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This weekend, I'm leaving for Maine to start hiking the Appalachian Trail. My plan is to hike the Trail end-to-end, from Maine to Georgia, over the next five to six months. For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept of thru-hiking, check out Dr Strangelove's thread
Sometime in elementary school or junior high, I decided I wanted to thru-hike the AT. I don't remember when or why. Ever since then, I've had a vague plan to hike the trail sometime after highschool. At one time, I considered graduating high school a year early and hiking between high school and college. My parents weren't about to let that happen. I never made solid plans, but a thru-hike stayed in the back of my mind.
This past winter (my sophmore year in college), I decided that I wasn't doing anybody any good by staying in school and I started thinking about what I would do after the semester ended and beyond. I had a eureka moment and decided that this was the perfect time for a thru-hike. I'm still working on the 'beyond' part.
I'm hoping to find my way to an internet cafe every now and again, but for all intents and purposes I'll be offline for a long time. I'll miss you all. Wish me luck.
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Be safe. I envy you! Write to me off list edob63@yahoo.com if you need any help when you are coming through MAssachusetts. We are not too far from the trail.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Cool. I hear the PA section of the trail is pretty torturous, lots of boulder fields left by glaciers so be careful.
If you're looking for something to read on the way I think you might enjoy Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Nov 2001
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if you haven't already, i suggest reading A Walk in the Woods, by bill bryson. very informative, and one of the most entertaining books i've ever read.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I'm at an internet cafe in Portland, Maine right now. Tomorrow, we get dropped off at the park, and Tuesday we hike Katahdin and start the trail. I'm excited.
I've actually read both those books. They're good, though I hope my hike is nothing like Bill Bryson's.
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I'm in Millinocket, Maine right now. I went up and over Mt Katahdin and did an 18-mile day into the 100 Mile Wilderness before turning around and hitching a ride to the nearest town.
If you've never encountered blackflies, thank your lucky stars and hope you never do. They are much worse than mosquitos and seem to love (or hate) me. Whatever their motivations, they got me really bad my two days in Baxter State Park (where Mt Katahdin is). My forehead was covered in large bumps and my ears swelled to several times their normal thickness. My friend said I looked like a Ferengi.
I kept on going, though, and once I got into the 100 Mile Wilderness, the blackflies mostly disappeared. Unfortunately, they were replaced by an equal number of mosquitos. To make things even worse, blisters formed on my ears and started weeping. I decided to get through the Wilderness and to the next resupply town as quickly as possible (at least a week of hiking).
The next morning I woke up with a swollen eye and decided to hike out of the Wilderness. I'm now staying in town and taking Benadryl. My ears have returned to their normal size and my eye seems less swollen. If all goes well, I'll hitch back to the AT tommorrow morning and continue south, well loaded with insect repellent and a bug shirt/headnet.
A couple good things did come out of all this. For one, I got to meet some really cool people at the place I'm staying in town, including three thru-hikers who are starting today and the owner of the Lodge, who has been hosting hikers for 17 years and is something of a trail icon. Also, I got my trail name: Blackfly.
I have to go now, my time on the library computer is up.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Wow. Glad you're okay, and that you decided to take the break and take care of yourself. Keep being careful!
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Wow, good luck Miro. I envy you too :-). Must be a great adventure. Please keep us posted, I love those travelling stories!
Posts: 1247 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Hey Miro ... or should I say Blackfly. Hope you're doin good and the bugs are leaving you alone. Going through the Wilderness I got lots of rain, which kept the bugs away mostly, but, ya know, got everything wet . Now its clearing up and the bugs are coming out. But I hiked a full day today with dry boots, which was, I believe, a first in my two weeks on the Trail. I'm in Stratton right now, which is roughly 180 miles in. My trail name is Nemo, I'm tall and lanky and carrying a pretty big pack. But I'm eating well and warm at night, so its all good. I'm going at a pretty slow pace, or at least planning on it, so you'll likely catch up with me. Hope to see you soon! Happy hiking Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Thanks for the updates! I'm glad everything's going well so far. "Well" as in, I'm glad you're both alive and relatively unharmed, blackflies, mosquitos, and wet feet notwithstanding.
Are trail names a hiker tradition? Some sort of badge bestowed upon trail newbies by more experienced hikers?
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Bob, your way of hiking the Appalachian Trail and the Adirondack Mountains is like my new book club. We are going to drink wine and eat snacks, but not bother with the book.
Perhaps we combine our two clubs?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Hey there, I figure you should be due in for a stop in a town soon. Stratton, Rangely, Andover and Gorham all have internet places (I'm pretty sure), and if you don't take a 0 in one of those towns, you're insane. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know I decided to pull out. You can read my reasons and all here. My one regret is that I didn't get to meet you, but maybe some other time. The 1/10th of the Trail I did was absolutely amazing and I'm sure you will have an absolutely fantastic time. Definately be sure to keep us updated. I'm going to go up to Harpers Ferry in a couple months to visit a friend, and it'd be awesome if I could time it to coincide with you getting there. Hope the bugs are leaving you alone and happy hiking to you!
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Bob and Elizabeth, you guys are so funny! Bob, I love those google earth trips! Grisha and I did Moscow together one night and it was awesome! And so much less arduous than if we'd actually flown. Elizabeth, I love the book club idea! That's how most of them probably end up anyway. Every hatrack reading club we ever had did, anyway. Why not plan it that way?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Nemo!! I talked to a couple northbounders (Leaf and Grizzly Dave) a few nights ago and asked if they had met an 18-year-old guy from Florida, going southbound. They said they had, and his trailname was Nemo. I started wondering if it was you, though, when you mentioned in one of your register entries that you're 17. I thought you were 18.
Anyway, sorry to hear that I won't be able to read your entries anymore. You kind of feel like you know these people who go before you, reading their journey as you complete yours. I was hoping to catch up with you in a couple months. I'm glad you made the right decision for you, though. The only reason to hike the Trail is if you want to. Otherwise, what's the point?
For the uninitiated, there are shelters all along the AT. They're usually 3 walls, a floor and a roof, and they're where hikers generally congregate. You don't have to sleep there in most places, but a lot of hikers do. In the shelters are notebooks where people passing through write about their day, warn about the trail up ahead, leave messages for those behind them, whatever they want.
Communication along the trail is funny. There are register entries, people travelling at different speeds or in different directions that pass along gossip. The trail crews (who work on the trail) often use hikers to pass messages between them. Just today, a couple of other southbounders caught up with me and said they'd been following my register entries a day or two behind for a while now. It's kind of a funny feeling.
I'm in Monson, Maine, meaning I've done a total of 117.8 trail miles since Katahdin. The 100 Mile Wilderness was swampy and buggy, but the mosquitos weren't as bad the whole time as they were at the start. The DEET and bug shirt definitely helped.
I've been hiking with some interesting people, it really is a great little community on the trail. The reasons people have for hiking the trail are varied, but they generally have something to do with graduating, dropping out of/taking time off from school, quitting a job or retiring. So you get a lot of people who are in transitional periods in their lives, trying to figure out what's next. Makes for good evening conversations in the shelters.
I've been hearing horror stories about southern Maine. Supposedly, it's the hardest part of the trail. But then they tell me that if I get through Maine and New Hampshire (the White Mountains!), I'll be set for the trail. I guess we'll see.
Elizabeth - I'll let you know when I'm gettting close to Mass. I'm always up for meeting Hatrackers.
Well, I should be getting going. I spent last night in town, and need to hit the trail today. I've just been lazy about it, since I'm only planning to do about 6 miles (to the next shelter) today.
Edit: Bob - Without the bugs, rain, mud, rocks, roots, critters, and people, it's not the trail. Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Greetings from Glencliff, NH. I have now completed almost 400 miles of the AT. Only 1775 to go.
I have finished the hardest parts of the trail. I survived the Mahoosuc Notch (crawling under, through, over, and around boulders for an entire mile) and the White Mountains (including Mt Washington - known for having the 'worst weather in the world'). From what I've been told, one of my main challenges from here on out will be to not get bored. Earlier today, I climbed over the last mountain on the AT that goes above treeline. Sad.
Yesterday, though, was rather exciting. My planning didn't work out well and I ended up at the bottom of a mountain, 1.6 miles from the next shelter, at 7:15pm. Normally, that wouldn't be too bad. But that 1.6 miles contained about a mile of slippery, steep uphill. And I had already hiked about 14 miles that day. I was beat.
So I hiked maybe 3 or 4 tenths of a mile up the trail and bushwacked to find a site. Oddly enough, that was only the second time this entire trip that I didn't camp at a shelter or a designated site. I got there late, set up my hammock, and went to bed.
In the middle of the night, I was woken up by something crashing through the forest. The only creatures in these woods large enough to make that much noise are moose and bear. I was fairly sure that a moose would have a hard time making it through the terrain around my campsite. Then I caught a whiff of the rotten smell and knew it was a bear.
Everything I've been told about black bears is to make a lot of noise and look big, to scare them away. As I lay there, I was torn between being as loud as possible and as quiet as possible, hoping the bear wouldn't notice me. I ended up just laying very still, listening for any hint of the bear moving away. The crashing noises stopped, but I had no idea if the bear was still hanging around. So I stayed awake, petrified, for quite a while. Fortunately, the bear declined to eat me.
The experience was a lesson in what it means to really be alone in the woods. This entire time, I have been sleeping at shelters or official campsites. Even if no one else was at the shelter with me, I could count on someone coming by later, to at least find my body.
Last night, I followed good Leave No Trace policies and was well off the trail. People would eventually notice I was missing, but it could take several days. Then they would have to find me. The last people I saw were some weekenders at the bottom of the mountain. Even if searchers talked to them, it could be weeks before they found my camp.
Of course, I got scared for nothing. And the next morning, I packed camp and kept on hiking. It was definitely a sobering experience, though.
I was planning on moving on in the morning, hiking to Hanover in about three days. My hope was to zero (take a day off) in Hanover, but apparently there aren't any cheap places to stay in town. So I may just zero here. The hostel has a good movie selection. Decisions, decisions.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Wow. I can't wait to become a parent of an adult child who can take off time to do this sort of thing. *sigh* Seven more years . . . *smile*
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Good to hear from you! Sounds like you're having a great time. Be sure to keep us updated and don't get eaten by a bear!
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Hanover, NH. I am now more than a fifth of the way down the trail. I would be further, but I took a week off to join my family's vacation in Michigan. Of course, I neglected to tell them I was coming, so I got some great looks when I walked in the door.
The big news is that I've now decided to stop my hike. It's gotten to the point where one day is much like the next and the highlights of my trip are when I get into town. I'm not enjoying myself and I'm getting restless.
I'm not sure what I'll be doing with myself. I'll probably just live at home for a while and get a retail job or something. I have enjoyed much of my trip so far and definitely don't regret coming out here. It's just time for me to move on.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Not really. Some days are a bit of slow-going, but you're often walking along a ridgeline for miles so you only have small elevation changes. The most annoying part of NH, for me, was having to worry about the huts. I got lucky, though.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I made it through all of Maine and New Hampshire, which includes Mt Washington. It's nice, but very touristy.
I did get to do work-for-stay at a number of the huts. That's where, in exchange for helping out (usually sweeping or doing dishes), thru-hikers can sleep in the common area of the hut and eat leftovers. It's nice, but you can't count on it.
BTW, sitting on a train for 11 hours without a book to read is no fun at all.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Try 2 days on a bus. That's what I did to get home. I did have a book on the Civil War that I picked up at the last hostel I stayed at though.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I've put my pictures from Maine here on Flickr. I should have my New Hampshire pics up in the next couple days.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Fond memories:) I used to do portions of the Wapack trail (southern NH, Monadnocks) about twice a week after work when I lived nearby, and occasionally 20 odd mile day hikes on the weekends. I can imagine how it'd get boring after awhile non-stop, however.
Oh, and I've had a similar bear visit (while camping, not hiking) Generally if you don't have food on your person they pass you by.
Posts: 74 | Registered: Aug 2006
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WOW, what amazing pictures!! It is so beautiful out on the trail. I'm really inspired to hike it, now.
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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It was good to meet you in DC. Sharpie and I are determined to thru-hike AT 'before we die'. Your pictures and reports are inspiring and informative.
Posts: 431 | Registered: Oct 2003
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And thanks for the offer. We probably won't start planning before 2008, but I'll keep you in mind.
Posts: 431 | Registered: Oct 2003
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It's been a couple months since I got off the trail. Looking back, I really don't regret stopping (or starting in the first place). I learned so much about backpacking/camping on my trip. I saw a lot of cool things, met some great people, and got to explore a gorgeous part of the country. For two months, I had total freedom. And that was great. I'm sure, if I had continued, I would have had some more great adventures. Still, I feel that the law of diminishing returns would have applied. Now that I'm home, I'm taking classes locally and working towards my future. That feels really good too.
Over the past few years, I've made some bad decisions and done a lot of things poorly that I now regret. But over the course of the last 6 months, I have made several decisions that I am proud of and do not regret in the least: dropping out of school, starting the AT, getting off the AT, and taking EMT classes. May my luck continue.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Congrats on the hike Miro! I've never thru hiked, it's something I've always wanted to do, but can't find the time to. With any luck I'll be trail crooing the Whites this summer, which IMHO is the next best thing. Maybe better Too bad you didn't make it all the way, but 1/5th of the way is still really impressive. Sides, you saw the northern portion of it, which by some accounts is the best part
Thanks for posting about your experinces, I really enjoyed reading them. It brought back some great memories of being on the trail. Such as the time my dad and I randomly met the author Elizabeth Gilbert and her dad on the Franconia ridge section of the AT. Good times.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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. Now its clearing up and the bugs are coming out. But I hiked a full day today with dry boots, which was, I believe, a first in my two weeks on the Trail. I'm in Stratton right now, which is roughly 180 miles in. My trail name is Nemo, I'm tall and lanky and carrying a pretty big pack. But I'm eating well and warm at night, so its all good. I'm going at a pretty slow pace, or at least planning on it, so you'll likely catch up with me. Hope to see you soon! Happy hiking ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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