendly as I had hoped, and Shadow and Rocko decided not to eat with us. However Vagabond, Peakaxe and I made up for them. Two fried chicken breasts, 3 pieces of country ham, 3 biscuits with apple butter, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, pinto beans, coleslaw, 3 peach cobblers with ice cream and an hour later, I was stuffed. This place routinely gets voted the best restaurant on the AT, and so far I agree. It was wonderful. I was not hungry for a good three or four hours later. What made it even better was that I had been thinking about fried chicken for the previous week and it was great. When we got there we were the only hikers around. Almost everyone was dressed up for church. It was an amazing contrast, they all smelt so clean. We were an odity to them and we recieved lots of questions, and everyone was friendly and curious.
The first night out of Pearisburg I stayed at a shelter with the above mentioned folk that did not have a roof. Last year a tree fell on the shelter and broke the roof. There had been some clean up done and there was a ot of available firewood. This shelter also had a fireplace "inside." We cleared enough space for five of us to sleep and then went to work on the fire. Because of the lack of roof on the shelter we were able to directly access the top of the fireplace. We started with small pieces of roof from the bottom and threw a couple of logs and large boards down from the top and went to town. We managed to get flames coming out four feet above the top of the chimney, about 16 feet above the bottom of the fireplace. It was awesome and I have the pictures to prove it.
I am currently at the house of a "trail angel." Barnabus hiked in '06 and decided to help out hikers this year. He left a bunch of cards in the shelters around here and with the biscuits he left at a road crossing. He picked us up after lunch at the homeplace, drove us to the grocery store and tomorrow with take us back to the trailhead and "slack" us by taking our packs up to Troutville, 19 miles up the trail. Then it is time for me to take a zero day, so I will probably add another update soon.
ps, check out Vagabond's website, www.theearthexpedition.com, and what he is doing

Pearisburg, VA

2008-04-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

Howdy, I am now in Peatrisburg, VA 622 miles from Springer. I was able to download some pictures at a Walmart the last time I resupplied, but for some reason or another, I am not able to upload them here. So we will have to wait for those pictures until I get to NYC. My pace has slowed down significantly recently. I found out that I got into Marylhurst University for grad school, I will be getting my MAT, and that gives me an additional month of hiking time. This means I do not need to be pushing 20+ mile days. That is why I am about 3 days behind my estimated arrival date here in Pearisburg. However I will be pushing the next couple of days to get to Catawba by Sunday. In Catawba is the Hompleace restaurant. I have heard from multiple past thru hikers that this is the best AYCE (all you can eat) on the trail. Unfortunately it is only open Thursday through Sunday. Today is Tuesday and I am 72 miles away. Once I get there I will probably slow down again. Next time I get to a computer I will let yall know about it.
Before getting to Damascus, Shadow Cast and I had been talking about pancakes. Thru hikers spend a large amount of time talking about food. We usually have all of our meals planned before we get into a town. So once we arrived in town and settled in we went looking for pancakes. We were told of three places, Dairy King, Damascus Eats and In the Country. The Dairy King looked sketchy and in a random choice we went to In the Country. It turns out they do not have free refills on Ice Tea and they burn most of the pancakes. We were not impressed or fully satisfied. We later learned that Dairy King has really good (we did our next two breakfast there with great pancakes), and that Damascus Eats also would have been fine.
In Damascus, Shadow and I were hanging out with Peacock and Daddy-O. They were taking an extra day in Damascus, so we went extra slow the first three days so they could catch up with us. We have been hanging out together since then. However they are not going to push to Catawba with us, so we will try and meet up again later.
The guide book I am using lists highlights for each section. I have stopped reading what those are, because they have always been fogged in for me. Blood Mountain in Georgia, fogged in, Clingmans' dome in the Smokies, fogged in, Max Patch in NC, fogged in. This past section lived up to the rule. The highlight was Grayson Higlands, and that was fogged in and cold, but it looked like it had the potential to be nice. Up there is a herd of feral ponies that they use to keep the balds bald. These ponies have no fear of people. At one shelter they came right up to the shelter. The next day as I took a quick break I got bumped and nudged by one who then laid down on the ground in front of me. Does anyone know if that is part of the mating ritual of feral ponies?
In this past section we also come across the first of three shelters that you can have pizza delivered to. That afternoon we went into town to resupply and hit up the AYCE chinese buffet. It went through me as quickly as you can imagine. Then we got more food and attempted to hitch out of town. This was not very easy. We ended up in a van with four locals who might have had one full set of teeth between them. If we had not been having so much trouble getting a ride we would have just let them go on. We then got driven on the backroads through town and we start to get a little worried, but it all worked out OK. Then we ordered pizza.
One thing I have also realized on the trail is that timing is everything. It makes the difference in good hitches into town and trial magic. Daddy-O has a nack for being just ahead of trail magic. One day a group of four of us, Shadow, Peacock, Daddy-O and myself left together from lunch. We hike together for a while, then I start getting stomach cramps, so Shadow and I slowed down. I took a quick stop, felt better and started hiking again. Just as we get to the next gap and road we hear a truck pull in. As we get to the road the driver asks us if we would like a cold beverage while he fires up the grill for hamburgers. One donut, one half a cantaloupe, one gatorade, one orange juice, one sunkist, one bacon hamburger, one hot dog, some grapes and an hour and a half later we pull out. Peacock and Daddy-O were waiting at the next shelter for two hours wondering what had happened. If they had only been 20 minutes slower.
At that shelter there is a sign from a local church offering an ALCE breakfast on Monday mornings at the road 5 miles North of the shelter. It is Saturday and we start thinking about whether to hike back or not. We need to resupply at the next town, so on the way we are thinking about how to get to the breakfast. We decide to spend the night in town, so we split a hotel room 5 ways, and we start calling churches. There are about 13 thru hikers staying at the same hotel, and after 30 minutes of calling and leaving messages we get in touch with the church and arrange a pickup at the hotel. It was entirely worthwhile. I had scrambled eggs, pancakes, potatoe pancakes, black bean patties, egg caserole, biscuits and gravy, banana bread, mac and cheese, and the most amazing blackberry cobbler I have ever had. It was one of the most amzing desserts I have ever eaten. Then we even got a ride back to the trail which saved us a bad hitch.
Tomorrow I am back on the trail heading to Catawba, I do not know when my next computer stop will be. I am trying to head back to Damascus for Trail Days May 16-18. That is a big celbration of the Appalachian trail with a lot of current and past thru hikers, and gear companies and local merchants. I may stay for Hardcore afterwards which is three days of trail work organized by the trail club just South of Damascus. So I may be back in Damascus before I get to Waynesboro. We will see. I have also just mailed home some of my cold weather gear. This makes my pack almost 5 pounds lighter, but it is a little bit of a gamble. The last two nights were very cold, and two days ago it was snowing as I packed up my tent. But I still have my warm sleeping bag and I have only used my warmest jacket as a pillow and for the first 30 minutes I am awake in the morning. If it is still cold I will stay in my sleeping bag longer.

Birthday Dinners and Bathrooms

2008-04-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

I am now in Damascus, VA 460 miles from Springer. I will be taking another full day off the trail to sit around and not do much. The past ten days had two days of snow and some wonderful trail magic as well as a couple of stories.
On my birthday I went out to eat with Shadow Cast, Pinky and Miss Priss. Miss Priss hiked in 05 and was having some girl time with her college friend Pinky. Shadow Cast and I are now back to hiking together. We all went to the Bridge Street Cafe. We sat down and ordered. Pinky and Miss Priss both ordered the same thing, and the waitress came back out a couple of minutes later with one menu and said they were out of that. They both changed their orders, and a couple of minutes later the waitress said they were out of one of them, so Miss Priss changed her order again. All this time we are asking for our bread which now finally comes. A long time later my food and Miss Priss' food comes out, and the waitress says that they are out of what Shadow Cast and Pinky had ordered. They reorder from about the three things still left on the menu, but our appetizers never show up. Then a couple of minutes later the manager arrives and gives me a free dessert for my birthday, and yet I still have most of my dinner in front of me, and Shadow Cast and Pinky are still waiting for theirs. When all the food finally arrives, it is good, but we are slightly frustrated. However we are only charged for two meals.
Our next meal ensemble is much better. Shadow Cast had gone to church the day before and all four of us were invited to breakfast at someone's house. The food was wonderfull, had lots of butter and kept on coming. It was not until 11am that we were finally on the trail.
We were now on the trail with our bags full of food and as always we were thinking about what to eat for dinner. Around 5:15 we get to a road crossing and there is a sign saying Trail Magic and directions. This leads us to a two hour stop and a three course meal of Belgian waffles, chili and fresh made apple pie. The only down side was that our backpacks were just as heavy the next day.
After a couple of days of great weather we run into some snow. The first day we get some light snow as we were hiking, and that night several inches fell. The next day it snowed a little more, but it was absolutely gorgeous. We stopped that night at the Kincora Hostel. When we arrived the only bed available was a double bed in the unheated treehouse. It was a tight fit, but better than another night in a shelter. We went into town for groceries and pizza, and it is amazing how easy it is to eat a large pizza by yourself.
The next morning about 9 miles into the hiking I was starting to think about how nice it would be to find a toilet. Lo and behold we come across a picnic area with a restroom. There were a bunch of forest service vehicles in the area and the workers having lunch. So I go into the restroon and take care of business. Part way through I hear the door lock. This worries me. After washing my hands I try the door and it does not budge. So I try banging and shouting and still nothing. Shadow Cast is waiting for me, but I do not know at what point he will come back to the restroom, so I start thinking about how to get out. There is some wire mesh in the triangle between the roof and the wall so I turn the trash can over (it was empty), and start beating on the mesh. After a couple of minutes I manage to get an opening I can squeeze out of. Then it was only a couple of foot drop after hanging over the edge of the wall. I slide through with only a scratch or two to show for it.
Shadow Cast and I are hiking fairly quiclky, but that should us allow us more zero days and the ability to slow back down when we get the White Mountains. I am not sure when I will be able to get more pictures up, most of the small towns are not set for for something like that. My next two mail stops will be Pearisburg, VA 24134 and Waynesboro, VA 22980. I am estimating Pearisburg about April 25th and Waynesboro May 9th. So if you are mailing something
Jeffrey Berliss
c/o General Delivery
Hold for AT Thru Hiker
Town, State Zip

Boy Scouts and Mice

2008-04-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

I am taking my second zero day on my birthday in Hot Springs, NC, 270 miles from Springer. I rolled in around 1pm yesterday after a 13 mile day, and I am waiting to get some mail, and send some stuff home tomorrow morning. I am staying at Elmer's. He has a wonderful old house and cooks amazing vegetarian dinners and breakfasts. I will be celebrating my birthday by soaking in the hot springs and getting a massage. I am also breaking in my new trail runners. I started out hiking in my tried and true full leather hiking boats. I was not having blister problems and the leather is still good, but they are starting to leak between the leather and the sole. I am also lightening up by about a pound per foot, which is nice.
I have been rained on everyday since I left Fontana Dam and entered the Smokies. Most of the the time I was hiking in a cloud. It is not too bad, I would rather be in a cloud then getting rained on, and it is good for making time because you do not want to stop. However, the views are not as good. About half an hour after I passed Clingman's Dome, which is the highest mountain on the Trail, the clouds broke and I had two half days of gorgeous weather. The next day at Icewater shelter I had a marvelous sunrise with undercast. By that evening it was raining again. I took an easy day when it was sunny to enjoy the weather, but I have started to push it as it clouded again and I did back to back 18 and 20 mile days. As I leave Hot Springs I will be pushing it some more so that when I get to areas where I know people I can take the time off to visit.
Thru hikers tend to have a love/hate relationship with Boy Scouts. If you cannot yogi food off of a boy scout you are in trouble (defn. yogi, to get free food from someone without asking for it). On my second day in the Smokies I pulled into a shelter after a tough 17 mile day in the rain at around 6pm. The shelter was full of Boy Scouts. I later talked to a bunch to through hikers who had come through earlier in the day who had all seen the Boy Scouts and pushed on 1.7 miles to the next shelter. As I walked in, not wanting to go any further, they were lighting a fire in the shelter. Normally this is a good sign. Unfortunately the chimney was not working and the shelter quickly filled up with smoke and they put out the fire. They were cooking as a came in and after they finished eating said if I had been in a little earlier they would have saved me some. However, as I started cooking they were dividing up dessert and offered me some raspberry crumble. It made a great appetizer. I am trying not to turn down free food. The next night I ran into a different group of boy scouts. These were more annoying but I did get four hot chocolate and two tuna packets in the deal. So all in all, not too bad on the exchange.
Mice are something that thru hikers just have a hate relationship with. While most shelters have bear cables for hanging food, what you are really worried about are mice. I had not had too much trouble until Walnut Mountain shelter. It was another rainy day and I arrived to this shelter after 20+ miles. Otherwise I would have kept on going. It was old and slanted with a not so great water source, but I was done for the day. There were 5 of us in the shelter that night and we were kept up a bit with mice running through everybody's packs'. This is why you leave all the zippers open, so they can get in and out without chewing through your gear. At one point I had a mouse run over my forehead. But the worst was when I woke up with a mouse in my pants. It had been raining as I got into the shelter and my pants were wet so I hung them up to dry. I had forgotten to take the peanut M&M's out of my pocket, so I woke up to the sound of a mouse in my pants. Luckily I had left the pocket open so Ionly lost one handfull of M&M's, and no damage to my only pants.
I have also started to have things break. I had a minor part break on my water filter the first week that I easily replaced. But the first real break was my spoon. On night 13 while stirring my dinner to prevent something burning to the bottom of the pot my spoon broke in half. Luckily Shadow Cast lent me his spoon for dinner and I was able to buy a new one the next day in Fontana Dam. The first major issue was my water filter. Last Sunday the handle on the pump broke, so I spent a week borrowing other people's filters and treating with iodine (I had brought iodine as a backup). Thursday night I stayed at a hostel and called Katadyn and they mailed a replacement part to Erwin, TN (still three days away). As I got into town here in Hot Springs I went to the outdoor store and got the handle replaced. So it is now fixed and I have a handle waiting for me in Erwin. When the filter wasn't working I had a lot of people tell me to get rid of the filter to save weight and not treat the water. I do not think my stomach is strong enough for that.
Before the Smokies I had been hiking for a week with Shadow Cast. He decided to not zero in Knoxville, but he was going to try and meet up with friends in Ashville. So I would hike a day behind him and we would meet up after the Smokies. He kept leaving me notes in the shelter journals asking when I would catch up to him, and talked to people about me, so almost all the people I passed had heard of me, which was nice. However, as I finished the Smokies I found out he was not taking the day off in Ashville and instead did 23 and 26 miles days when I did 18 and 20. Luckily he took enough time off in Hot Springs for me to catch up and was lounging in Elmer's when I walked in. Tomorrow we will be back to hiking together again. We both realized how nice it is to have someone hiking the same pace.
My next planned town stop will be Damascus, VA in about 10 days on March 17th. So if anyone feels like sending me anything, good lucks or belated birthday cards, you can address it to
Jeffrey Berliss
c/o General Delivery
Damascus, VA 24236
and write "Hold for AT Thru Hiker" on the envelope.
Take care and keep on posting comments, I love the feedback, and if you have any questions, ask away.

More Pics

2008-03-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is Cyclops, myself, Shadow Cast and Bigfoot at the NC/GA border, 75 miles of hiking into the trail. Cyclops and Bigfoot were both section hikers. Shadow Cast and I hiked together for about a week before I took today off, and we will hopefully meet up again in Hot Springs.
On Easter Sunday a group of people set up a huge tent and cooked omelets. But the story goes further back. Shadow Cast and I pulled into this gap at around 5:30 on Saturday. We had hiked anout 15 miles at this point and we were one mile away from a shelter. As we came down to the gap we saw this tent and some people we had been hiking with washing their hands. The people at the tent told us to help ouselves. I made a sandwich and was then asked if I wanted a Polish sausage. I thought this was a dumb question. Of course I wanted when, the questions was can I have two? just next door another group had a fire going, and offered me a drink. When I asked for OJ, I got half and half with vodka. After the Vodka Shadow Cast and I hiked up a mile to the shelter since most of the tent sites at the road were full and then finished off the Guinesses we hadn't been able to finish in town the day before. The next morning we hiked back down for breakfast and were given menus. What did we want in our omelets and what did we want in our to go bags. It was amazing.
This is one top of the Observation tower on Wesser Bald. What follows this is about the worst 6 miles of desecent I have done. I called it the "Knee Bomb." We thought it would be an easy 6 miles downhill to the shelter. It was anything but easy.

Pics

2008-03-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

I am taking a day off the trail and visiting some friends from grad school in Knoxville. I have hiked 163 miles in my firs 13 days on the trail. I was able to put together back to back bigs days, 18 and 16 miles, and I am feeling pretty good. At my friend Ben's house I have been able to download my pictures from the first two weeks on the trail, and hopefully I will be able to post some of them. The first picture is of me and Shaggy on top of Springer Mtn. I swam with Shaggy at Carleton and he hiked last year with the Iron Chefs.
This is me and Geek. Geek hiked the trail in 1990 with a cat and again in 2000. These days he throws a St. Patrick's Day party on the trail. He was handing out beer to all the thru hikers that passed. This was my first experience with Trail Magic.

This was my first day of horrible weather. I had tented the previous night and I learned a couple of valuable lessons about pitching my tent when it was going to rain. I ended up getting a little damp. So once it was light enough I started hiking. In about eight miles I got to a shelter. It was about 1pm. I was completely soaked. My rain jacket had soaked through from the outside and I had complete sweat through the shirt I was hiking in. But my feet were still dry. So I called it a day and sat inside the shelter watching the rain outside.

This is a sunset picture with a privy. Most, but not all, shelters have a privy, some have walls, some have roofs, some have both. This one did not have a roof, and you could almost look directly inside from the shelter. This was on top of Tray mountain in Georgia after my first 15 mile day.

Weight vs Comfort vs Money

2008-03-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

One of the big questions when it comes to gear is whether it is worth the weight. Some pieces of gear you need to have and then the question becomes is it worth the extra money to get something lighter. I started off with an obscenely heavy pack, about 55 lbs with food and water. I spent most of the first couple of days thinking about what I had that I could get rid of. At Neels gap which is 30 miles into the trail there is an outdoor shop that will go through your pack and offer suggestions on how to lighten your pack. Somethings I agreed with and I dropped about 5 lbs off the weight. But most of the suggestions involved buying new gear. Yes I could buy an alcohol stove that would be a lot lighter, but I already having a working stove that I am comfortable with. So all of the suggestions that involved buying new gear I disregarded (for now). Other things I decided to keep because I felt that is was worth the extra weight, like my insulated mug. Altough I realized that I do not need to hike with my 3 liter camelback and my quart nalgene full. There is enough water on the trail that I can start half full on water. That saved me 5-10lbs.
So right now I am taking my first night off the trail. I have hiked 66 miles in 6 days with 7 being my short day and 15 my long. There have been a lot of other people around. At least 18 other thru hikers started when I did, 18 the previous day, 51 May 1st, and I have met a lot of other people who started the friday before I did. The current problem is too many people around. The shelters have been full with as many people tenting around the site. But I have realized that I am a fairly fast hiker. If I get an early start then I have had no problem getting to the shelters early enough to get inside. I have tented twice when I have not wanted to make it all the way to the next shelter. One of those nights it started raining. I learned several valulable lessons on how and where to set up my tent. I did not get very wet, but it was annoying. That day it ended up raing from about 4:30am until 6pm. I have never felt so wet. I ended up wakiing up and starting to hike once it was light enough to see the trail. I got to the next shelter and called it an early day. It looks like Sunday may be another nasty day, so the person I have been hiking with, Shadow Cast, and I have decided that if we wake up and it is already nasty, then we will stay in the sheleter until the weather improves.
There are a lot of really good people on the trail, almost everyone is friendly and willing to help out. Most people have trail names, but I have named three people who do not have names at the time. People on the trail tend to keep an eye out for other people they have passed. The shelters also have logs so you can find out about the people hiking ahead of you. I am trying to leave interesting notes so that at one point when someone catches up to me they can say, "Tangent, I have been reading about you." It seems not worth the effort to say you passed through. If you are going to write something, make it worthwhile.
I am staying tonight at a hiker hostel with internet, which I will have to pass on to someone else in a couple of minutes. It was amazing how nice the shower felt, and I now have clean clothes again. It is amazing how all the simple things can make you happy when on the trail. Dry socks and hot chocolate are things of beauty.

Trail names

2008-03-15T06:49:00.001-07:00

I had been asked my several people whether I have a trail name yet. All thru hikers take on a trail name for while they are hiking. I had been thinking about one, but I have always had problems about giving myself a nickname. I also did not want to reuse an old nickname from swimming in college or from high school. So I had been thinking and I was unable to come up with anything good. Luckily I had a friend come to my rescue. This friend is a section hiker (someone who does the trail one section at a time). I am going to copy what my friend said, "All thru-hikers have trail names -no exceptions. Since you're thinking about teaching high school math - and you're, in effect, going off on one - we suggest your trail name be TANGENT. This name also works when you develop a suntan (and by the way,make sure you are carrying some sunblock on your hike). And it's mush easier for you, when explaining your trail name, to tell people that Emily and I ordained if for you." So I would luck to thank Chuck for solving a problem for me.
Tangent

About to Start

2008-03-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

I am packed and ready to go. For those of you who don't know I am about to start hiking the Appalachian Trail. It spans 2174 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Kahtadin in Maine. I am planning on taking just about 5 months for the whole thing. Tomorrow I fly down to Atlanta, buy some more food and then on Sunday I start hiking. My pack currently weights about 36 pounds without water and only some food. I am wondering how much of what I have I will decide that I do not really need. At this point it all seems fairly essential, but priorities can change when I have to carry everything up and down and up and down.
I think I am fairly ready as well. I have been running since I got back into the country and for a while I was swimming as well. So I am in decent shape. I spent last week in Portland visiting my brother and trying out all of my gear and doing some practice hikes. But I never had my pack completely full and I aways came back to my brother's house at night.
I will be hiking alone for the most part. A couple of people have talked about meeting me for a section, and a couple of people who live close to the trail have offered a place to stay or to meet me for lunch. I am not worried about hiking alone. That means I get to go my own place. I also get the impression that there will be other people on the trail, so I should not have to spend too many nights alone, but I will have a much better feel for that after I have been hiking for a while.
I am a little nervous, but the normal nervous when I am about to start something new. But I am also ready to start hiking. I have been living at home with my parents for the last three months and I I ready to be back out on my own. This is something I have been thinking about for a while, and realistically thinking about since I was in grad school in Tennessee. If I don't go out and at least try it now, then I don't know when I will.
When I finish the plan is to move out to Portland and become a high school math teacher. I have applied to two MAT programs starting in the fall. One starts Aug 25, so I am planning to finish Aug 10. If I decide on the other program then I get an extra two or three weeks to finish the hike. Of course it is going to be fun coordinating receiving the paperwork for the programs and sending it on.
So I am currently at 0 Miles Hiked (MH) and 2174 Miles To Go (MTG). I do not know how often I will be able to update, but I am hoping for about once or twice a month. Whenever I update I will be checking email as well so feel free to write back to me, and I will have my cellphone with me, but i will only be turning it on when I am going through towns.