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
Friday, July 23, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
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
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
Monday, July 12, 2010
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
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
Monday, July 5, 2010
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
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
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Lived to tell the tale
Well, I'm still alive and kicking. When warned about a potentially violent psychotic blasian wielding firearms the correct response is apparently to sleep right next to him in a shelter about 18 inches away. For safety purposes I slept with my head by his feet. The problem with the world today is that people have no patience to try to understand something foreign to them. Instead it is easier to chase it out of town with firearms and then sensationalize the story. I felt pretty bad for Toast who turned out to be a person of Mediterranean Africa descent and from Germany I presume, who had very minimal English skills. To give the fine people of Atkins a bit of a break the kid was definitely awkward and weird, but that doesn't set him apart in the least from the rest of the hikers. Being from Germany I don't think he quite understood that being a black person of about 22 and knocking on country folk's doors after dark in southern Virginia is akin to playing Russian roulette. Turns out Toast didn't have a gun (no hikers have guns, not because they don't own them, but because they are too heavy) but everyone Toast ran into had a gun. I've heard he threw a bit of a tantrum in a post office after they forwarded his resupply package to the next town, apparently not familiar with the term going postal and the dangers of being angry at the post office. The clerk then phoned all the businesses in town that cater to hikers and got him black balled. From there on out I think Toast had a bad day. When I ran into him at a road crossing the police and Forrest Service rangers were leaving after having a talk with him. He said the police and people of Atkins were "pissing him on". I felt bad for the kid, but he dealt with this by throwing rocks at a road sign as hard as he could. Awkward black kids with no English skills and anger management issues should not travel by themselves in the south. That could be a good travel advisory for other countries to put up for their citizens visiting the USA.
I have met quite a few other folks in my travels and caught up to the heard. It is interesting seeing all the different styles of travel. I have caught with some folks that move at about the same pace which is nice. I have passed a few people that have started a whole 2 months before me. I hung out with some guys under a tree the other day who had made it .2 miles that day. They were sitting under the tree with a 24 pack of Milwaukee's Best Premium griping about how a 24 pack cost them as much as 2 packs of cigarettes. They were appalled at my start date and insisted I was missing the point. I thought the point of backpacking to Maine was to get to Maine via walking as opposed to sitting under every tree and drinking beer, but alas every person must hike their own hike.
I have just spent a much needed two days off the trail with my beautiful wife. So far being apart from her has been the hardest part of being on this trail, so a little time together has been great. I can't wait to see her again and she is still sitting next to me.
Till next time muchachos! -Wrong Way
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
You say he has a gun?
Why hello there from Atkins Virginia. I was meaning to write from Damascus when I first arrived in this great state, but the library in addition to being for sale was also closed for Sundays. I've caught up with the tail end of the "herd" which has slowed my progress a bit because you have to stop and meet all these people you've been hearing and reading about for weeks. Passing hellos and how you doings from people who can't keep up with their friends, and meeting the writers of comments written in the trail registrys found all over the place. Progress is still steady however and I'm averaging about 20 miles a day which is ahead of schedule.
I had a bunch of stories to relay about record breaking speed hikers from Israel and a crazy homeless schizophrenic version of Mike Cohen (for those who know him), but I've kind of walked into an interesting soap opera at the truck stop exit town of Atkins (I'm writing from a computer in a gas station). Apparently there is a thru-hiker named Toast who passed through here a couple hours ago who is a black Asian, speaking with a German accent, who has been telling people he has a gun and getting kicked out of hostels and restaurants and peoples front porches since late last night. Granted folks in rural Virginia probably don't see as diverse a cross section of the worlds population than say New York, but I'm curious to meet this guy just to assess the description.
Now I have always been an ardent proponent of Desert Law. These are sets of rules to survive in the desert, and desert law states that crazy always beets strong. I have always used this to my advantage by trying to look a little crazy in the event I get into trouble, and it has worked for me wonderfully in some situations although mostly urban. Desert Law however doesn't say what to do when you come across a guy with a much stragglier beard than your own, who is taller than you by a few inches, and is yelling "FRUIT, VEGETABLES, SALAD" at the top of his lungs while digging through his army duffel on top of a hill. Nor does it say what to do when confronting a black asian german speaking gun toating fool. In times like these I take comfort in the fact that if I caught up to them, I can leave them behind. So when desert law runs into crazy and strong what does it do? It follows the advice of King Arthur in Monty Python's Holy Grail. "Run Away!
Hope to write to you soon! -Wrong Way
I had a bunch of stories to relay about record breaking speed hikers from Israel and a crazy homeless schizophrenic version of Mike Cohen (for those who know him), but I've kind of walked into an interesting soap opera at the truck stop exit town of Atkins (I'm writing from a computer in a gas station). Apparently there is a thru-hiker named Toast who passed through here a couple hours ago who is a black Asian, speaking with a German accent, who has been telling people he has a gun and getting kicked out of hostels and restaurants and peoples front porches since late last night. Granted folks in rural Virginia probably don't see as diverse a cross section of the worlds population than say New York, but I'm curious to meet this guy just to assess the description.
Now I have always been an ardent proponent of Desert Law. These are sets of rules to survive in the desert, and desert law states that crazy always beets strong. I have always used this to my advantage by trying to look a little crazy in the event I get into trouble, and it has worked for me wonderfully in some situations although mostly urban. Desert Law however doesn't say what to do when you come across a guy with a much stragglier beard than your own, who is taller than you by a few inches, and is yelling "FRUIT, VEGETABLES, SALAD" at the top of his lungs while digging through his army duffel on top of a hill. Nor does it say what to do when confronting a black asian german speaking gun toating fool. In times like these I take comfort in the fact that if I caught up to them, I can leave them behind. So when desert law runs into crazy and strong what does it do? It follows the advice of King Arthur in Monty Python's Holy Grail. "Run Away!
Hope to write to you soon! -Wrong Way
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)