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July 19, 2010 1:43 am
Location: Carter Mountains, Presidential’s Range, White Mountains, New Hampshire
Brookie and I camped together last night as the girls pressed on to one of the Appalachian Mountain Club huts further on.
We were camped across from Mt. Washington in the Carter Mountains range. We were camped somewhere close to 4000 feet. The Presi’s as Brookie likes to call them are the tallest range on the east coast with Mt. Washington topping out at 6,288 feet.
At that altitude they have their own crazy and erratic weather systems.
We went to bed around 9 and though it was very windy the skies were pretty clear. Around 2 hours later I awoke to what sounded like the loudest thunder I had heard in my entire life. I ran out to move my pack under my hammock and throw my rain poncho over my hammock rain fly for extra protection. The skies lit with lightening bright as day.
We were pretty well below tree line so we were relatively safe. I wish I was able to get some pictures though, it was incredible!!! (picture above clouds coming off Mt. Washington next morning)
July 18, 2010 4:31 am
(image: 2 very greasy vegetable quesadilla’s)
Anyone that knows me well enough knows I have taken a in-depth interest in healthy nutrition the past few years especially.
Probably one of the hardest things to accept about doing the trail was that I would not be able to maintain the healthy eating I had become so accustomed to living in NYC.
I have eaten things on the trail, things which are not only nutritionally terrible for you but also very difficult for me to stomach with my digestion problems. I really wish I didn’t know the things I do about nutrition.
I have eaten pancakes. It’s been something like 10 years since I have eaten pancakes and I can think of few things more lacking in nutrition than a cake of bleached white flour soaked in refined sugars.
Ice cream, hamburgers, pizza, brownies, the list goes on. It’s difficult when you come off the trail hungry, starving and full of all kinds of strange cravings. It’s difficult not to eat everything you can get your hands on and unfortunately in some small towns all you can get your hands on is pretty limited.
It doesn’t help that because of all the exercising your doing you can eat all if this junk and still loose weight. After 1 month I am down 10 pounds despite the junk food.
A distance Hiker typically burns somewhere between 3000-5000 calories a day. It’s difficult to carry that many calories for 4-5 days and really almost impossible to eat that much.
I am learning though. I am learning to fight those initial cravings, to eat out less in town and to shop better for trail food even with limited selections. I have heard that as you get further south your grocery options do get better.
In the end though with limited resources and under extreme circumstances it is damage control. I am going to need a serious cleanse after this.
July 18, 2010 3:57 am
One who helps a hiker. One who performs trail magic.
July 18, 2010 1:41 am
A “magical” occurrence that happens while on the trail or in a trail town.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Someone picking up a hiker and driving them to town from the trail or the trail from town. Someone leaving water for hikers near trail heads where water is scarce. Someone extending themselves to help a Hiker in some way for no profit and at times cost.
Sunshine as you summit after a full day of rain. Finding a water source after miles of dehydration. Finding food trail side or in a shelter. Finding a room in time to see World Cup games:) Catching up with friends on the trail after taking a zero day. Beer:)
People feeding hikers for free. I think because we are so thin and always hungry people love to do this.
July 17, 2010 8:59 pm
[youtube yRkovnss7sg These Boots]
One pair of boots down. Thanks Maine! At least the Shoe Goo (Thanks Connor and Clara!!) held them together until I got to town and got a new pair.
I wasn’t too happy about getting just over 300 miles out of this pair. I talked to some other hikers about it and they said to call Merrill the manufacturer and tell them I am an Appalachian Trail thru-Hiker and they would send a free replacement pair. I did and they are!!! Pretty cool! 8-10 days though so I’ll get them in the middle of the whites and mail them down the line for use after this pair.
July 17, 2010 10:23 am
Location: Gorham, New Hampshire
My stay in Gorham was very productive.
I managed to get a new pair of boots, Dr. Bonners soap, groceries, and a new pot stand.
I didn’t get a zero day though since I walked 7 miles round trip to Wal-Mart. Yes dad I know Wal-Mart is evil, but I have been having some trail nutrition issues and let me tell you how nice it was to get fresh fruit!!! I even managed some organics.
My trail nutrition through the Presidential’s range should be much improved thanks to Wal-Mart. If there is a section I’ll need good nutrition that’s it. I have no regrets about the walk.
I went out to dinner with Flora, Fauna, Brookie and his friend from this area Chris. Chris is a former thru-Hiker who now works for the Appalachian Mountain Club. He was very cool and even bought all of our drinks!!!
The power went out in all of Gorham around 9:30 Friday night. It wad pretty neat. I took a walk out to the main road and sat on a bench for a while. All of the hikers were walking around with their head lamps on.
On to the Whites!!!
July 16, 2010 12:46 am
Location: Gorham, New Hampshire
I have met the most amazing people on this journey. The more people I meet the more experiences I have out here, the more I am humbled and the more my perspectives on life are challenged and changed.
When I started this I had thought I decided to do this about 10 years too late. Though I had met one or two older hikers it seemed most hikers I met were in their early to mid twenties or early thirties. Most were 10 if not 15 some even almost 20 years younger than me.
I have since met many thru-hikers in their 50’s & 60’s. I even met a 72 year old grandfather hiking with his grandson.
I met a man yesterday who was trying to complete a thru-hike. He was in his late 60’s or early 70’s. He had started in 2003. He had to stop because of (separate incidences) cancer, temporary blindness, a back injury, a ham string injury and several others. He was back out there pushing on to Maine. As he listed his various ailments and reasons for having to stop I thought about my complaints (mostly to myself) over the last few weeks and I felt pitiful.
I met a couple in their 60’s who had also been trying to complete the hike for years in the face of injuries and even Lyme Disease.
I have been hiking with Walker who is 52, Mother Goose is 61 and Lone Star in his 60’s.
A common question you get is “why are you doing this?” It’s easy to ramble off about the beauty of nature etc. I decided to do this hike for many reasons. Mostly though I decided to do this hike to change myself. To change who I am as a person. To challenge myself. To grow as a person. Change is never easy, especially so even later in life.
I knew when I started this it would be difficult. I live in a city of 12 million people. I have human interaction at all times, even when I am “alone”. I have a plethora of amazing friends and family easily accessible by mass transit, phone or email. I work on the internet. I have news, politics, sports and digital social interaction at my finger tips at all times. I have constant sources of new input. I have an art studio which is an incredible place always seemingly full of wonders and discovery.
I have done plenty of camping and hiking. I had spent plenty of time alone in the woods. I can enjoy those moments with no one around. Those moments when there is no constant stream of new input. Moments where the wind whispers, the clouds dance and the leaves chatter. Moments when the birds sing and the streams tell stories.
The hardest part of doing this hike so far has been mental. Sure my knees hurt, even bad at times. My stomach problems never seem far away. There’s bug bites, your always hungry, always tired, sweaty, dirty, no shower for 4-5 days at a time. That stuff though is easy enough to handle. The hard part is the sometimes miles and miles between incredible views. The hours of walking with very little new input. The time away from friends and family. The relative isolation.
As I head out tomorrow morning to begin my hike of those infamous “Whites”, as I begin what will likely be the toughest 1.5 weeks of hiking I have faced yet and will face on this journey, my pack will be a little heavier. I will be carrying with me the perspectives and experiences of the people I have met and the obstacles they have overcome in their lives and on the trail. I will carry these perspectives I have found and I will use them to overcome those Whites, to overcome myself and to change my perspectives.
July 14, 2010 11:55 pm
It had rained pretty heavy last night I didn’t sleep well. It was raining on and off all day. Thunder storms, mud, slop, wet. I was admittedly down. As I was walking I saw something on the ground. It was greenish and almost blended in. I did a double take and something told me it didn’t fit. I stopped to get a better look. It was bones. I saw definite vertebrae. As I looked at the rest of the bones I made it out to be a moose skeleton!!!
The little boy in me was giddy with excitement over my skeletal find. I looked closer, poking it with my Treking poles. It was well cleaned, by bugs and rodents no doubt. There was a trail of bones off into the woods. I contemplated following it but stayed content just snapping pictures of what I had found trail side.
It seems everyone had seen a moose hiking except me but now I had found the skeleton of one! It lifted my spirits some.
Later in the afternoon more thunder storms hit. I was slugging along soaked and somewhat miserable when about 15 feet in front of a baby black bear crossed the trail. He was so cute! I came to a halt thinking mom might not be far behind. I was pretty calm. Black bears rarely attack people and listening to other hikers talk about bear encounters I wasn’t very afraid. To be sure though I made a little noise, waited a couple of minutes and then moved on.
I came to a pond of Lilly pads, the storm broke and I sat down beside it spirits somewhat lifted reflecting on the days cool experiences.
July 14, 2010 8:30 pm
281.4 and Maine done.1877.8 to go 🙂
July 14, 2010 3:41 am
Maine is pain baby, Maine is pain.
Goodbye and good riddance Maine, you were so very beautiful but my knees and my boots do not forgive you and hope I never see you again;)