March 2011
3 posts
January 2011
1 post
December 2009
7 posts
August 2009
1 post
July 2009
2 posts
June 2009
11 posts
Day 7 - 4/10/09 (Friday)
last night was again a bit of a struggle. the man of the couple sharing the shelter with us was a snorer. not as bad as stealth was, but sam was outside of the shelter when it started and when he reached back from the picnic table where he was sitting and put his hand on the side wall of the structure…it was vibrating. i also had my first encounter with the shelter mice as one scurried...
Day 6 - 4/9/09 (Thursday)
i’ve taken a couple of days off to make my way to visit friends in new orleans, but day 6 is now here:
last night was painful. not in a physical way, but in a “the man next to me (who i will come to know as “stealth” later on in the hike) snored like a freight train” kind of way. like a freight train dragging a bag full of fingernails on chalk boards behind it....
Day 5 - 4/8/09 (Wednesday)
it’s way too late to be typing this…i promise no wit:
this mornings topics for conversation, which i listened to from my bed in the other room, were “best ways to alleviate pain” (which ranged from motrin to pot to morphine) and best “methods of retaliation” (in which pooping on the offending parties posessions, ie: cars, chairs, etc., seemed to surface far...
Day 4 - 4/7/09 (Tuesday)
last night was beyond bizarre…and for more than one reason:
“snowfall = 1-2 inches”
“weird dreams = 2”
in both i was back in school. one i won’t get into but the other was no fun. i dreamt that i had forgotten about one of the classes i was registered for, for the entire semester and was now faced with having to take an exam having never once been to the...
May 2009
18 posts
Day 3 - 4/6/09 (Monday)
two things from yesterday:
a quick forgotten story: while hiking up sassafras mountain yesterday we encountered a group of boy scouts. they were one of the more comical sights i have ever seen. they each wore an external frame pack with enough gear to spend weeks on the side of a winter mountain. that may not quite paint the picture i want to give you. i feel that it will be hard to really...
Day 2 - 4/5/09 (Sunday)
and right into it…
after a short hike up to the top of springer mtn, the official start of the trail, i met roger. a kindly old man who is one of the official registers for thru-hikers. he sits at the top of the mountain greeting hikers and bidding them good luck on their way. he also has apparently built up some sort of immunity to black flies. swarming. literally everywhere. we are...
Day 1 - 4/4/09 (Sat)
as some of my journaling was done with bullet points, to be filled out at a later time, i will asume that now is that later time and put some meat on the bones of my thought. on many days i did in fact jot down complete thoughts but for day one it is almost completely in need of filling out:
Day one:
i feel that, while this endeavor will be challenging, i will enjoy the physical aspect of...
a foreward to 36 days:
for the next 36 days i will be posting excerpts from my time on the trail along with whatever information i think might be helpful in making sense of the stories and thoughts involved. day one included a foreward to the following pages and it should give you a decent idea of what my ideas were with keeping a journal. i’ll get straight to it to avoid repeating myself:
I am no writer, nor...
"off the trail"
i sit now in a comfortable chair in a corner of the study at the williams house. a week ago i left the appalachian trail. it is still, i presume, in the mountains where i last saw it. i have no imediate intentions of returning to the trail soon, but, given time, i am sure i will find it again. no longer under any presumtions that i could call myself a thru-hiker, but with the title i now...
i had my computer for the day so i tried out a few ideas with some of my portraits from the trail. kind of a test run, but i like where it’s heading…i think. stories on these folks may come along eventually.
April 2009
9 posts
trail magic (a tradition)
there is an old trail tradition in which people from nearby towns, past hikers, or other benevolent persons will bring gifts to hikers. some stay around to meet and greet while others simple place food and drinks (the usual form these gifts take) on the trail near a road or other access point. my first encounter was with a cooler filled with coke, frappuccino, and yuengling, as well as a bag of...
40
saturday i met up with six other guys for a man-venture. it was a 40 mile hike from fontana dam to newfound gap over the course of 14 or so hours that would put me over the 200 mile mark on the trail thus far. mat, robbie, and evan i knew from wake, and the others i met the night before our adventure. this particular hike has been happening for several years now and though i had heard about it...
AT time (a description)
Walking onto the AT is like passing through the wardrobe. Time moves at a different speed on this side. A week in your time seems to be roughly a month over here. I cross towns every few days and excitedly charge my phone to call my friends and hear what they have been doing and discuss my experiences. I have the feeling though that each time they see my name on the phone they must think,...
AT miles (a description)
Hiking miles are not like other miles. It not like jogging a mile. It’s not like walking a mile around a track. It’s certainly not like driving a mile. How does one describe the hiked mile, and not just the universal hiking mile, but the mile hiked with a pack (between 25 and 50 lbs on average…and i know some with heavier). Here’s the best i’ve come up...
mice:
as commenting on my current emotional status would take too long…and would undoubtedly change before i could conclude a proper summary of it…i will avoid the depths of my mind and give you humor:
some of you are aware, others not, that along the trail are shelters. one comes across these one or two a day and they are the perfect escape from the elements. wet tents are not awesome. ...
week 1:
so…it’s been a week since i left for the great outdoors. i smell, i hurt, and i’m having serious civilization withdrawls. i’m journaling fairly regularly each day and i wish i could post it all here. i’ve already forged friendships with several hikers and seen others move on or drop out. i started on a warm sunny day, but i’ve already camped in snow, rain,...