2174 to go!

Hallelujah, praise Jesus! I'm done!

The end of the trail has been a very emotionally confusing rollercoaster. I'm so happy to be done and had been looking forward to being done for quite a while as you might imagine. I thought taking a rest would be the best thing ever, but as it turns out I'm in some kind of walking withdrawal. That and I miss having a little book that tells me what will happen in my life.

I got to the peak of Mt Katahdin, the end of the trail, at 10 AM on August 16th. Turned out to be the worst time to summit all summer. I was well on my way to becoming a hypothermic casualty when I got to the summit due to a light rain that was being driven into me by 60 mph steady winds. The climb itself is just that a climb. There are a fair number of sections that involve hand over hand rock climbing, an activity made all the more fun if you are being power washed by mother nature. By the time I made it to the top I was a mess and not in much shape to enjoy my accomplishment. Upon my arrival I was hooting and hollering and shouting at the top of my lungs, although that was just to be heard by my friend who was 2 feet away. You can't possibly imagine how much I had thought about the moment this trip would end on my hike. I had all these different pictures I wanted to take and in no scenario was I not having a celebratory drink and a cigar. However, it was so awful up there that I didn't even drink the PBR tall boy I had hauled up. I took a couple of pictures with a friend named The Kid whom I had met the night before and hiked up there with, but then quickly retreated behind a rock to get out of the weather. Within a couple of minutes my teeth were chattering and the umbles (mumbles, stumbles, fumbles) had set in. I hadn't taken hardly any of the pics I had wanted to and my mind was solely focused on getting off the mountain and keeping my body moving so I wouldn't lose any limbs.

On my way down I was passed by a couple of friends heading up the mountain, Boundless and Achilles, who remarked on how God awful I looked. They caught up to me on the way down and we all made sure each other made it. All three of us were excited about the 5 miles we had to backtrack to get to where you hitch hike out of the park. We're all 5 miles into our southbound section hike at this point! I saw my friend b down there and said bye to Achilles and Boundless who hitchhiked out with a group of girls we had turned around half way up the mountain who were wearing tank tops with water bottles shoved into their cleavage. They didn't strike us as prepared for the conditions, and suggested a retreat just in time to get my friends to town. I was met there by my friend Lindsay who drove me all over northern Maine on a tour of some absolutely beautiful places and to Bangor the next day to catch my flight out.

The few days leading up to Mama K I had walked through the 100 mile wilderness. This is a section of the trail renowned for being difficult and long. The guide book suggests carrying 10 days worth of food. 1 out of 2 southbounders doesn't make it past the 100 mile. It's a good way to end the trail because it makes you realize how far you have come as a backpacker. For its horrible reputation I would have to say that the 100 mile wilderness had some of the easiest trail on the entire trip enabling me to walk through it in 4 days. I read a note on the first day through that said "If you think you are making it through in 8 days or less you are dumb! Nobos suck it!" I think what makes this section of trail so hard is that everybody coming through has 10 days of food in their packs. That is a lot of extra weight. Take out half of that weight and you can walk twice as fast. That is what I mean when I say how far you have come as a backpacker, because you have stopped listening to popular opinion and you just walk and you walk fast. It is also a stark contrast to meet sobos who have just started a couple days into their hikes and compare them to the nobos who are months into their trips.

It is funny thinking about walking fast these days as I sit in my living room in Ventura. I hobble down the stairs in the morning holding on to the banister for dear life as my ankles and knees crack and give out the whole way down. I weigh 16 lbs less than when I started, well 14 lbs and then I shaved my beard into a buffalo bill and it turned into 16 lbs. I sit here in my recliner and wonder how I was ever able to do that when right now walking to the store around the corner causes me so much pain. I've been having fun though drinking milk shakes, eating fresh food and changing my clothes 5 times a day. Having more than one thing to wear apparently feels really good.

Reflecting back just over a week now I don't feel like I have hiked the trail, but rather it was something I read in a book. Don't get me wrong I am physically and mentally exhausted, but I think the sentiment has something to do with the mentality needed to accomplish something like this. I had to never think about what I was doing because a realization of it, or the sight of a map would have been such a demoralizing blow I would have never finished. I think a side effect of distracting my mind from the task at hand for so long is this feeling that I didn't really do it, like it was a long novel I was really obsessed with. I suppose that is why people hike it multiple times.

We'll see if I feel any different after this next time around. Only 2174 miles to go!

-Wrong Way

Last stop!

What in the world is going on? I have had the most world wind experience in the last 24 hours, and now I'm trying to sort it all out a bit hung over in Greenville, ME. I made it to Maine!

I haven't written anything in a while because I've been cruising along at a good pace and not really spending any time in towns, not that the towns have actually had internet. New Hampshire was really pretty and lived up to the hype of folks talking about how difficult it was. I still managed a couple of 20s in the Whites just to spite those SOBOs, but they definitely took a toll on me. The trail up this way isn't so much a trail as often traveled rock slides. It just goes straight up mountains without a thought to making it easy by offering even a single switchback. The first 60 miles of Maine were so grueling and steep that there were parts I would have been wearing a rock climbing harness if I was working with kids. The ATC has a fun habit as well of warning you to avoid stream crossings and other hazzards mostly caused by bridges on the trail that are out or under construction. They will come up with rediculous detours to address these closures that take hikers miles out of the way, but the crossings are easy rock hops over creeks where bridges aren't necessary. I don't mind agencies being over cautious about things like this, but shortly after the last one of these I hit a part of the trail where I had to down climb a flipping waterfall. So dangerous, and there was no other option for getting around. I didn't realize it was the trail at first and was so confused as to where the trail could possibly go.

I met a friend I've been hiking with for the last couple weeks named lower case b. We met at the start of the Whites and he was planning on summiting the day after I on Katahdin so he helped me keep pace and shared in the hardships. He lives on the North Side of Pittsburgh, and has a brother who lives in Goleta, CA whose ex wife is a bartender at the Old Town Tavern, my favorite watering hole in Santa Barbara county. The world is small. He has been a pleasure to walk with, but is taking a zero here in town today while I press on to finish on Monday.

Things have been so rough up here that everything seems to be falling apart. My water bladder was the first thing to go, so now I have a gatorade bottle with a hose running in through the cap instead of that. My shirt then wore through in several spots on my back and I'm sure I will lose the left sleeve by the time I'm done. The other day the tip of b's trekking pole fell off, then the next day his other tip fell off, then the next day one of mine fell off. Not good advertising for Black Diamond whose trekking poles seem to have a 1900 mile limit. I myself look a little tattered as I have not showered since Ally left 4 weeks ago, and am so tired from trying to maintain my pace through the mountains that I quit several times a day. There is never a road when I quit, so I just keep going. Because of this I think I am the fastest section hiker to have done the trail. Maine at the start was so rough that b and I turned Maine into a curse word that we shout when we slip or fall or step into giant mud bogs.

Last night we were coming to the road crossing to get into town to buy some groceries. b always hikes ahead of me cause he is really fast and as I get to the road I here all this commotion and people talking about Stillers. He had run into a family who were out hiking for the day. They were from Pittsburgh and up in the area to support their son who is hiking the trail and will finish on Friday. They gave us some sodas and drove us to town very excited about meeting us feeding us all this food in acramped car they stuffed us into with our packs on our laps and they jsut kept throwing food at us. They drove us to town and I wanted to go to the outfitter to get fuel. We get in there and the grandmother is running around with the shop employee walking all over the place and I can't get any fuel cause she keeps talking to him and then all of the sudden she is behind the counter and the rest of the family keeps talking to b and I. I finally get some fuel and head outside where the family continues to talk to us and distract us when all of the sudden the grandmother comes out of the shop with 2 brand new pairs of Leki Makalu trekking poles and gives them to us! b and I just stood there stunned, these are $140 a set. I still can't believe it. So we took some pictures and they left us sitting on the sidewalk with 8 poles between the two of us. Unreal. The funny thing was that while the grandmother was running around I was talking to the aunt about the generosity of people on the trail and how humbling that is. Epic trail magic! b and I then went and celebrated at the Black Frog bar and then went and slept on the public dock here on Moosehead lake. Still haven't bought groceries.

This will be my last food buy and my last entry from the trail. I have 114 miles left to go and enter into the 100 mile wilderness today where I am really hoping there are no computers. If all goes according to plan I will be out on Monday the 16th having completed my journey. I have nop idea what I will do after that as my guide book stops there. I will miss having a book that tells you what your days ahead are going to be like. Hope all is well and spread the trail magic!

-Wrong Way

Sobo Talk

I have made it to Vermont. Actually I have made it 107 miles into Vermont. It is absolutely beautiful up here. The trail all of the sudden has things that make it worth hiking, like views and mountains. There was a while there where it did not have much to offer other than delis. I'd rather have the views than eat another Reuben.
In just a couple of hours I will have passed the 1700 mile mark. That is a crap load of walking. If you don't believe me go outside and count 1700 steps and then think about it a bit. I still have 480 to go though and I'm cruising along. I have passed quite a few folks here in Vermont who are doing the trail from North to South. They are known as SOBOs (southbounders), and I swear I will beat the next one with my trekking poles who tells me the Whites are gonna kill me. Re-reading that sentence it would sound like caucasians are out to get me, but do not be alarmed, they are the White Mountains they speak of. Every single one of the Sobos has said something sensationally over-exagerated about them, as if they were trying to scare a small child. I feel as if I am Lawrence of Arabia hiking out to a desert that will surely kill me. Lets hope it does, or I will have to chase down all the Sobos and beat them with my poles.

-Wrong Way

Peg legs and mosquitoes

Hello all from Dalton, Mass. Things have gotten a bit crazy since Right Way left me. For starters the trail became a steep rocky, rooty, slippery mess. Not so much a problem, but the bugs also arrived at the same time. Being a skilled hiker with much practice in the art of walking I am able to negotiate most types of terrain, but it becomes difficult when in the midst of sliding down a mossy wet rock and trying to regain your balance a mosquito flies into your eyeball. Its a lot to handle, but I will persevere. The bugs are horrible up here. I have been in many situations with far more bugs, so that is not the issue. These bugs are akin to a driver on the interstate who wanting to pass a semi-truck are in the passing lane, but are too timid to make the move. They have the nerves enough though to stay right next to the trucks rear bumper making it impossible for a right hand pass to cut them off and pass the truck causing a frustrating back up on the highway. These mosquitoes and gnats fly around your head endlessly for hours on hours buzzing in your ears and hovering in front of your eyes, but they never land to bite you. I wish they would land, bite me, and move on. I hike with trekking poles in both hands so swatting at them isn't really possible without whacking myself in the shins with the poles. So I hike, trying like the dickens to achieve some state of Zen with the bugs, but I always fail and throw a tantrum. The tantrums are not pretty. Its usually a barage of curse words (salt, pepper, ass, republican!) an abrupt stop, I throw down my poles, and go on a bug killing spree which to a bystander probably looks like a freak show, this guy with pink toenails frolicking in the woods clapping his hands together. Think woodsy flamenco dancer. That has been my last few days with the addition of a couple of bear encounters bringing that number up to 18 wild 2 caged.

New England is different than the south. I knew this before, but its amazing how quickly a region changes, and it is noticed all the more when you walked there. The south didn't really end till northern PA, which led way to the "how you doin'?" part of the country. I asess the character of a place by eateries with counters, be them bars, delis, or diners. In the south it was the elderly farmers exchanging witty insults and weather forecasts, in NJ and NY it was public service workers like cops, firemen, and paramedics talking about accidents and girls that just got out of high school (yikes), and in New England thus far it has been the idle rich talking about God knows what. I can't listen because I'm too busy sitting in the corner with the other hikers feeling ashamed of our attire and trying not to mess the place up.

Some things never change though. The other day I was walking into Salisbury, CT to go to LaBonne's Epicure Market (Connecticut talk for you'll spend 10 bucs on a bag of pretzels, some candy, and a chocholate milk) when this car pulls over and I hear, "Hey you wanna ride?" I wasn't hitching and to this point nobody had ever pulled over like that before, so I was kind of shocked. I was even more shocked when it turned out to be my two trail friends Marty McFly and Achilles the Red. Where they had gotten the car from I had no idea, but rather than stand on the side of the road and ask questions I figured I better get in before the cops showed up looking for a stolen car. As it turns out Marty and Achilles were walking along when a lady started yelling at them. They couldn't make out what she was saying so they went over to her. She was a one legged woman hopping to the bus stop to ride to physical therapy. Being the only logical thing to do when seeing a couple of hikers she handed them the keys to her house and her car and said she would be back later. So they went into her house did laundry, took a shower, and took the car out to lunch where they picked me up. Amazing the things that happen.

I'm going to head into town now for some food. Y'all be good out there and if you see some guy wearing a backpack who looks kind of sketchy I don't recommend giving them the keys to your house, unless you've only got one leg. Whose gonna steal from a one legged grandmother, its an instant one-way ticket to hell.

-Wrong Way

Pink Blazing

Hello all from Kent, CT

Ally (Right Way) and I arrived here in Kent this morning. We have had a very hard week out on the trail with some steep terrain 100 degree temps and some wicked humidity. With much perseverance and patience we prevailed with minimal calls placed to divorce lawyers. Ally did at one point call our hike a death march. She did a great job and I am very proud of her. We even did a 19 mile day one day a feat that takes most thru-hikers several weeks to work up to. Y'all should buy her a drink the next time you see her, she deserves it.

New York was interesting for the many delis, ice cream stands and stop overs. Excellent traps for hikers tired of being in the heat. Ally got to meet lots of other hikers and I think got a good sense of what the community is like out here. She will be leaving me tomorrow though and I'll be strapping my sandals back on and walking my way north. I bought a ticket out of Bangor ME for the 18th of August so my pace will be quick and I'm now unrefundably committed to finishing.

Hope all is well in the world! -Wrong Way

The Rockets Red Glare

Happy 5th of July everyone!

I am having a great time at my grandparents house here in fabulous Brogue, PA. I rented a car and headed down here for some r and r and good old fashioned 4th of July fun. I was really excited to see some fireworks without a bunch of kids in tow which I haven't enjoyed since I was 20 years old. I attended a few picnics and BBQs in preparation for this event and the family made a plan to go to a park that overlooked the Susquehana river valley to watch the Wrightsville fireworks show. This was a good plan because we thought it would be less busy and not have to deal with the crowds. We got up there and it wasn't crowded, but there were probbaly about a hundred people up there with the same plan. We settled in to our blankets and enjoyed the last of the daylight there. It soon appeared that most folks there were not quite sure what time the show started. You could hear people asking about the start times and what not. At about 9:15 you could see a bunch of fireworks shows starting in far off places from our high perch, and yet nothing from our beloved Wrightsville. At about 9:45 we were getting a little concerned and some other spectators were packing up and leaving. My cousin Carla then got on her phone and looked up the event. I had always thought that independence was on the 4th, but like so many other things I was wrong. Turns out the show is tonight on the 5th. Does that say something about your country or what. We had a good time though laying on the blankets.

The hike is going well. Sorry I haven't updated the blog in a while. I've gotten a little overfocused and am cruising. Lots has happened. I have made it to New Jersey since my last blog, meaning that I have hiked through the Shenendoahs and reached Harpers Ferry, WV. I hiked through Maryland, and then reached PA. I passed the 1000 mile mark, the half way point, the 1100 mile mark, the 1200 mile mark, and the 1300 mile mark. Having hiked more miles than I have miles left to hike has drastically changed the mental game of hiking the trail. At the beginning hiking 200 miles seemed like a big accomplishment, but then I would look at the column in my guidebood that gives the mileage to Kathadin and it would say 1900 miles and I would get really disheartened. Now I look in that column and it ONLY says 800 miles. Totally doable. Its amazing what changes a different perspective can make.

I've met quite a few hikers along the way and received generosity from locals along the way. I started hiking with a guy named Marty McFly early on in PA and we hiked together to Glenwood NJ before I got off to come here. He was trying to catch up to some friends who had gotten ahead and he thought if he paced himself with me he could catch them. We did and pretty soon I was hiking with a pretty large crew. We don't hike together, but you walk for awhile and then take a break and everybody catches up and you eat together and rest together and camp together. There has been quite a few more restaurants close to the trail so we all go out to eat together which is pretty fun. There were 9 of us when I got off the trail.

This next week I'll be hiking with Ally who has come out for a visit. Hopefully that works out well. I am looking forward to it. We are going to leave here pretty soon and drive back up to NJ. She'll be with me through NY and then into CT. Hope everyone is well and I'll try to update more frequently than every 400 miles.

Hike on! -Wrong Way

Blazing

Ally has returned safely to California, and I have pushed on. This morning I woke up, walked through a 5 mile section of supposedly haunted forest, and now am in the wonderful town of Waynesboro, VA. The people here seem awfully friendly towards hikers and it should be a quick stop over so I can get back on the trail and start hiking through Shenendoah National Park. This next section is supposed to be "easy" as it mostly parallels Sky Line Drive. If a car can drive the topography that usually means for an easy grade of hiking.

I think I have passed through the bubble of what are known as "hiker trash". The caste system knows no bounds! Even out here on the trail you are still put in boxes. Hiker Trash are the free loaders who stop at every town taking advantage of the charity that comes our way and crawl along in a constant state of hangover filling up all the good trail shelters. Most of them left in early to mid March, and I have passed through the bulk of them it seems and am now surrounded by people who are on the trail to actually backpack.

Despite having broke through that particular bubble incidents of "pink blazing" and associated stories are on the rise. Pink blazing is a term used for a guy who has altered his pace to spend time with a girl. I have met a few of these pink blazing couples so far. A couple of nights before I got off the trail to go see Ally I arrived late at a large two story shelter and quickly set up to go to bed on the second floor. There was a pink blazing couple there and a couple of other hikers all on the lower level. At about 10:30 PM a very rhythmic rubbing of nylon started emminating from the lower level of the shelter and was far too sustained to be someone itching bug bites, or stretching in their bag, or doing pushups, or the countless other things that I kept trying to convince myself it could be. It continued on until one of the other hikers that was staying downstairs started rolling around and then got up to pee at which point the rhythmic rubbing of nylon stopped. Holy awkward turtle Batman. Yesterday I showed up at a shelter and was reading entries in the shelter register and earlier that day a hiker I know named Rag Time walked up to the shelter to find a couple "doin' it" as he put it. You would think that people would have the decency to seek a little privacy considering it can be found a plenty out here, but no why do that when they've built all these nice shelters that people like to congregate at. Congregate indeed.

Well, I am going to get going. I am looking forward to my next stop for a rest which will be at my sisters sometime in this upcoming week. I'll be writing again from there. Hope all is well out there in the wide world!

-Wrong Way