My AT Journal

Well, I haven't left yet, so there's nothing here.

Only two more weeks though!!

Well, my first update from the trail! Are you excited? I am.

Well, I left Springer Mountain, GA on april 5, thanx to a ride from a great guy, Lamar Powell. He picked me up from the bus station in Chattanooga, TN after a LOOOONG bus trip.

Well, that wasn't a very long update was it. It's now almost six months later and I'm finally getting back to this thing. It's surprising that none of the trailtowns' libraries had computer/internet capabilities but it's true.

So anyway, it's Monday, October 6 and I have officially been off the trail for a little over a month. I got off at the forest road that leads to Danby, Vermont due to lack of funds. I do believe that that was truly the hardest decision I've ever made. I still plan on going back to finish in a couple of summers. But it won't be the same.

Perhaps I'll get my few journal entries transcribed onto here eventually but for now you'll have to live with this shortened version:

I hiked not too much like a madman, averaging about 12 miles a day total, and about 14 counting only the days where I actually hiked. (I took a lot of days off) I found that you can do anything you want to do when you are in the trails world. If you want to go into New York City, say so and things will fall into place. If you want to go into Washington D.C. for the fourth of July, same thing. The trail has a way of making things happen.

Let's see, some of my favorite places were Blood Mountain in Georgia on about day 3. I had the best sunset on the trail there sitting on the big rock. I also liked the section from around Mt. Collins to Overmountain Barn (I have a feeling that neither of these last two names is correct, but I can't get to the correct info right now). The balds up there were awesome. Up in Jersey, Sunfish Pond was simply amazing. A little tiny glacial pond, that for some reason was about 70 degrees. On a hot humid day, was a great break it made. And in fact we made it a total of about five miles that day, because once we hit there, inertia held us pretty tight from about 10 am until about 3 pm. Just about all of Vermont that I saw was nice, although that was when the trail started going up mountains again (which it hadn't done for about the last 1000 miles) so it seemed pretty tough. Hanover, N.H. was quite possibly my favorite trail town. Great place to stay in the frat house of Dartmouth. I think I fell in love with the Ben & Jerry's girl too. (needless to say I bought a lot of ice cream).

Overall, I would say that anyone and everyone probably could and definitely should hike the trail. Whether or not you feel like you want to define yourself, or just get a long vacation, this is truly a great trip. I personally had no plan to go out and have a religious type experience, or pilgrimmage type journey, but it grows on you. By the time I got off, I would say that it had converted me to a "THROUGH HIKER". And I recommend that everyone experience that.

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