Location: Speck Pond The sick boy was able to walk out of the woods with the help of rescue medics. They inched him down the mountain. Heavy Foot and Ketchup followed the group of people in case he collapsed and needed to be carried. They were really spirited about the possibility of carrying him out. […]
Death has his hand on the boy in the woods – AT Thru-Hike Day 36
Location: Frye Notch I left Andover with a full pack today. I had expected to reach Baldpate Mountain lean-to across the open ridgeline of the mountain, but I only reached Frye Notch. I felt sick for most of the morning because of a hangover from the night before with Sean Boyle and his sons. I […]
Slack Packing and Six Pack with New Friends- AT Thru-Hike Day 35
Location: Andover Roadhouse I met Tomato and David downstairs this morning for cereal. They already had their daypacks prepared. I found a note on the kitchen table from the lady managing the hostel. Our shuttle to the trailhead had been cancelled. It was now our responsibility to hitch a ride and still hike the 10 […]
Some AT Friends Come and Go Quickly – AT Thru-Hike Day 34
Location: Andover Roadhouse BJ Bear and I began the ten mile hike into Andover together. The day was hot and humid. I decided that I would hike with BJ for a mile and a half or so to warm up my legs and then I would pick up my pace. As we climbed the first […]
Life Lessons Learned from BJ Bear – AT Thru-Hike Day 33
The bugs woke all of us up early this morning. The rain fell hard last night so the talk over breakfast revolved around pessimistic expectations about the trail’s condition. Tomato and David left first, followed by BJ Bear, and then me. I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag in the morning. I […]
Get in line behind BJ Bear – AT Thru-Hike Day 32
I stayed yesterday at the Stratton motel and finally organized and transcribed my journal. I mailed it home for safekeeping. I left the Stratton Motel today after saying goodbye to Don. I promised to send a postcard whether or not I make it to Springer Mountain. His business partner drove me the 20 miles to […]
Poplar Ridge Hiking – AT Thru-Hike Day 29
We hiked a difficult 13 miles today. While no day longer than 10 miles is easy, today’s hike took us to peaks over 4000ft and valleys between peaks at 1500ft. At the end to the day, Stick, Turtle, and I debated whether to camp at the river that we had forded or climb to Poplar […]
Hello Stick and Hello Turtle – AT Thru-Hike Day 28
I left for the trail again after talking to mom, Chris, and Caroline. It was good to hear their voices and talk to them before beginning such a hard portion of the trail. I started hiking with Stick and Flying Turtle. Stick thru-hiked last year and came to support Turtle as he finished last year’s […]
Stratton Maine – AT Thru-Hike Days 26 27
Locations: Stratton Motel (Stratton, ME) I hiked six miles to the road quickly. The mosquitoes woke me with bites on the forehead, and Sourball kept me up with his talking. I buried myself in my sleeping bag but he kept telling me facts about the trail and Maine. As a third generation thru-hiker and trail […]
Another Encounter with Sourball – AT Thru-Hike Day 25
Location: Somewhere in the Bigelows, ME I started late today because I only had six miles to hike. Last night there was a terrible rainstorm. The wind blew harder than I’ve felt on this trip yet, and I learned today from a caretaker that the temperature dropped to 42F. The winds kept me awake last […]