Speck In The Woods

Day 2:  8/12/17

We started our day cleaning drenched, muddy tents. It rained all night long and it rained hard. The good thing is that it stopped before time to hike out. We had breakfast and started our day. We met several hikers today. Most of them are AT hikers. We met a guy, Mitchell, and his dog, Hazel, who are doing the Long Trail. Mitchell doesn’t have a trail name yet, so Thumbsucker and I feel obligated to give him one. We’ll see what we come up with.

We had a pretty good trail today. It was wet and muddy in spots, but nothing like in 2015.

We made 13 miles. When we got to the shelter, the shelter was full and all the tent sites were full as well. There was a storm brewing and we were scurrying trying to find somewhere to set up before the storm. We hiked back down the trail about 1/2 mile to a small site in the woods we had seen on the way up. We literally put the last stake in the ground and dove in the tents and the monsoon hit. It was a ferocious storm. There was no time for supper before diving in and the storm continued for quite a while. We had to dart out in the rain to hang food bags once we saw it wasn’t going to stop.

So, no supper for me. Guess I’ll just have to look forward to some cereal and a power bar in the morning.

Day 1: 8/11/17

And, We’re Off

We started our day with breakfast at the hotel. Caitlin called Uber and within 2 minutes we were off to the bus station. We had 3 bus changes to get from Hartford to Williamstown. Our shuttle driver had a 3 pm appt. so we couldn’t be late. But….we were. We got to Williamstown at 2:54. He kindly threw our packs in his trunk, drove about 3 miles down the road to where his appt. was, hopped out and said take the car to the trailhead and leave the keys inside. Wow! We were total strangers and he literally gave us his car. We made our way to the trailhead, donned our packs and were off. We hit the trail at about 3:30 pm. Right off the bat, we came up on trail magic. A cooler of cold water. We didn’t take any because we didn’t need any at the time. But, so nice of someone to leave it there.

We made our way the 3.8 miles to the start of the Long Trail. Caitlin took a spill on a bolder and literally bent her thumb nail backwards–ouch. It immediately turned blue. She was a trooper and toughed it out. She did, however, acquire the trail name “Thumbsucker” from the event. She immediately put her thumb in her mouth when she hurt it and her trail name was born.

When we reached the Long Trail sign, we met a couple young AT NOBOS thru-hiking. Sir Poops A Lot and Stacks. We took turns taking each other’s pics at the sign. We then continued on another 3.2 miles to the Seth Warner Shelter where there are about 15 people. Most are AT hikers. A couple women are just out for the weekend and a young guy already in his tent is hiking the LT.

We set up our tents, cooked our dinners, hung our bear bags and were down for the count about 9:20. Within 10 minutes of turning in, the rains started.

It was a good day. We covered 7 miles on the trail, but we’re really only about 3.2 miles along on the Long Trail.

Stayed in Atlanta last night. Had the girls with us and enjoyed a few hours of visiting with them before heading out. Danny and I dropped them off at school after breakfast and I took Lyft to the airport and Danny headed to work.

I arrived at the airport by 9 am and at 12:15 I’m still sitting here at the C-6 gate waiting for a missing flight attendant to show up from Cleveland before we can start boarding. I don’t mind as long as I don’t miss my connecting flight in Baltimore.

Travel days are the worst for me. I’m trying to practice patience, but I’m not good at sitting still this long. I’m thankful, though, that within a day I can be at my destination. If I think about it, walking to Connecticut took me about 3-1/2 months or so before, so I guess a few hours in the airport and/or bus is not so bad.

My thoughts as I sit here are that, as always, I’ll miss my family and friends; that I’m excited to hike; that I’m excited to visit with my friend, Caitlin; that I hope I have everything that I’ll need; that I hope my backpack makes it to my final destination; that I should be eating because it’s gonna be my last few “good” meals and that I’m already missing my bath and bed. Yep. Haven’t even left yet and I’m already appreciating people and comforts more.

Fast forward to 3:30 and here I am in Baltimore. Made it in time for my connecting flight with a little time to spare.
I love people-watching. Just like me, 90% of everyone else is looking at some sort of electronic device. What did we do before all of this stuff???? We must have been terribly bored. Or, maybe we actually spoke to one another. When people talk to one another in person, its much more interesting listening to their conversations when you can hear both sides of that conversation. Nowadays all we hear are one-sided conversations. Leaves a lot to the imagination I guess.

Let’s fast forward again.

“Welcome to Hartford” they said at 5:30 pm. Yay!!!!! Finally at my destination for the day.

On the agenda for tomorrow is to meet up with Caitlin after she gets in later tonight and we’ll hop the Peter Pan bus in the morning and head to Massachusetts. We have a shuttle driver, Dave, meeting us at the bus stop. He’s bringing us fuel so we don’t have to go to the Outfitter. He’ll drive us to the trailhead and we’ll have a 3.8 mile hike to get to the start of the Long Trail. Hopefully, we’ll have time to get another few miles in before dark. Hoping to get to Seth Warner Shelter area before nightfall. We shall see.

I can’t believe I’m going to eat this much food in 3 weeks. I’ve organized my resupply boxes to be sent to 4 different locations along the trail. One box had to be sent Fed Ex, so it’s already on its way. The remaining 3 boxes will be mailed out tomorrow. It’s always exciting to receive a resupply box when you’re getting low on food. The down side is that your pack weight will once again be much heavier. I guess that’s the price you pay for being able to eat. I’m not very good at foraging. Actually, I’ve never foraged, so I guess you could say I’m not good at all at it. Okay—I’ll be happy with the weight (for a minute or two, then I’ll whine about it again😜).

Tomorrow’s task is to actually get my pack (Olfrie, as I call her — thanks for the name, Karen) packed and ready. It shouldn’t be a big task. I don’t like to pack it too soon or I second guess myself as to whether I included everything I should have and I start going back in and checking.  Once it’s packed, I think all the logistics (with the exception of my return shuttle and flight) will be complete and I’ll be set to go. I’m counting down the days and looking forward to getting in the woods.

Well, the best made plans can change, and that’s exactly what happened.

I’ve been planning for 6 months, along with two other friends, to hike the John Muir Trail which runs from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney. In order to hike this trail you must obtain a permit and while that sounds simple, its not an easy task. Many, many people apply each year and don’t get permitted. A lottery system is used to select who gets in and who doesn’t. And…guess what? My friends and I won the lottery this year and were chosen to hike the JMT.

We’ve been so excited (no–we’ve been ecstatic) about this for 6 months. Well…….2017 was the worst winter in history in the Sierras and on the trail. Wouldn’t you know it—the year we won the lottery Mother Nature has to show her fanny. ❄️🌊💦💨☔️☃️🔥🌫. We anxiously watched and waited. Rivers flooded, lakes remained frozen, trails and resupply places were either buried by 10 feet of snow or flooded. The trail became treacherous and has claimed several lives. We thought for sure that by our start date, August 6, it would have improved enough to be a challenge maybe, but no longer dangerous. But, that’s not the case. We had to make a decision as to whether we would attempt it or not before mailing our food. All information and people closely monitoring the situation advised “DON’T DO IT”. As hard as it was, the three of us agreed that we’d be better off being safe instead of sorry. I know it was the right decision, but I’m very disappointed. We will, though, try again next year.

They always say, “The trail will always be there. It isn’t going anywhere.” However, now I wonder if that’s true. It almost washed away this year. Lol

Okay. Now on to what’s up next.

I’ve decided that since I was prepared for a three week hike, I will hike The Long Trail. This trail runs from the MA/VT border to the Canadian border. It’s 273 miles of rugged terrain. I’ve already hiked the first 100 miles of it before because it coincides with the AT for that 100 miles. I will, however, re-hike that 100 miles in order to make it a thru-hike. It should take me close to 3 weeks. My good friend from New Mexico that I met on the trail in VA back in 2013 will be hiking with me. She’s a good friend, a good hiker, and a good trail buddy.

Our plan is to fly out on August 10 and meet and hit the trail on the 11th and hike till we’re done.

The cell service will be spotty on the trail, but I plan to type in notes each night and post when I have service, so I may be posting several days of delayed posts all on the same day.

I’ll try to do a better job with descriptions and pictures. We’ll see. I always want to write and post but I’m usually so ready for bed at the end of the day that I hurriedly just jot a quick note and turn in.

I would love to have you follow along and send me comments from time to time. It’s always good to hear from home.

Bear with me and excuse any posts or pics that might not make sense. I’m having to re-learn this program. It’s been quite a while. 😬

Speck

Remembering how to post on this site after all this time. Heading back to the woods soon. Come along with me.

I guess the only way to put into words why I did this is that once I started it and knew I COULD do it, I knew I HAD to do it or I would forever regret not following thru with something I started. I didn’t want to be haunted by that. Also, I love the mountains. Something always calls me back to them, so it was kind of a Read More

My finish line.

2189.2 miles hiked–IT IS FINISHED‼️‼️‼️‼️

I can’t believe it’s really done.
The last two days were hard and tiring, but today was one of my favorite of the whole trail. I don’t know if it’s because I knew it was my last and I was pretty relaxed. It was 16.7 miles over The Read More

September 3.

Lloyd, the shuttler, picked me up bright and early this morning and we made the hour long drive into the 100 mile wilderness once again. I got out and hit the trail for an easy 14.9 mile day. More ponds today. There were mud bogs, as usual, but the trail otherwise was dry. It makes such a difference walking on a dry trail. There were rooty and rocky places, but a lot of Read More

So here’s Danny take on the AT.

They Stink
I hiked a section of the A.T. with Renea in North Carolina, a section with her in Pennsylvania and a few miles in Maine so I’m certainly not an expert on the Appalachian Trail. Combined I’ve probably traveled less than 100 miles on the trail. So any insight I have is based on the few people I’ve met, the few miles I’ve traveled and the countless stories I’ve heard Renea tell.

While driving to Portland yesterday I asked what she had learned on the trail. She said she didn’t do it to learn anything. I asked her what she thought about on the trail and she couldn’t remember. So why would anyone do this and what did I learn from my limited experience? Here are a couple of observations.

What do hikers do in the summer? They stink. Their clothes stink, their backpack stinks, their shoes stink and they stink. Trail folk come form all walks of life. Short, tall, rich, poor they are all different. The only thing they all have in common is that they all stink. You don’t always hear them walking down the trail, but you always smell them. Yesterday we met a man on Katahdin who said that he had just found a noodle in his long red beard. He said that he hadn’t eaten noodles in two days.

The trail in 2,189.2 miles. Most people take 2,000 steps in a mile. That would indicate that the average hiker takes around 4,378,400 steps in their journey. That’s a lot of exercise. So do people do it for their health. I met a fellow yesterday who was over 70. He had just finished the entire trail. He said he had two broken toes and a triple hernia. When I asked him what his next adventure was, he said “surgery, I guess.” There is no doubt that these folks are in unbelievable condition. While hiking in Pennsylvania for two days, my blisters started to develop their own blisters. Between the aching knees and blisters on their feet I have to believe there are easier ways to get in shape.

Are A. T. hikers searching for something? I met a man in Pennsylvania from North Carolina, who had just lost his wife to leukemia. I met a man in Maine from New Hampshire a couple of days ago who had just lost his wife to pancreatic cancer and I met a fellow in North Carolina from Ohio who had just lost his wife to a used car salesman from Cleveland. We all live two lives, the one we learn with and the one we live with after that. Clearly, there are some people out there who just need to work some things out before moving on with their life.

Do they do it to be at one with nature? I see more wildlife in my yard on a given day than most people see on the trail. Most days, I see deer, rabbits, squirrel and a flock of buzzards circling over my patio. The buzzards only circle when Renea is “airing out” her shoes and backpack after a hike. Renea has seen a couple of moose, some rattlesnakes but not a single bear. Did you know there has never been a case of an A.T. hiker being attacked by a bear. That’s because they stink. The hikers… not the bear. They say that it’s wise to keep bear repellant on you at all times. Most hikers prefer to use a natural repellant, their own B. O. The average hiker could take down a grizzly by just removing one of his shoes.

After thinking about it, Renea said the reason that she did the trail was that after starting it, she didn’t want to be a quitter. I was expecting something more profound.

After we got close to Portland, Renea said that the most impressive thing she had seen along the trail was that kind gestures seem to come from complete strangers. Maybe the only real lesson from the 2,189 miles is that deep down, most people are pretty good folks.

Danny

Taking Danny back to the airport today (if I’d known he was going to talk about how bad I smell, I’d have taken him back sooner) and will head back to Millinocket to finish my 46.1 miles. Will keep you posted.