New Jersey and Beyond!

Here's another post (so soon, so fast!) Depending on how regularly you check, you might want to go read the post before this one too (these were posted within 24 hours!).

Day 73 (August 24): To New Jersey!

Today was the first day I hiked with a light pack (~25 lbs), and it was phenomenal! I wound up not getting a ride back to the trail, but 3 miles up 1000 feet felt like nothing with my new and lightened pack!

While exiting New York, I left on a ridge with a continuous view off to my left (and some scrambling). While I'd been hiking in my sandals for a while now, I was quite aware that I had no other recourse should I find something difficult. It all went ok though.

About 5 miles into my hike, I met up with Moose and Crash (short for "Crash and Burn," the now named hiker I met in New York). We hiked together south of New York and into New Jersey.

Crash, Mooses pack, and random patriotism near the New York Border

In New Jersey, we passed many day hikers going up a "mountain." Most interestingly, I saw one day hiker climbing barefoot. That seemed a little intense to me (though he wasn't moving very quickly).

Super official New York, New Jersey Border

After finishing our descent, Moose stopped us to read the bulletin board, which meant we found out there was an organic farm and ice cream store about 0.2 miles away. So we ate there. It was refreshing and delicious.

Moose and Crash hitched into town to stay at a hostel, but I wanted to get a few more miles in (I planned on resupplying the next day and wanted to make it to Union Ville).

After leaving Moose and Crash, I hiked on the longest continuous boardwalk in the AT. It was quite impressive and beautiful. Especially after hiking on a ridge for so long. Eventually I made it up to the shelter despite being dive-bombed by a few gnats.

Trail Friend

At the shelter I met a couple section hikers. They were very interested in my hammock, so I demonstrated how I set it up to them. They recorded it and said they'd put it on youtube (I haven't looked for it).

Stats:
Mileage: 21.6 miles
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Conditions: Some sheet rock. No Biggie. Lots of Boardwalk

Day 74 (August 25): Parks and Recreation

Today I was resupplying. Part of my weight reduction I did during my zero was take less food and resupply more often. I wasn't sure how fast I could do this, so I planned a short day. I also wanted to let Moose and Crash catch back up.

The Swamps of New Jersey

I walked into Unionville and resupplied quickly, but just as quickly got distracted by a couple hikers. I chatted with one section hiker who had just started, and then went to a pizzeria a hiker went into. In it, I found Wednesday, a northbounder (kinda doubt she'd gonna make it...) She ordered 5 meals but could only finish 4.5 of them... which meant I got free food.

After eating a couple more meals, I decided I only had 7 more miles to do, so could dilly dally in town a bit, so wandered to their park and started reading a book on my Kindle (Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson). Eventually, around 3 PM, I left to go to the shelter.

At the shelter I met Wilson Wilson and Bent, both of whom had stayed at the hostel Moose and Crash stayed at the night before.

Wilson Wilson is a 68 year old thru-hiker named after his dog, Wilson. Unfortunatly, Wilson was unable to hike the trail, so it was just Wilson Wilson hiking, not Wilson and Wilson Wilson.

Later in the night (around 10 PM) Wily Riley showed up and set up his tarp. It was fun to meet new people, though Moose and Crash never arrived (I... haven't seen them since).

Stats:
Mileage: 12.4 miles
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 500 feet down
Trail Conditions: Plains are hot and muggy but towns are nice.

Day 75 (August 26): New Faces!

We hiked through High Point state park today, which was quite scenic. Today really reinforced the fact that we're not in Maine or New Hampshire anymore. First, there wasn't much elevation gain. Also, what elevation gain there was, was up switch backs. Maine and New Hampshire would just point you up a mountain and wish you luck. New Jersey held your hand and provided trails and removed the need to use your hands.

The highest point in New Jersey (not on AT) pictured from the second highest point in New Jersey (on AT) in High Point State Park

Second, The Appalachian Trail in New Jersey neglected to hit the highest point in the state! Maine and New Hampshire made sure to hit every highest point (preferably by descending into a valley between them). I was mildly worried I might be getting soft walking in this, but mostly just enjoying a relaxing hike with little weight, well made trails, and little elevation gain.

Looking down on New Jersey

Later into the day, we met another northbounder who... probably wasn't going to make it. We met him around 1 PM, and I noticed he was hiking in sandals (which I liked). But, he'd only gone 2 miles before 1 PM. And he was trying to average over 20 miles a day (to make it to Katahdin). Later, I found out he'd gone 4 miles the previous day.

Morning Sunbeams on the trail (looked better in real life)

We went into a tavern before ascending a small hill to our shelter. There we got to chat with each other and townsfolk. It was good.

Bent and ye-old lake

Me and ye-old lake

Finally, we made camp at our shelter and met Just Right, a Flip Flopper who started at New York going north, reached Katahdin, then returned to New York and is now headed south. Introductions out of the way, we slept and prayed bears wouldn't eat us (they didn't).

Stats:
Mileage: 19.6 miles
Elevation Change: 500 feet up, 500 feet down
Trail Conditions: State Forests

Day 76 (August 27): Reunions

Wilson Wilson and I wanted to make it to Deleware Water Gap (and thus Pennsylvania) today, which meant doing a fair number of miles. We left and made great time on the nice flat and easy trail (put in more than 10 miles before 10 AM), and caught up with a huge group of SoBos!

In that group were Peaches, Baby Bear, Pugs, Speedo and Nemo (who I hadn't seen since VT!), and relatives of Baby Bear and Pugs (since they lived in NJ). They were having a grand old time and it was great to talk with them, though they were stopping before Delaware Water Gap (DWG), so I said farewell and left them.

Wilson Wilson and the Deleware Water Gap (almost to PA)

A few miles later, we met a birdwatcher who was counting the hawk and thruhiker migration south (there'd only been one thru-hiker before us... but many hawks that day). We made our way further south and eventually hit a ton of weekend hikers (the curse of the Saturdays) and the Pennsylvania border. While walking to the free hostel in town, Wilson Wilson and I were stopped by a group of people in a yard.

Border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania

*Wilson Wilson and I walking, tired and hungry from ~25 miles of walking*
"Hey! Are you guys hungry?"
*Slow-motion head and body turn to the right*
"...Yes."
"Want some food? We're having a band picnic and have too much!"
"Yes."
*Limping over to the picnic*

So Wilson Wilson and I got free burgers, chicken salad, sangria, fancy IPAs, spaghetti, corn bread, watermelon, and other picnic foods. In exchange we told the band and their groupies a few trail stories. They invited us to come back for music and more food later in the day. We wound up sending some other thru-hikers at the hostel to eat seconds.

Eventually, we settled into the hostel, which was just the basement of a Presbyterian church which said, "Hm... the Bible tells us to welcome strangers. Let's let a bunch of random hobos live in the basement of our church." We were all very grateful.

Stats:
Mileage: 24.8 miles
Elevation Change: 500 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Conditions: So flat and nic--- where'd these rocks come from?

Zero at the Church (August 28)

Today was a Sunday, and since we were in the basement of a church, I went to church (for the first time since starting the trip). Technically it was a Presbyterian church and I'm Anglican, but the liturgy is similar enough that it was very comforting. Near the end of the service, the minister asked the congregation for things we were thankful for. I said I was thankful for there not being mosquitoes in their basement. They all laughed. I kinda think they might have been kidding.

After the service, Kenny, one of the church members shuttled 5 hikers to Walmart, where we resupplied. One death defying drive later, we all bought food and then came back. When we got back, Wily Rily and Just Right had arrived at the hostel, supposedly planning on taking a "brief break" before heading out (they wound up spending the night).

The ridge runner for the next 40 miles also stopped by the church. Ridge runners are people who walk the same ~50 miles of trail, picking up people's trash, maintaining the privies, checking water, clearing the trail, and encouraging people to follow leave no trace. He warned us that the next 75 miles was "the worst trail on the AT," and gave us the inside scoop on where we could get water for the next 40 miles (turns out, about half the labeled water sources were dry, so it was good he talked to us).

Eventually, the ridge runner convinced Just Right and myself we should invest in different footware. So we took another death defying drive to Walmart. While driving, Kenny told us about how just the other day he'd been in an accident. Then he pulled across into oncoming traffic at a blind turn so he could park and we could fix the door ajar. Then we almost got hit getting back into our lane after fixing the door. But at least now we're saved from the improperly closed door.

At Walmart, I purchased some equipment (better headlamp & body glide & bug spray), and Just Right bought some child sized boots (she has small feet). I decided I'd take my chances with my sandals. They'd lasted me ~250 miles with no real problems, they could probably handle the next 200.

That evening, there was a cookout and music session at the church. However, I didn't want to pay $3 for a hot dog (because I'd probably need 5), so instead Just Right and I went to the local pizzeria and each got 14 inch pizzas (which we finished there).

Finally, as we were preparing for sleep, a father (Lost Cause) and daughter (Rewind) pair with their dog came in. I think Rewind is 12. They're thru-hiking. Also, a 76 year old Veteran came in going north. He had a 50+ lb pack and was also thru-hiking. I'm pretty comfortable saying age is not a huge restriction to thru-hiking.

Stats:
Walmart trips: 2
Times driver almost killed us: 2
Meals eaten: Only a couple... but big ones
Hikers sucked into staying the night: 7

Day 77 (August 29): Pennsylvanian Rocks

Knowing that Pennsylvainia's terrain might slow me down, I left with sunrise (~6:15 AM). I climbed up to the ridge the next 25 miles are on and walked. The first section was pretty familiar to me. Later, I met a pair of day hikers concerned for me:

*Sees 3 dogs and 2 people walking*
*Smiles and starts petting the dog who came up to me*
"Hello"
"How are you?"
"Good"
"Do you have any boots?"
"Nope."
"You know you're going into 'ankle breaker alley' right"
"I heard the rocks were bad. I'll probably be ok."
"I hope you're not going far, you'll need to go slow over the rocks."
"Thanks for the advice, have a good hike!"
"You too."
*Leaves the wonderful furry companion to go maybe break some ankles*

It really wasn't that bad. There were rocks and I did need to watch my step, but I'd climbed worse. It didn't really slow me down much. I have decided that Pennsylvania has at least 5 different difficulty ratings of trail: Beginner, Easy, Normal, Rocky, and Fun. "Ankle Breaker Alley" definitely fell into the "Fun" category. Here's images of each of the categories:

Beginner trail: for the uninitiated

Easy Trail: a couple rocks, not too bad

Normal Trail: few large rocks, lots of little rocks everywhere. Expect foot pain.

Rocky trail: be careful where you step, don't twist your ankle. Expect foot pain.

Fun trail: see 5 foot tall stick for scale.

"Ankle Breaker Alley:" Jumping across rocks on a ridge while having a view. Super Fun.

Normal Trail with foot stepping.

Eventually, I made it to the shelter I was aiming for, and met Day Hiker and Achilles there! Turns out they'd gotten a stomach bug and been forced to take 5 zeros off trail, which enabled me to catch them despite taking two zeros, a nero, having them leave while I stayed, and not going particularly fast. We chatted. Of particular note, we found a mildly crass and misogynistic haiku someone (probably a day-hiking high school senior) had written. We decided to write a two page long feminist reinterpretation of it. We... might need to find better things to do.

Eventually, Just Right made it to camp, and I volunteered to go on a water run (water was 0.5 miles down the mountain).

The beginning of the trip was marred by difficulty, as in the process of standing up I dealt my pants a fatal blow (4 small holes and 2 mild holes in the seat of the pants is ok. 4 small holes, 2 mild holes, and 1 1" by 1" hole in the seat of the pants is probably not ok.) Mourning the impending loss of my pants (it's not like I had anything to change into), I descended the mountain looking for water. Unfortunately, I missed the turn-off to the spring and wound up going into some neighborhood. I briefly considered knocking on a door to ask if they could fill up the 4.5 gallons of capacity I had brought (I took everyone's water things), but decided that would be a little weird, and I should just return and look for the spring on the way up. I eventually found it, and returned to camp just as night was falling with 30+ lbs of water. There was much rejoicing.

Stats:
Mileage: 20.1 miles
Elevation Change: 1500 feet up, 500 feet down
Trail Conditions: "Ankle Breaker Alley"

Day 78 (August 30): McDonnalds Hobo Etiquette

Today, we passed the Superfund site. This is a place which did copper smelting a little too hard, deforested a mountain, and is now a reforestation project. It was actually one of the nicest portions of trail we've walked on. Immediately afterwards, the 1000 foot descent down a boulder field was one of the most fun portions of trail we've walked on.

Lunch Break spot

After descending, I wanted to go into town to resupply, buy dinner, and charge my phone. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania hitching failed me, so I wound up walking 2.5 miles into town... then 2.5 miles out of town.

While resupplying, I reached a conundrum. I normally go to McDonnalds (or similar) restaurants when in town because 1. I can eat a meal for under $20, 2. They normally have outlets, 3. They normally don't mind if a smelly homeless guy sits in their booth for 3 hours.

Unfortunately, the McDonnalds I went to was already full of homeless charging users! All three of the tables with outlet access were taken! I settled into a watch nearby after ordering my food, determined to swoop in and take the coveted outlet once one of them left.

An hour later, I'd eaten my food, but the three outlet users were still going strong. Charging my phone was imperative because I had a friend in Pennsylvania I was trying to coordinate visiting with. I needed to leave within 2 hours, unless I got a hitch back to the trail, in which case I could leave in 3 hours. I considered my options:

Table 1: An older (60-ish) man with about a week's worth of gray stubble, a phone and tablet charging at his table, a small fortress of possessions, slightly dirty clothing (not as bad as mine), and food spread around.
Table 2: A middle aged (40-ish) man, clean shaven, tucked in polo shirt, one meal eaten in front of him, charging his phone. Probably owns a car.
Table 3: A young (upper 20s?) woman with an infant in a stroller. Charging a phone, feeding her child, and talking to someone at the same time. Probably a single mother?

My target acquired, I approached the clean man and asked:
"Is it alright if I use the other outlet at your table? I'll just be over there."
*points to the table my pack, three meals, walking stick, guidebook, large drink, nalgenes, and other assorted gear are at*
*Man looks up, looks frightened*
"Oh! Yes! That's fine. I was just leaving."
"Thanks!"
*I plug in my phone and return to my table*
*man frantically packs his things and has left the McDonnalds within 1 minute*
*Success!*

Charging secured, I contacted Malia to begin arranging when and what she'd like to do while I was in Pennsylvania.

2 hours later, when I needed to leave, I packed up my things (table 1 was still going strong, table 3 had vacated about 45 minutes after I started charging) and left. Sadly, the McDonnalds bathroom was being cleaned (or something), so I couldn't get the full McDonnalds experience, but I figured I'd just poop at the privy in the shelter I was going to.

Stats:
Mileage: 16.7
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 1500 feet down
Trail Conditions: Wait... there's no privy? Madness.

Blessings,
David "Grizzly" Martin

P.S. Ok. Now I'm back off into the Maryland wilderness, which means no keyboard, which means little to no typing, which means back to radio silence from me (for most of you). Rest assured, I'm doing well, I'm now over halfway through, and I'm excitedly looking forward to the Shenandoahs, which I should get to in the next couple days. Then, I think I'll get some views as good as I got in Maine and New Hampshire (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York didn't have that many great views... by my standards)

Disappointment's in the Air... No... that's just water

Every journey has it's ups and downs. I feel like this post does a decent job of describing a few of my more recent ups and downs. Enjoy :)

Day 59 (August 8): Blue Berries and Bears

Dawn of a new day. Today I decided I'd make it to Upper Goose Pond (where I'd intended to go yesterday), but since I'd been told it was an easy trail, I slept in and started hiking around 8 AM.

For the first 7 miles I was excited to go to the cookie lady's house (which was 7 miles into the day's hike). She greets hikers with two cookies, and lets them pick blueberries from her field to take to Upper Goose Pond for blueberry pancakes. She also has a water spigot, so you can fill up on clean water.

I missed the turnoff for the cookie lady. So I kept hiking and filtered water from a dirty stream further down the trail (and ate a Cliff bar). I also met up with Moose, which was odd, since she'd camped further down the trail and I'd started late. Turns out, she got woken up by a bear last night.

So, Moose was hiking, and stealthed about .1 or .2 miles from a road, figured we hadn't seen any bears, they probably wouldn't come too near the road, and it was late and dark; so she just hung her food off her hammock strap (something many people have done, though I've never been that brave). Around 2 AM, she was woken up to something trying to get at her food bag. She shooed it away, and saw that it was a bear cub. About 30 minutes later, the mother came by and started having a go at her food. Moose decided to curl up in a ball at the opposite end of her hammock and hope it went away. Eventually, the bear got it's claw stuck in her hammock, and started yanking her hammock around. Moose then got out and sprinted to the road, where she waited 3 hours until someone drove by.

Once a car came by, they checked out her campsite (her food bag was torn up, food was everywhere, and her hammock has a rip in it) and reported it to a ranger. She got a ride into town to buy more food, and got back on the trail. It'd been a long stressful day for her.

In other news, the hikers I'm passing going north are now more section hikers than thru-hikers. Which is good, because Katahdin closes October 15, and it took me about that much time to get down here from there (counting zeros), so thru-hikers I meet now are either not going to make it, or need to start pulling big miles.

Upper Goose Pond. Quite a beautiful oasis

Once I reached Upper Goose Pond, I saw why so many people raved about it (sadly, I forgot to take pictures). It's a cabin with bunks and mattresses and a caretaker and canoes and a dock and 3 privies and bottled spring water. It was basically heaven. A bunch of SoBos I thought I'd never see (because they were ahead of me by a couple weeks when I started) were there, and "decided" to zero that day (they just kept postponing their departure until it was time to go to sleep). It's a great place.

Stats:
Mileage: 17.6 miles
Elevation Change: 500 feet up, 500 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Is my stick thick enough to beat back a bear?

Day 60 (August 9): Where'd the water go?

Waking up to blueberry pancakes is great. Waking up without having to swat mosquitoes off myself is even better. So, today had an excellent start. Then, I dillydallied on the dock with Pugs, Baby Bear, Peaches, and Moose, and eventually started hiking (they remained on the dock).

Leaving Upper Goose Pond. If you look VERY closely, you can see Moose, Peaches, Baby Bear, and Pugs relaxing on a dock.

I found trail magic! It was a bunch of watermelons and some bottled water. I took a watermelon slice and topped off my water. While I was doing that, Funk Train, Thumper, and Honey Buns caught up to me. They'd been in front of me by quite a bit, but had been partying hard enough I caught them. I hiked with them for the rest of the day.

After carefully interviewing the NoBos we passed, we decided on a shelter to stop at because we were told it had water. I decided to risk it and plan to run out of water right before I hit the shelter (because carrying weight is painful). Fortunately, it all worked out in the end. Unfortunately the water was a really small spring you needed to lie down near and scoop water out. Doubly unfortunately there were ground bees all over. But, none of them wound up biting me and the water was really cold, so it was all good. A section hiker even let me borrow her scoopy so I could more easily get water.

Stats:
Mileage: 15.8 miles
Elevation Change: 2000 feet up, 2000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: To fill or not to fill... that is the question.

Day 61 (August 10): Suicide Squad

Today, we stopped by Great Barrington. I left early to escape the forecasted rain (I got off the trail about 20 minutes before the rain started). This town was one of the friendliest places to hikers I've been to. I got a hitch in really easily to the community center, where I paid 6 dollars for a shower and a towel (I'm afraid that towel may never be the same), and met some NoBos who needed me to finish their six pack so they could hike.

Ye Ol' Cloud Covered Pond

Then I stopped by McDonald's for some electronics charging and food (I eventually had 3 separate meals here), and also resupplied at the local store. There I met back up with Thumper, Funk Train, and Honey Buns, who'd left the shelter after me. I'd talked with the NoBos about things to do in town, and they mentioned they'd seen Suicide Squad, which I hadn't really heard about (because I was busy woodsing), but thought it'd be fun to see. I mentioned it to the others and we decided we'd go see the movie.

Unfortunately, we misjudged the distance from McDonalds to the movie theater. Fotunately, we all got hitches there. Also, between getting out of his hitch and getting into the movie theater, Thumper was stopped by a barista in an alley who offered to let us stay the night at her apartment. After the movie (which was pretty bad).

We wandered the town, where a woman and her daughter talked to us for about a half hour about trail things and long distance hiking, and got dinner. I decided I wanted to hike another 2 miles on the trail because I was pretty confident I'd not be getting out early if I stayed the night. Also I was fairly confident it would get kinda awkward since I don't smoke or do drugs and it sounded like a small apartment.

I hiked the 2 miles out to the shelter and stayed with some of the NoBos I'd met in town (there are two entrances).

Stats:
Mileage: 5.3 miles
Elevation Change: 500 feet up, 500 feet down
Trail Thoughts: People are really nice.

Day 62 (August 11): Hey Summer... This is Awkward

Today I started hiking in a cloud. It was hot. Clouds should not, as a general rule, be hot. When they're cool, they're pleasant and relaxing. When they're hot, they're uncomfortable, moist, clammy, and sweaty. I'm fairly confident August is supposed to be past summer though, and I've got a picture of a dying tree to prove it! The temperature disagrees with me.

I see you fall! No need to be shy.

Later, I found out that the heat index for today was 104, with the actuals being in the 90s and humidity around 70%. It didn't help that shortly after starting in the cloud, I descended to low level farmland where I walked through fields without tree cover. It was awful.

Finally, in the afternoon, I climbed up a ridge where it was slightly cooler (but still unpleasant), and heard about great trail magic (ice cold water and gatorade). So I went there and drank a lot of water and a bottle of gatorade. There, I met back up with Honey Bun, Thumper, and Funk Train. It also started to rain, but was still hot and humid, which we all thought was cheating. We decided to just hike back 0.4 miles to stay at a shelter rather than go the remaining 5 miles we had planned the night before.

Flatlands of MA

Stats:
Mileage: 14.4 miles
Elevation Change: 1500 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Sure are a lot of farms

Day 63 (August 12): Swimming into Connecticut

The previous night, Honey Bun and Thumper were texting a section hiker who lived in the area they'd met at Upper Goose Pond cabin. She wanted to hike with us and bring us donuts and coffee. So she did. It was great. Note: I almost never drink coffee. I drank about half a large Duncan Donuts Iced Coffee, and let me tell you: no mountain has been climbed in such a rush before.

Left to right: Funk Train, Honey Buns, and Thumper viewing the flatlands on a ridge.

After summiting the mountain, we met up with Sleeping Beauty and got to a nice swimming hole right on the border of Connecticut. We took a hour and a half break there before pressing on into CT. Once we climbed the first mountain (Bear Mountain) in CT, we saw that there were lots of scattered thunderstorms in the area. So we hiked faster. The other three guys were meeting up with another section hiker they'd met earlier, so I hiked on to the shelter alone. I haven't seen them since, but they must have gotten ahead of me at some point because I've seen their names in logs. I have a slight suspicion they yellow blazed (rode to somewhere further south in a car).

At the shelter I met back up with Piece By Piece (who'd been hiking with Funk Train and the others until he decided he wanted to not smoke weed e'ry day... just every other day) and Troubadour, who'd slowed down to hike with his girlfriend for a week or two. It was a great shelter with a nice piped spring. I love fast flowing piped springs. They're cold, clean, and I don't get bitten much while getting water.

I'm told the heat index today was 105. It sure felt hot, but between being relatively high, in good tree cover, with strong winds, occasional thunderstorms, and swimming, it wasn't that bad.

Stats:
Mileage: 17.5 miles
Elevation Change: 3000 feet up, 3000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: If that's CT's worst mountain this'll be an easy state

Day 64 (August 13): Heat Wave

Today was hot. The Heat Index was over 110. I sweat while siting shirtless in the shade. I drank 8 liters of water, and was horribly dehydrated. The stream I had counted on to fill water at was dry, so I had to hike 3 miles without water while dehydrated. I poured about 50 mL of water out of my left boot during a water break and considered filtering it and drinking it again. I probably wrung more than 100 mL out of my socks. I switched from hiking in my boots to hiking in my sandals because my feet, socks, and boots were soaked. All of this led to me stopping halfway through my planed hike... in a swamp.

For whatever reason, there's a racetrack near the trail.

Turns out, there's lots of mosquitoes in the swamp. I probably got over 100 bug bites this day. My legs may never be the same. Also I was in sandals, so my feet got tons of mosquitoe bites. Also there was a lightning storm that night, but the humidity was still high and it was still hot, so my boots were still soaked.

On the bright side, I met Calvin and Hobbes today, who I'd read about in the logs, but assumed I'd never meet (they were doing fast days and were 2 weeks ahead of me before I took a week off). But they'd taken 21 consecutive zeros for tetanus and a couple weddings, so they came in a couple hours after I did to the swampy shelter.

At least the swamp was wet and thus had water.

Stats:
Mileage: 11.4 miles
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Heat... Dehydration... Heat... Bugs.... Humidity... No Water... Hot... I'll stop here

Day 65 (August 14): The Housatonic River

Today I awoke to the sight of 30-ish mosquitoes on my bug net and biting me through the net, my hammock, and my clothing. It was uncomfortable. I put away my wet sleeping gear while getting bit, and ate my food while serving as the swamp's food. Then I ran away from the swamp as fast as my socks and sandals would take me (no chance am I putting those boots on). I'm considering switching to just hiking in sandals if my feet can take it. It'd be a fair amount of weight I could send home if I can manage it... I just need to make sure I can actually hike in sandals before sending my boots home.

Hiking with Calvin and Hobbes was a lot of fun. They'd both recently graduated from Goshen college, which is affiliated with Wheaton college, so we had a lot in common and fun conversation.

About 10 miles into the hike, we came across the Housatonic River, which we've passed two or three times already. It also looked like we were going to pass it again in about 20 miles. At our lunch break we had a brief moment of frantic activity.

Gorgeous trail by a lazy river. Great hiking.

Hobbes (feverishly excited): "What if we just got a canoe and aqua-blazed down the river this afternoon?"
Calvin and I: "That'd be great. You have 20 minutes and our cell phones to try to get us a canoe."
*20 minutes later*
We left the shelter on foot with slightly drained batteries.

I had planned to resupply in Kent, but had just enough food I could stretch it another day. That would mean I'd have to spend less time hiking today, which was a plus in my book. Also everything I'd heard about Kent said it was the only bad place for hikers on the trail (lots of entitled rich kids apparently), so I was fine with passing it by. It was still hot.

Stats:
Mileage:17.3 miles
Elevation Change: 1500 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Aqua blazing would be nice.

Day 66 (August 15): GOODBYE FOREVER CT!

Today Calvin, Hobbes, and I left CT. We were very happy. I honestly don't remember much else on that hike. Most of our conversation was just celebrating leaving CT.

I did decide that because the last couple days had been awful, I'd take a zero (even though I hadn't planned on it) in the town I was passing through. Calvin and Hobbes were taking three zeros at a friend's anyways, so they were able to give me a ride to the town I zeroed in (which is important, because hitch-hiking is illegal in New York).

Stats:
Mileage: 18.1 miles
Elevation Change: 2000 feet up, 2000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Sleeping in CT was definitely a mistake. Should have done the CT challenge (50 miles through all of CT in one day). My poor skin.

Zero day (August 16): Write a pos-- BOOKS!

Today was a fairly simple plan: Eat food. Buy food. Buy fuel. Write a blog-post. Lie Down. Don't scratch too many of my bites. I did three of those things.

I walked from my motel to town (about 2 miles) in my sandals and stopped at a deli and ate breakfast (yum). Then I went to the library to write about my adventures. However, the library required you sign in to their computer to use it. It looked like I could probably ask a library to get an hour of computer time, but no chance could I write a blog post in that time, and I didn't want to talk to people anyways. So I browsed the shelf.

I found Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, and so decided to read that (I hadn't read any of his books before). It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it.

When I was about halfway through reading the book, Steely (a SoBo I'd met a couple weeks ago) said hi to me, and we got lunch together. Turns out, he'd had the same experience I'd had (where he dropped his wallet), but without the saving grace of great SoBos behind him (like I'd had). So now he had to call his bank and be like "No, I'm not at my home address. No I don't have any form of ID. I'm at a library in New York. Yes I understand how that sounds. Actually, if it's going to take five days, could you send it to this other town?" It sounded awful. I bought a regal gift card from his because he needed the cash more than he needed to see free movies.

Stats:
Hikers Helped: 1
Pokemon hatched: 2
Books read: 1
Legs scratched: 2
Bleeding bug-bites: unknown
Blogs updated: 0
Calories consumed: 7000?
Electronics charged: both
Trail Thoughts: I love me some zeros.

Day 67 (August 17): Yogi and BooBoo

I should hike a while today. Maybe 20 miles? It is right after a zero after all. Wait. Checkout isn't until 10 AM.... maybe I'll do less.

So I left the motel at 10 AM. Also, when resupplying yesterday, nobody had fuel, so I only bought cold food. Also, I decided to hike in sandals with my boots tied to the back of my bag. I figure I'd like to have a lighter pack, but I don't want to regret sending something home. So I just won't use a bunch of stuff for a week or so, then I'll send it home. And now I get to try out going stoveless too. Perfect.

Nuclear Lake. AKA the swimming hole that gives super powers.

I got a little lost today on the trail after Nuclear Lake. My thought process went something like this

*hiking through woods happily*
"Man, this sure is some nice trail. Seems almost like a road."
*hiking along*
"Well, you know what they say, when the trail gives you easy miles, gobble them up"
*hikes a little faster*
"Wait... I don't see any white blazes. Maybe I'll see some northbound blazes if I turn around?"
*looks behind, no blazes*
"Well... I don't remember taking a turn. And I'm going roughly south. I'll just walk and see what happens"
*Gets to a closed and locked gate*
"uess I'll jump this"
*arrives at parking lot*
"Oh look! A Map! Where am I?"
*5 minutes later*
"Only 0.4 miles off trail? Sweet!"

So I wound up hiking two legs of a right triangle rather than taking the hypotenuse, which, all things considered wasn't too bad.

I reached the lesser of my two targets, and decided I'd try to wait for Camp Shoes and Double Dip (who I'd heard had gotten over his giardia). While waiting, Yogi and BooBoo, two section hikers came in for their first day in the woods. Interacting with them was very amusing.

Neither of them had done anything like this before, and this was their practice hike to determine if they'd hike the AT the next year. So they'd bought about $2000 worth of gear, 10 days of food, and driven out into the woods. By the time they got to the shelter (6 miles and 6 hours from where they'd parked) they were pretty beat. They warned me about "that huge effing mountain" they had to climb to get here and how the terrain was awful and the trail wasn't well maintained or marked and they'd gotten lost. I said "yeah" and thought *we're literally 900 feet above sea level. There was no mountain.*

They then proceeded to pull out a bunch of the things they'd brought, like: a full bottle of Makers Mark, a solar shower, two hatchets, and two knife-hammers. I balked at the things they had. They shared the Makers Mark though, so that made them fast friends with everyone. Some NoBos who had a bunch of their whiskey set their tent up for them and just sort of threw the rain tarp over it.

A week later, I found out from Steely that BooBoo had his tail cut off the night before... and was hiking in jeans. No way was that comfortable.

Later, Peaches and Scruffy (both SoBos) caught up and made camp. Apparently, Camp Shoes and Double Dip had done trail magic (They live about 30 minutes from the trail here), but had set up about 45 minutes after I passed the intersection they cooked burgers and hot dogs at.

At the end of the day, I set up my hammock and decided to roll the dice on if it'd rain or not and not set up my tarp. I lost.

Stats:
Mileage: 10.9
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 700 feet down
Trail Thoughts: If 'yer gonna woods, either do no research/prep/reading, or a lot. Going halfway is just sad.

Day 68 (August 18): Deli Detours

In the morning (woken nice and early at 4:15 by rain on my face) I found that BooBoo had been throwing up all night, and neither BooBoo nor Yogi had figured out or bothered to set up their rain tarp properly, electing to just have everything they own get wet instead. I'd at least hedged my bets the night before by putting my pack in the shelter, and once I felt rain instantly moved my sleeping bag and hammock into the shelter, so the next night I wouldn't be wet.

Eventually, I took off, planning on doing a 27 mile day with a stop at a deli in the morning. I listened to music and ran in my sandals over the trail that Yogi and BooBoo had been complaining about the night before. In their defense, there were some rocks and a couple fallen trees. Nothing like Maine or New Hampshire though.

I stopped at the deli with Scruffy and Peaches and had a sandwich. And two gatorades. And filled water. And charged my phone. It was a good time. Then we hiked on.

Later, we reached the RPH shelter, the last shelter for 32 miles. Also, the only? shelter on the AT you can order pizza delivered to. Sadly, as we were there around noon, the pizza place wasn't open and we weren't irresponsible enough to stop hiking then just for pizza. Though we considered it.

While we waited, Camp Shoes came by slackpacking. He and Double Dip were slack packing 32 miles today, and about 32 miles tomorrow. Turns out just walking without packs is real easy when you've been doing it for 2+ months with a bunch of weight on your back.

We also met a NoBo who told us about a magical lake with a sandy beach and a concession stand and flush toilets and free food. We decided to scrap our plans and go there.

Unfortunately, the beach closed early and the campgrounds were substantially further off trail than we'd thought. Also, I had to hang my hammock above a swamp (again). The bugs were awful. Fortunately, there was indeed free food. Peaches, Scruffy, and I were all discouraged enough that we decided we'd cheat and walk the other way around the lake (the AT goes south around the lake, the campsite was north of the lake, we just met up with the AT after it passed the lake the next day).

Stats:
Mileage: 14.0
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: ....What's a little Blue-Blazing (skipping a section of the AT by walking easier trails)between friends?

Day 69 (August 19): You hike and then you stop

I slept in and observed the 20+ mosquitoes trying to bite me (I've now learned that even when it's 100 degrees you need to get in your sleeping bag in your hammock because bugs can bite through nets, hammocks, and clothes, but if you throw a layer of sleeping bag into the mix it stops them. Or, at least, that's the theory). Eventually, I left camp after Peaches and Scruffy. They were both planning on doing big days, so I'd said bye to them the night before. I'm not feeling a big day today.

The hike was fairly simple. Eventually I got to a deli where I bought and ate a pizza and two gatorades, charged my phone, and filled my water. There I met a Lasher (Long Ass Section HikER) going south who had started today... and gotten lost and wound up going in a 10 mile circle. Eventually I found a campsite and slept.

9/11 memorial spray painted on the AT near NYC

Stats:
Mileage: 16.0
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: I itch and hurt and hate bugs. I'll just sleep here.

Day 70 (August 20): All... The... People...

While I was in my hammock last night, 3 section hikers had also come into camp. It's kind of funny how now there's a fairly large disconnect even between the woodsy normal people and myself. Like, they find things like digging holes to poop in, or filtering water, or hanging bear bags, or being swarmed by mosquitoes, or going to sleep when the sun goes down weird. To me, it's just life at this point.

This got me to thinking about the AT and what I'm doing. I'm not hiking it to complete it, I'm hiking it for adventure, fun times, memories, and interesting people. I've certainly gotten what I came for. The question is if completing it will be something I enjoy. If the last 10 or so days are any indication, I'm not enjoying it anymore, so maybe I should go home? Regardless, I need to keep walking today. Gotta get to water.

Eventually, I passed through Fort Montgomery and climbed Bear Mountain. I didn't account for the fact that today was a Saturday, and I was hiking through a park and New York's most popular mountain. I must have passed several hundred people while climbing (sometimes in groups of 20+). It was a 1000 foot climb of a mountain, so normally I'd consider taking a breather somewhere on the incline. But there were so many people on the mountain and the entire mountain had stairs, so I didn't. I just passed fit looking people in my sandals and 40 lb pack. I began to consider that I might not be in only slightly above average shape anymore (at least when it comes to hiking).

After summitting the mountain, I ate lunch (and got stares for pulling out tortillas, peanut butter, and tuna), took a couple pictures and moved on. There's plenty of other views which don't have hundreds of tourists. There was also a cyclist group, a motorcycle gang, and a Ferrari with a go-pro.

Bear Mountain, NY. Too many people.

While hiking up, I met up with Dayhiker, Achilles, and Buns (three SoBos I hadn't met before, who'd passed me while I zeroed the other day). We hiked together for the day.

We passed a group of day hikers who stopped us because there were women peeing ahead of us. We humored them and stopped for a bit (though honestly, it's on you when you pee in the woods to find a secluded spot. Don't just post guards. I was upset at having to stop). While we waited they started talking to us. Then they started hiking again, but they were going slow and kept talking to us. Then I saw the rest of the group, and there must have been about 30 of them. And they were all walking pretty slow. And I wanted to not miss my miles just because of these day hikers. So I ignored the person talking and started walking faster.

Funny story: I heard at least three people sniff and ask other hikers if they'd put on their deodorant that morning, to which they'd all responded "of course!" I guess getting smelly in the woods would be weird? Once I got ahead of them I started running up the next mountain because I didn't want them to catch me when I broke for lunch.

I didn't run fast enough.

After failing to obtain free food from the day hikers ("Oh? You're hiking the AT? That's cool." "Yep. And we eat a lot, so any extra food is appreciated" "..." *goes to talk to someone else*), we left the view and continued hiking. Eventually, we got near the shelter before our target, and found out that the shelter we were aiming for was closed for repairs. I decided to call it a day early and just stay at the shelter before it. This meant I had a fair amount of daylight to unwind in, which was nice. Dayhiker, Achilles, and Buns went on, but Scruffy and Peaches (who had stayed at a hostel the night before) and Steely, Calvin, and Hobbes caught up, which was nice. Calvin and Hobbes also told us all about a shortcut to a beach they were planning on taking the next morning. We were all in for that.

Lunch break location (pre-day hiker invasion)

Stats:
Mileage: 12.4 miles
Elevation Change: 2500 feet up, 2000 feet down
Trail Thoughts: So many people I don't want to talk to. So many people who want to talk to me. Clearly I need to smell worse so they all leave.

Day 71 (August 21): Gettin' Lost Like A Pro

Peaches and Scruffy went on ahead in the morning before Calvin and Hobbes woke up. Steely and I waited for them to wake up so we could take our (1 mile maybe) shortcut and get to a beach with water, flush toilets, and a concession stand.

We hiked for about an hour on the shortcut, then came across some white blazes (which we assumed was the AT) when we didn't expect to. After a brief disagreement, Calvin and Hobbes went one way, Steely and I went another. 1.5 miles later, Steely and I discovered we'd choosen poorly (though we also saw a deer, so it was ok).

Well hello to you too!

We hiked back, and eventually made it to the beach (Calvin and Hobbes were long gone), where we got water and hobo'd like bosses (didn't look homeless enough to get anyone to offer us free food though. And the trashcans were mostly full of empty bottles).

We eventually started hiking again, going south. I stayed on my own and just hiked. I came across the "lemon squeezer" which was supposed to be a really hard terain part of New York. Honestly, it just felt like an average section of Southern Maine. I didn't change out of my sandals.

Easy way? Why'd I take that? There's an easily scalable cliff.

Shortly after I emerged onto it, I passed three people running a triathlon. I can't imagine seeing a dirty dude with a scragly beard, a stick, socks and sandals, and a giant pack casually speed walk past you as you jog a triathlon is very encouraging. All I know is that I only let thru-hikers hike faster than me. I can and will run the AT faster than you if you get on my trail. We carried on a brief conversation in which I talked normally and they kind of breathed hard. It was weird.

A few miles later, I was walking, and again felt the trail was a little too nice. I looked around, and, yep, no white blazes. I really need to pay more attention to that. So I backtracked and found the trail again.

Around 5 PM it started to rain. It was supposed to rain for about 45 minutes (and maybe make it less hot). It rained for 6 hours. It rained hard for 6 hours. I hiked for 2.5 of those hours. I got wet. My bag got wet. I figured out I was about 3 miles from the shelter I'd been aiming for at 7 PM. I was wet, cold, hungry, dehydrated, and my bug bites were itching and hurting. So around 7:15 I just pulled off to the side of the trail and set up my hammock in the rain.

There's an art to setting up a hammock in the rain. First, you set up the tarp, then you put your bag under the tarp. Then you shiver uncontrollably because it's cold, you're not hiking, and you haven't eaten yet. Then you shove half a jar of peanut butter into your mouth with your knife. Then you tell yourself it's ok, you can stop shivering now because you ate. Then you put your food bag with holes in it on a tree somewhere to hang and have the rest of your food get spoiled. Then you hang your hammock. Then you marvel about how the mosquitoes are clever creatures who have already figured out they can use your tarp to stay dry AND get free food. Then you set up your bug net. Then you chug a liter of water so you don't wake up with the dehydration. Then you set up your sleeping bag and sleeping pad in your bug net and hammock. Then you strip off your wet clothes and get in your sleeping bag and try to think dry thoughts. Then you ignore the way that the rain kinda sorta sounds like a bear walking towards your hammock as you keep a light on and try to kill all the mosquitoes who infiltrated your bug net.

Stats:
Mileage: 17 miles? (plus 3 lost miles)
Elevation Change: 1500 feet up, 1500 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Today.... was not a good day. Maybe I should go home?

Day 72 (August 22): Just Chillin'

I woke up and assessed my situation. Hungry? Check. Thirsty? Check. Cold? No. Wet? Suprisingly, no. Is it raining? No. Mosquitoes everywhere? Super check. everything I own aside from my hammock in a wet pile on the ground? check. Water remaining: 2 liters. Food which survived the night: 2 protein bars. Distance to nearest road to a town: probably 5 miles. I can do this.

So I got up, put my cold wet clothing on, accepted my mosquito bites as I took down camp, mourned the unplanned consumption of my peanut butter jar the night before, and the spoiling of my tortillas that night, and kept walking.

3 miles later, I arrived at the shelter I'd intended to reach the night before. Only Troubadore and one other (I don't know which) SoBo stayed there last night. I walked on.

About a half mile from the shelter, I came across a fairly nice view I didn't take pictures of because there were about 10 day hikers sitting there arguing and eating food (it looked tasty). I hiked on and smirked a bit when I heard them talk behind my back "did you see that guy? He was going over these rocks in socks and sandals!"

Eventually, I reached the road I needed to go into town on. It was just a 2 mile walk into town, but I wanted to make sure I went the right way. While I was looking at my guidebook, a trail angel stopped by to leave some trail magic (cliff bars and gatorade). She offered me a ride into town which I gladly accepted. Interestingly, when we got into an enclosed space, I discovered that walking for hours in the rain had actually made me smell kind of ok.

Just another beautiful day on a well maintained trail.

Finally, I got to town, ate pizza, got a motel on the beach (a really nice one with a bathtub with jets, microwave, fridge, but really spotty wifi), and dried a bunch of my stuff on the lawn in the sun. I figured I'd stay for two nights and tomorrow decide if I'd go home or buy more food and keep walking. While I was thinking this, the manager of the motel asked me which trail-head I wanted to be dropped off at on Wednesday. So I decided to keep walking.

Stats:
Mileage: 5 miles?
Elevation Change: 500 feet up, 500 feet down
Trail Thoughts: Keep on walking, keep on walking, walking walking.

Zero (August 23): Preparation

Today was great. My bites are getting less inflamed, I sent home about 8 lbs of stuff and now my pack is lighter with a resupply and full water than it normally is with no food and no water, I reminisced about the walking I've done (i.e. I updated my blog), I ate at a bunch of restaurants, and heard from a couple of the people in front of me about where I can next meet up with them.

Stats:
Blogs written: ALL THE WORDS
Calories Consumed: Many
Hours spent on library computers writing: 7
Gear Sent Home: pot, scrubby for pot, spoon, lighter, matches, boots, fleece jacket, gameboy, Pokemon Crystal, first aid kit (the stuff I haven't used yet), extra socks, AA batteries
Days of food for resupply: 2
Restaurants visited in Greenwood: 3... so far... the night is young (actually it's a little past my bedtime).

Blessings,
Grizzly

P.S. I wrote this post at the library on August 23, but couldn't upload pictures because I'd left my cable charging my kindle in my motel. Hence why its upload was delayed until now. I'm currently at my grandparent's house in MD taking a zero. Chances are good a second post will be uploaded today (no worries, I stayed on trail and have several more adventures to write about).

VerMountains and VerMud

Time moves ever onwards, and I remain with spotty access to internet and computers. Right now I'm in Greenwood Lakes, NY, taking a zero day before dropping weight (sending a bunch of gear I don't need anymore home to lighten my load) and finishing up the rest of New York (and then New Jersey). For those of you keeping score, I've hiked 817.8 miles and have 1371.3 miles left.

Day 41 (July 24): Bridge Jumping & Trail Magic

At the shelter, before we left, we scoured the premise for any answer or hint to the riddle. There was nothing. We were filled with sadness.

Entering Vermont, we had heard of a bridge we could jump off of into a river. So we planned on taking a short day, spending the majority of it there in the river. Turns out, it was even better than we expected.

The trail did a brief road walk through a town, then across a bridge. Right before the bridge, there was a trail angel. He offered us scrambled eggs, coffee, a cooler full of drinks, bananas, raisins, company, and advice on bridge jumping. We heartily accepted.

Unfortunately, as I was jumping off bridges and swimming, I both had my glasses off and phone away, so there were no pictures (from me). Right now I'm separated from all those people, so there aren't pictures. But it was epic. We were jumping off a bridge about 30 feet above the ground into the river.

On his third jump off the bridge, Double Dip decided to see how many front flips he could do. Answer: 2.5. He landed on his back and started coughing up blood. He's probably fine, though we made him stop jumping into the river until his spit no longer had congealed blood in it (so about and hour and a half).

We met up with the Virginia Gang and Peaches again (they'd stayed in town the night before), and met a NoBo named Mass (from MA), who told us we were the coolest SoBos he'd met yet (yay us). I think the beer he consumed might have had something to do with his impression though.

We finally convinced ourselves to leave around 4 PM to do the final 4 miles to the next shelter. It was possibly the hardest 4 miles we've done. Some of us (coughCampShoescough) took several hours and a nap on the way there. He blamed his Asian genes, But it all worked out.

When we got to the shelter (the second shelter in VT, and the final place we were promised an answer to the riddle) we again scoured the shelter for a sign of the riddle. There was nothing. We were sad.

Stats:
Mileage: 8.8 Miles
Elevation Change: 1500 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail conditions: Doable while drunk. Also raspberries

Day 42 (July 25): Hiker Hiker Hiker!

Getting up in the morning, we heard a couple rumors from NoBos. First, we were hot on the heels of a SoBo trail legend: Handmade.

Handmade is a flip-flopping yoyoer. In other words, he started hiking North on the AT at the midway point (hence flip-flop, since he'll be hiking both north and south), then reached Katahdin and decided to just hike south (yoyo) instead of taking a bus back to the half-way point. When he hits Springer, he intends to turn around, and return to the midway point. So, he's hiking the whole trail both north and south. He passed the group I hike with going north in the 100 mile wilderness (when I was only thinking about trenchfoot, so didn't really meet him), and passed us again while I was at the wedding (so I missed him then too).

Handmade built all or most of his own equipment. He hikes either barefoot or in handmade sandals, carved his own hiking sticks, built his pack out of animal hide and axe handles (apparently it's really heavy), and hikes in a tunic he made himself. Also, instead of the traditional greetings of "Hello," "Hi," "Howdy," "How are you," or "*grunt*" he greets hikers by sort of singing "Hiker, Hiker, Hiker!" Finally, when he was going north through northern Vermont, he complained in the logbooks about poor trail maintenance and fallen trees and said he'd bring an axe with him if he ever hiked through it again. Two months later, in his southbound log entry, he just wrote "I keep my promises."

So, while Handmade used to be over a week in front of us, we keep coming across trees which have been axe chopped (instead of chainsawed like normal trail maintainers do). We also passed traumatized NoBos who say things like, "I passed this guy in his underwear with an axe chopping at a tree in the trail. When I came close he just stopped, stared at me and yelled 'Hiker Hiker Hiker!' "

Unfortunately, we never quite caught up with him, and he's dropped his axe now and is moving substantially faster (he's back to over a week ahead now).

Anyways, that day, while hiking, we heard about a spot near the road we could stop and get pies. So we did. It was delicious (though it made us hike a lot less than we might have otherwise). Also, trail magic was everywhere. This is how we know we're now in the NoBo bubble. They get all the love.

Stats:
Mileage: 11.6 miles
Elevation Change: 1000 feet up, 1000 feet down
Trail Conditions: nicely cleared of fallen trees by Handmade

Day 43 (July 26): Let's go to Rutland guys!

Today, we decided we'd actually do real hiking miles, and go ~19 miles into Rutland, where we'd heard about the Yellow Deli. The hike itself was fairly bland (not many views, not much excitement, we just walked and talked). We played 20 questions for a couple hours.

Unfortunately, since we were talking and playing word games, Double Dip, Camp Shoes, Peaches, Baby Bear, and myself all arrived at the same time. 5 dirty smelly hikers with big packs is a lot harder to get hitches than 1 or 2 dirty smelly hikers with big packs. Fortunately, we solved this by splitting up. We wound up getting two hitches. The first one stopped for Double Dip because he looks homeless (messy hair, dirty shirts, both pant legs ripped off, stick with a piece of glass glued to the top, bandana) and took Double Dip, Peaches, and Baby Bear. The second pulled off to the other side of the road as I was standing up because "I just had to give that beard a hitch." Apparently my beard is good for something aside from sweat collecting (who knew?).

In Rutland, we found ourselves in a real town. It had a super Walmart, events every day, fairly busy traffic (Pretty Boy was almost run over by a car because he forgot how streets work), buses, and 20+ people wandering the park at 10 PM playing Pokémon Go. It also had the Yellow Deli. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication, and my Gameboy was sent to Rutland instead of the next town, so I had to take a zero there. Fortunately, I needed to take a zero because my feet were hurting, it was free because of the Yellow Deli, and there was lots to do because Rutland.

Stats:
Mileage: 19.9 miles
Elevation Change: 4000 feet up, 4000 feet down
Trail condition: Actually maintained. Very nice hiking

Zero at a Cult! (July 27)

I needed to stay off my feet, and Camp Shoes and Double Dip wanted to go visit the Yellow Deli's organic farm, so we decided to take a zero day. I stayed around town, chatted with people, ate out, enjoyed town life, laid down, and tried not to get recruited to stay with the cult. Camp Shoes, Double Dip, Speedo, Nemo, and Pacer decided follow the sign the Yellow Deli had posted which said "Ask to visit our organic farm for a day... or more!" and got into a shuttle to go to the farm a couple hours away.

Turns out, they spent about 2 hours weeding, then spent a bunch of time in a swimming hole, and played with baby cows. It apparently was totally worth it (though my blisters were glad I didn't partake). They were even able to come back! That said, they drank a bunch of the yerba mate the Yellow Deli made, and so had awful withdrawals a couple days later on trail (apparently there's some sort of stimulant in the mate).

The cult itself is super nice. The Yellow Deli is run by the 12 tribes, which is some sort of Christian cult, I never got the pitch given to me, so I don't know the details. That said, their main thing appears to be "we will conquer the world through being super nice! Also yerba mate!" so it's pretty chill. There was an uncomfortable amount of smiling done by the members, but once you got past that it was really nice.

The Yellow Deli's Hiker Hostel they run is one of the best run ones I've seen yet. It's entirely free (donations or work for stay), and they don't turn anyone away. They've got 4 bunk rooms and a porch. They also actually have structure, even if some of the hikers don't like some of the rules. The men's and women's dorms are separate (normally you just sleep where-ever an open bunk is), they provide clothing and laundry (the men have lots of plaid shirts and the women don't have pants or shorts because reasons?), they have a "no alcohol on premise" rule and a 10 PM door locking curfew (to prevent people stumbling in late at night drunk and waking everybody). They ran a tidy ship (I helped them set up four more bunk beds for the next day).

Day 44 (July 28): Slackpacking Mountains

Today, I went with the West Virginians (Halfway and Sprinkles) to go slack pack a mountain. I just took 1.5 liters of water, a water filter, and 12 cliff bars. I forgot just how nice and easy hiking without 35 lbs on your back is. We skipped up the mountain, passed a bunch of our friends, took some pictures at the peak, and bounded down.

While at the peak, we went to a ski lodge to buy chocolate milk (which was delicious) and people watch. They had a gondola running, so a bunch of people were coming through. Also, the next day they were having a downhill mountain biking competition. Unfortunately, we had to miss that (the hike must go on).

View from Killington Mountain. Note the storm clouds rolling in.

When we passed Baby Bear, Pugs, and Moose, we got an update on the goings on in Rutland: there was a family chocolate eating contest at the library. We all mourned the fact we couldn't participate  because we were on the mountain (we'd have totally dominated as a trail family).

(left to right) Halfway, Sprinkles, Me. Storms totally about to hit.

There was a bit of a thunderstorm as we descended, but nothing bad. We also got to ride a bus back into town like civilized people and showered, changed, did laundry, and ate out. Civilization!

Stats:
Mileage: 17.7 miles
Elevation change: 4000 feet up, 4000 feet down
Trail Conditions: could skip up and down the whole way through a thunderstorm

Day 45 (July 29): ...But I want to stay!

Cute little gecko on the trail. Nearly stepped on.

Today, there was a fair in Rutland, so the streets were closed and there were a bunch of vendors set up there. Unfortunately, there were two buses I could take to the trail: one at 7:15 AM, and one at 3:15 PM. I needed to pick up my post office package, but the post office didn't open until 8 AM. So I had 5 hours to kill (not the worst thing).

3 hours of fair and 2 hours of Pokémon Crystal later, I boarded a bus with Halfway, Sprinkles, and Pretty Boy to go south from Rutland. About 15 minutes into our hike, we met up with Moose (who had left the day before claiming slackpacking wasn't real backpacking). She told up Camp Shoes and Double Dip had given up their ambitious plans (they were planning to do 50 miles in 2 days... but started hiking at 1:30 PM, stopped at 2 AM, then slept 'til noon with a tarp thrown over themselves on the side of the trail -- getting stepped over by hikers until noon), and Peaches, Baby Bear, and Pugs were up ahead.

We stayed the night, and I began to decide if I wanted to push to catch up with Camp Shoes and Double Dip or not (Camp Shoe's parents were coming out to visit them... an unknown distance in front of us).

Stats:
Mileage: 2.7 Miles
Elevation Change: lol
Trail Conditions: So flat you could sleep on it!

Day 50 (July 30): Well Hey There!

Ye Ol' Idyllic Stream with Footbridge.

Today I set out on my own... or... as much on my own as the trail gets in these parts. After passing Rutland, the Appalachian Trail joined the Long Trail (LT), which runs from MA to Canada. There were a bunch of people hiking north along it, and we were also passing the NoBo bubble, so I passed a lot of people, including a fair number who had just started hiking. Also, it was a nice day and a pretty section, so I passed large groups of 20+ day hikers.

I followed the information chain to try to catch up with Moose and Pretty Boy

"Howdy... Have you seen a short girl in a blue shirt? What about a boy with dyed blond hair?"
"Oh, yeah, I passed them about an hour and a half ago."
"Cool, thanks! Have a good hike."
"Happy Hiking!"

But then, about 12 miles into my day, I came across Camp Shoes and Double Dip! They were waiting by a road for Camp Shoes' parents to pick them up and offered me a spot with them. So I stopped walking and sat with them.

About 45 minutes later, I was in a hotel with them. Camp Shoes' family took us out to dinner, and we enjoyed civilization (beds, electricity, and gameboys (they brought Camp Shoes his)). Camp Shoes and I discovered Double Dip has a frighteningly accurate memory regarding Pokemon Crystal (e.g. he remembered a specific cave you could go into on Fridays to capture a Laprus). We also watched a bit of TV... which was really really weird.

Double Dip also manually re-hemmed his ripped pants, so it just looks like they're kinda long cargo shorts. He did an excellent job. Pretty sure he's gotten substantially less free food though...

The water was really clear. I understand why so many people were on the trail today.

Another view of the same lake.

Stats:
Mileage: 12.1 miles
Elevation change: 2000 feet up, 2500 feet down
Trail Conditions: crowded

Day 51 (July 31): 'Tis just a little rain

Waking up from our hotel room, we went into town for the morning, where we all resupplied (planning for a 6 day section.... mistakes were made). A couple memories from town:

Townsperson: "You a Hiker?"
Me: "Yep."
T: "You know it's supposed to rain for the next 3 days or so?"
M: "Well... I guess I'll get wet."
T: "It takes a strong hiker to say that!"
M: "Thanks!"
*thinking* umm.... or a homeless one who isn't made of money?

*While purchasing fuel at a gear shop, spots a hiker I don't know signing a log*
Me: "You a NoBo?"
NoBo: "Yep!"
M: "Cool. Enjoy you're hike."
N: "You too." *finishes signing*
*Sneakily read his log entry after he left*
NoBo Log: "Decided to join team Chaco. Sending boots back!"
*Thinking* Today, we mourn a brave hiker entering the North unprepared. May God have mercy upon his soul.

*Sits on outdoor bench in the rain after wiping it clear of water with my bandana*
*thinking* "All these people walking by probably think I'm totally drenched. Funny story: I'm only kinda drenched because I wiped the bench off! Good thinking there self! (I might be mildly crazy)

Eventually, we got back on trail around 3 PM (after actually ok Mexican food). I decided to just go a little under 8 miles to a shelter, Camp Shoes and Double Dip decided to press on an additional 4-ish miles to a parking lot where they'd heard there was camping available.

It started raining right after I stopped, so I regret nothing. This day marked the second night I failed to filter enough water the night before, so I got up at 1 AM, turned on my headlamp, went down to the river, and filtered and drank some water. Apparently I failed to do this stealthily, because a section hiker in the shelter woke up and thought I was a bear.

Stats:
Mileage: 7.5 miles
Elevation change: 1500 feet up
Trail conditions: Still crowded

Day 52 (August 1): Didn't expect to see you here...

After getting a decent start, I caught up with Camp Shoes and Double Dip at their campsite (it's always harder to pack up camp in the rain when you're tenting rather than at a shelter). It was wet.

We climbed up to a ski-lodge in some clouds (is it rain when the main reason you're getting wet is that you're moving forward?). It looked kinda like a mystical fairy land. I don't know if you've ever been on top of a mountain in a cloud, but I highly encourage it. It feels magical. One of the people I hiked with (sadly I've forgotten whom) says it's "like entering the spirit realm"

At the top of the mountain, was a shelter.... with glass windows, two spring based doors, a sink (no water), and two rooms! It was super fancy, though mostly we were glad we were eventually able to find the privy in the clouds.

Can you see the gondola 50 feet away?

What about the picnic table 100 feet away?

After descending the mountain, we started up our second incline, and came across the hands down nicest shelter we've come across yet. It had a sliding door, three bunk things, a loft, an indoor picnic table, glass windows, a patio, a wood-burning stove, and a piped spring within 20 yards of the patio.

Here we met Moose, Peaches, Baby Bear, and Pugs, all recovering from last night (they'd hiked 10 liters of wine into the shelter last night... and drank it all). After unsuccessfully convincing them to hike 4 miles today to the next shelter, Double Dip and Camp Shoes decided they did want to hike some more... so hiked 12 miles round trip to go into town and came back with 10 liters of wine. It was a late night. Halfway and Sprinkles caught up with us here, after coming from town packing out a 12 pack.

Moose, Peaches, Baby Bear, and Pugs all told us how they were going to do 24 miles tomorrow. Around 12:30, I stopped believing them.

Fun fact: I normally set up my hammock as a low tension hang. I wanted to hang it in this shelter, but could only do a high tension hang about 8 feet above the ground.
Fun fact 2: High tension hangs are substantially less stable than low tension hangs (i.e. you're more likely to flip)
Fun fact 3: I'm (fortunately) really good at landing well

It wound up fun, but mildly dangerous (pesky nails hung 7 feet above the ground). Fortunately, I'm pretty sure my sweat should wash the blood out of my shirt, and it didn't rip again.

Stats:
Mileage: 12.9 miles
Elevation change: 2000 feet up, 2500 feet down
Trail conditions: wet, rainy, and cloudy

Day 53 (August 2): The aftermath

Moose, Peaches, Baby Bear, and Pugs all left by 5:30 AM. They might actually get their 24 miles today. I'm going to stay in my hammock and not move. Eventually, I got up and played gameboy until 1:30 PM. Then I hiked a bit, because that seemed like the responsible thing to do.

Today was the first day we experienced VerMud. VerMud is what hikers call the mud in Vermont. It's normally really bad, but this has been a fairly dry year, so we haven't noticed it. Today we did. Almost every step was muddy. I just plodded through the middle of the mud puddles and was satisfied with the waterproofing of my boots. Most hikers I passed walked around the mud puddles and widened the trail (I guess because they value dry feet more than they like preserving nature).

Around 4:30, I reached the second shelter and decided that was enough hiking for the day. Camp Shoes and Double Dip pressed on, hoping to do an additional 10 or so miles. I hung around with Halfway, Sprinkles, and Banshee. Eventually, the shelter filled up, with a ton of north bounders, a couple more SoBos I hadn't met (Samurai Blue and Web), and a bunch of fresh hikers (today was day 5 for them).

Stats:
Mileage: 7.9 miles
Elevation change: 100 feet up?
Trail Conditions: VerMud, meet water proof boots!

Day 54 (August 3): Playing Catchup

Determined not to repeat yesterday's mistakes, and wanting to catch up with Camp Shoes and Double dip, I got up at 4:30, packed up, and headed out around 6 AM when almost all the other hikers were still asleep. Surprisingly, Samurai Blue left camp before me.

I passed Stratton Mountain, which has a lookout tower which is supposedly where the AT was first envisioned. It was pretty cool. I took a video. I also met and talked with Samurai Blue while I was there. He was really cool. He retired recently (I think) and has been hiking the AT going south. He started June 21, and has been averaging 20 miles a day or so for the past while.

Plaque at Stratton Mountain

Stratton Mountain firetower (see pack and stick for relative size)

View from the tower

By the time I reached the shelter Camp Shoes and Double Dip stayed at last night, I'd passed over 25 northbound hikers, and more tents. I compared notes with Samurai Blue, who counted a little more than I had. Web and Scout (Web's dog) caught us here, and hiked on. Camp Shoes and Double Dip left a note in the trail log declaring their intent to go 24 miles. I began to consider doing a 32 mile day to catch them.

At the next shelter, I checked the log to see a bunch of entries from Peaches, Moose, Baby Bear, and Pugs saying "F*** you Grizzly! 24 miles!" and "24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24!" I was glad to see they made it.

By the next shelter, I had passed 85 northbound hikers (which is a lot), not counting the ones who passed me during either of my breaks. Also, I found Camp Shoes and Double Dip! Camp Shoes' feet were bleeding, so they'd stopped. Double Dip was also pooping a lot (important later). I decided that since the point of the 32 mile day I was preparing for was to catch them, I'd call it a day early and stay there.

Stats:
Mileage: 19.3 miles
Elevation change: 3000 feet up, 2500 feet down
Trail conditions: Passed 85 northbound hikers while walking...

Day 55 (August 4): Big Miles!

The night before, I'd talked with Double Dip and we'd gotten excited about doing big miles (partially because of how proud the others had been about their 24 mile day and us now getting passed by people who started hiking after us). We decided we'd do a 32 mile day. If we were lucky, it might let us catch up with Samurai Blue and Web (who'd hiked on the day before).

Unfortunately, I woke up 30 minutes late, which made it impossible. Discouraged, I slept in an additional 30 minutes. At 5:30 I got up and decided I'd just walk and see what happened. I said bye to Camp Shoes and Double Dip (who were sleeping in later) and started walking south.4 offered smokes and 20 northbound hikers later I reached the first shelter on the way south. There, I found a maintenance crew moving a privy (the hole was full). That was pretty cool.

Later, I hit another shelter with a South Bounder who was slower than me (he'd been averaging 8 miles a day or so). I ate and filled water, then said bye and walked south. This was a kinda hard decision, because it was 3:15, the next shelter was 8 miles away and probably didn't have water, and the campsite after it was 12 miles from here. I just reminded myself "You can always do 10 after 3!" (said by Legion from Hikers Welcome). Also that I had already done a million miles and so this should be easy. I just played music for the last 4 miles or so and hiked fast. Got to camp right as the sun was setting. Only needed to use my headlamp to get water and set up my hammock, not for hiking!

Stats:
Mileage: 26.9 miles
Elevation change: 3000 feet up, 4000 feet down
Trail conditions: Crowded

Day 56 (August 5): An easy day?

After yesterday, I decided I'd do a fairly simple day of hiking, just go into town (on the trail, 2 miles from where I was), maybe get a cheap hotel room and update my blog, do laundry, eat food, chill and wait for people to catch me. I got up late (like, 6:30), and made it into town. Unfortunately, my phone battery died while listening to music the night before, so I couldn't call any of the hotels. Fortunately, they were only about 2 miles from the trail head. So I walked.

Me to Hotel person: "Do you have any vacancies?"
Hotel Person: "Let me check.... yes we do! We have a two king bed room. That'll be $190"
Me: "Uhh.... I'll pass..."

Interestingly, as I was leaving, I saw Samurai Blue in the parking lot. He'd stayed there the night before and let me take a shower in his room (since he didn't need to check out yet), and suggested I use their laundry. I left as he was meeting up with his kid's old boyscout master, and went to buy food and clothing (so I wasn't naked while doing laundry).

Upon returning to the hotel:
Me: "I heard I could do laundry here for 7 or 8 dollars?"
Them: "Are you staying with us?"
Me: "Well, no..."
Them: "Then no."
Me: "Well, do you know where the nearest place I can do laundry is?"
Them: "3 miles that way."
Me: "thanks."
So I walked 3 miles in the sunny afternoon to go clean my clothing.

In the end, I wound up walking about 7 miles around town to get a shower, laundry, and food. I felt like this was unfortunate, but started hiking up the mountain on the other side of town (now in MA!). Water looked like it was going to be pretty scarce (and this was likely to be the case more and more as I got further south), so I filled up from some pretty disgusting stagnant stream water, and lugged 2.5 liters of water and a full resupply up the mountain.

Halfway up, I discovered that there was a lodge I could fill water and stay at on the top of the mountain! It'd mean doing another 3 miles up the mountain, but I should get there before dark. So I sat down, chugged the water I'd filtered for the morning, began listening to my trusty power hiking playlist, and ran up the mountain.

When I reached the top of the mountain, I felt pretty out of my element. I crested the mountain top with my 35-ish lb pack, stick and feet thumping in time to the beat I'm marching to, having sweat out all the water I'd chugged, clean clothing drenched in sweat, having beat a setting sun to discover there was a road going up the mountain. There were actually three of them. With lots of cars and tourists taking pictures everywhere and going "look at the view!" and cringing away from me (I think they thought I might eat them).

Eventually I found the lodge... but there was a wedding reception... so they told me I couldn't stay there, though I could fill up my water. So, I chugged another 1.5 liters, filled up my 3 liters of water, and began to run down the mountain, hoping against hope to make it the 3.5 miles to the shelter before the sun set. I left at 7:45 PM... the sun set at 8:15 PM. Unfortunately, I only made it 2.7 miles before it got dark enough I had to stop my music and pull out my headlamp. So I walked in the dark.

Fun Fact: my really bright headlamp was stolen about 9 months ago and I replaced it with a really cheap one. Turns out it's not really bright enough to hike with at night. Eventually I pulled out my phone and used it's light (which was many times brighter than my headlamp).

Eventually, I reached a road and thought: "...that's funny. I didn't think there were any gravel roads between the summit and the shelter." Turns out, I'd gone about a mile past the shelter. So I walked about 10 feet off trail and set up my hammock there.

Road to the top.

Viewpoint currently under construction.

Stats:
Mileage: 12.1 miles (not counted: 7-ish miles around town)
Elevation change: 3500 feet up, 2500 feet down
Trail conditions: Tourists and Townspeople

Day 57 (August 6): To Town!

Feeling kind of tired after my latest failure of a town day, I decided I'd actually stay in a town somewhere today. Dalton seemed like a good option, since it was 13 miles away. I stopped at a gas station in the morning for breakfast, a toilet (I don't like digging holes), and some stares. Seriously people, just because my hair is long and overgrown, I smell awful, wear a ripped shirt, have a dirty stick and a giant pack doesn't mean I'm going to eat you. You don't have to avoid me. Though I appreciate that you do. I think I've forgotten how to interact with people.

By 1 PM or so, I got into Dalton, where I got a room at an inn. I stayed in that room and laid on a bed for hours. In the evening I wrote a good chunk of the last blog entry I posted, though it was from my phone, which is always a pain.

Stats:
Mileage: 13.0 miles
Elevation change: 2500 feet down, 1500 feet up
Trail conditions: Fields

Day 58 (August 7): Writing Day

After a relaxing stay at the inn, I decided I'd go 20 miles today to reach Upper Goose Pond, which I've heard great things about. Here's how that went down:

6 AM: Wake up... but my bed's so sooooooffffft! Back to sleep
7 AM: Fine, I'll get up. But hey, there's a breakfast place around the corner open, I'll go eat there.
8 AM: That was a good breakfast. Hey, you know, my checkout isn't technically until 11 AM. I could... just lie on a bed for 3 more hours. I like the sound of that.
10:45 AM: Oh yeah, I need to pack *frantic packing*
11 AM: Alright time to hit the trail. Wait, is that Aqua Man staying here? I'll chat with him a bit in the inn's lounge.
12 PM: Hey, they've got a loaner laptop here. I could edit my blog post on a computer and post it today. I bet people'd appreciate that. And stop asking me if I'm dead.
2 PM: I'm hungry. I should go get lunch somewhere.
2:30 PM: Oh, there's NoBos at this restaurant. I'm going to talk to them.
3 PM: I guess I should start walking now
3:15 PM: Hey! There's Moose and Banshee! I'l chat with them a bit.
3:45 PM: A guy who lives by the trail just asked me if I want to go to Walmart. Yeah I want to go to Walmart (not that I actually want to buy anything)
4:45 PM: That was a fun Walmart, and now I have cheese! and more tuna! Guess I'll actually hike
6 PM: Well, I've done 3 miles today, and I guess that's good enough. Time for bed.

Stats:
Mileage: 3.0 miles
Elevation change: 1000 feet up, 400 feet down
Trail conditions: Lazy

Blessings,
Grizzly

P.S. For those of you wondering, we never found any other reference to the riddle from the previous post. We came up with a variety of solutions. According to the internet, one of our solutions was correct. We feel like it was a cheater solution though (basically it relies on a couple kind of unwarranted assumptions and poor wording).